French

We run the following five groups under this heading.

Beginners

This level is for members with little or no knowledge of French.

We focus pronunciation, basic language points in order to develop survival skills in the language. New members are very welcome.

Improvers

The group is for people with the equivalent of 3-5 years French at school or elsewhere who wish to improve their mastery of the language.

Current Activity

We communicate mostly in the present and past (Perfect) tenses. The class is friendly and informal and the aim is to be able to converse using simple French and to boost people’s confidence in doing so.

Intermediate

The Intermediate Group, taken by Véronique, a native French speaker, is best suited to people with a fair knowledge of French who wish to consolidate their knowledge and read, write and converse in the language.

Current activities

Véronique sends the group reading material usually based on current affairs or cultural events via email. The students work on it at home to be able to translate it in class. They also prepare a response to it in French which they discuss in class. The second half of the lesson usually focusses on a grammar or language point based on exercises in the text book Façon de Parler 2.The sessions are informal and the atmosphere relaxed.

Conversation

This group has been running successfully for several years for general conversation in French at individual members homes – but since Covid the group has mainly met via Zoom with occasional face-face meetings. The current intention in the future is to have a mix of Zoom and face-face meetings. There are 10 regulars currently but we would welcome new members who have some knowledge of, and ability with, French. We discuss current affairs linked to Britain and France, activities and holidays, hobbies, home and family life and occasional personal discussions.

Note: Each week we have two sessions with a coffee break in between. We don’t use any formal study materials but members do on occasions use printed material to show others and encourage conversation. The aim of the group is spontaneous conversation in French. We make mistakes but it is enjoyable and interesting.

French Advanced

The Advanced Group, taken by Liliane, who is French, is for people with a good knowledge of French who wish to read, write and converse in the language as well as learn about current events in France. There are currently 19 members in the group.

Current activities

Liliane sends the group reading material via email midweek. It is usually based on current affairs or famous French people / places / events and is accompanied by questions for the group to prepare ahead of each meeting. The meetings themselves consist of general conversation between the members, discussion of current world and French news, presentations as well as guided reading and occasionally some grammar points.

The group members are encouraged to be proactive and to take it in turn to present topics which interest them, and they are not afraid to step in when Liliane is absent.