French Beyond Beginners (full syllabus)

Beginners French can take some time to master. Our year-long beyond beginners syllabus will continue to build your beginners skills so you can communicate confidently in French on a basic level.

Split into three 10-week modules and taught over three terms, you’ll practice pronunciation of difficult French sounds and work on your reading, writing and listening skills. You’ll revisit the use of verbs in the present tense and the passé compose and be introduced to the future and imperfect tenses.

By the end of the year, you’ll be communicating confidently at CEFR A1/2 level of the Common European Framework for language learning.

This course aims to help you progress from a complete French beginner to an intermediate course.

Who is it for?

If you have completed our beginners syllabus or you have a rusty GCSE this is a good place to start. You should have studied French for 60 hours to enol on this course. More information can be found in the eligibility section.

Timetable

The course includes 60 hours of learning and is taught across three terms, starting in October and finishing in July.

October – December (Part 1)

• One evening per week (two-hour lessons) for 10 consecutive weeks.

Christmas Break

January – March (Part 2)

• One evening per week (two-hour lessons) for 10 consecutive weeks.

Easter break

April/May – July (Part 3)

• One evening per week (two-hour lessons) for 10 consecutive weeks.

Benefits

• Learn the full beyond beginners (year 2) syllabus at the lowest price
• Progress throughout the year with a small group of fellow learners
• Emphasis on conversational French, which can be applied to real-world situations
• Awarded a City, University of London certificate.

By the end of this course, you will be able to

• perfect your pronunciation of basic and complex French sounds
• express opinions, emotions, wishes, preferences and nuances
• Agree and disagree
• talk about events in the present, past and future
• give small presentations and participate in short debates and discussions
• make complaints and compliments
• be confident ordering, giving instructions and asking for details
• be confident with your accent and intonation
• listen and understand some news broadcasts.

Grammatical structures

• consolidation of the present tense
• Revision of passé compose
• introduce imperfect tense
• mastering future tense
• relative clauses
• complete review of all partitives and prepositions (du, de la, des; au, à la, aux)
• imperative and negative imperative
• consolidation of recent past, near future and progressive present
• adjectives revisited, regular and irregular
• consolidation of superlatives and comparatives
• adverbs
• consolidation of imperatives and pronouns
• introduction to direct and indirect pronouns (him, her, them; to his, to her, to them)
• introduction to y, j'y retrournerai
• consolidation of negatives
• introduction of pronouns y and en
• interrogative sentences
• introduction to the imperfect tense
• modal verbs
• consolidation of pronouns; use of the infinitives
• introduction to further relative clauses (ce que, ce qui).

You will be awarded an official City, University of London certificate on completion of the course. You must attend over 70 per cent of the classes to be eligible for the certificate.

There is no formal assessment but you will be set weekly homework of comprehensive grammar exercises and reading texts, and it’s important you complete this to keep progressing.

Your progress will be monitored and assessed throughout the course, via your performance during the lesson and homework.

Teaching

Our courses will improve your skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing. You receive lesson content in advance, giving you the chance to practice your pronunciation and leaving more time in class to apply what you’ve learnt.

Classroom activities include working in small groups and role-playing scenarios, listening to radio broadcasts, reading newspaper articles and watching video clips. We also use digital learning tools to support your learning.

Time is also allocated to learning more about French culture and current affairs, and the country’s proud heritage of traditions.

You’ll need some basic French knowledge to enrol on this course. You may have completed our full beginners syllabus, or already have around 50-60 hours of formal prior learning.

It is the right level if you:

• have completed the full beginners syllabus, or an equivalent course elsewhere (around 60 hours of formal learning)
• have a rusty GCSE French.

You should already know how to:

• give directions and talk about travel
• write basic emails and text messages
• describe places and journeys
• order meals and talk about your daily routine
• know how to use present and passé compose.

English requirements

You will need a good level of spoken and written English to enrol on this course.