Proficiency Course in French

The objectives of the course are :  

1. To familliarise learners with the basic sounds, letters, numbers, grammar and vocabulary of French.
2. To teach them all these elements through connected speech
3. Original short texts on themes of interest to young learners serve as a support base for learning French
4. Illustrations make these texts attractive and easy
5. Multiple choice questionsat the end of the lesson help the learner to revise and for self-correction purposes
6. All explanations have been given in English for greater clarity and better comprehension

 

COURSE LAYOUT Week 1 Assignments   1. Recognize the French letters; Pronounce these letters; Identify the differences and similarities between the English and French alphabet; Spell one’s name and other names in French; Discover simple words that begin with these letters;   2.Identify the letter-combinations that are characteristic of the French language; Pronounce these letter-combinations; Recognize the different pronunciations of certain letter-combinations; Learn the various letter-combinations that produce the same sounds; Discover simple words that are constructed from these letter-combinations;   3.Identify the remaining letter-combinations that are characteristic of the French language; Pronounce these letter-combinations; Combine various letter-combinations to produce a variety of different sounds; Recognize the various accents and diacritical marks used in French; Discover simple words that have these letter-combinations, accents and diacritical marks;   4.Understand when to pronounce the final consonant; Recognize when to connect the first and last letters of two adjacently placed words; Differentiate between a silent ‘E’ and a pronounced ‘E; Distinguish the difference between a mute ‘H’ and an aspirated ‘H’; Discover simple words that begin with ‘H’ and those that have silent letters;   5.Count the numbers from 0 - 100; Write the numbers from 0 – 100 in French; Ask someone his age; Tell one’s age and phone number in French; Distinguish between the formal ‘you’ and informal ‘you’;   Week 2 Objective   1. Understand what articles are; Learn the three indefinite articles and their uses; Learn the three definite articles and their uses; Understand the concept of gender in French; Distinguish between definite and indefinite articles;   2. Understand what an adjective is; Understand the function of an adjective; Understand the relation between an adjective and the gender and number of the noun it modifies; Identify the different adjective endings; Identify four categories of qualifying adjectives and their inflection pattern;   3.Understand the basic concepts of tense and conjugation of French grammar; Understand the function of auxiliary verbs; Learn the eight subject pronouns in French Learn the present tense conjugation of the verb ‘avoir’ and ‘être’; Learn a few basic idiomatic expressions that are formed using the auxiliary verbs;   4.Understand what adjectives are; Learn the four inflected forms of the demonstrative adjectives; Learn how to indicate proximity with demonstrative adjectives; Learn the four inflected forms of the interrogative adjectives; Understand the relation between demonstrative / interrogative adjectives and the gender and number of the noun they modify;   5.Understand what possessive adjectives are; Understand the function of possessive adjectives; Understand the characteristics features of possessive adjectives in French. Learn the various inflected forms of the possessive adjectives; Understand the relation between possessive adjectives and the gender and number of the noun they modify;   Week 3 Objective   1.Understand what contracted articles are; Learn about the various forms of contracted articles; Identify the different contexts where contracted articles are used; Distinguish the different types of prepositions; Learn a few frequently used prepositions of location;   2.Understand the basic concept of verb conjugation in French; Learn about the various types of verbs that exist in the French language; Learn a few basic and commonly used 1stgroup verbs; Learn the present tense conjugation of all 1st group verbs; Learn the irregular conjugation pattern of certain 1st group verbs;   3.Understand what prepositions are; Understand the functions of prepositions; Understand the distinct features of French prepositions; Distinguish the different types of prepositions; Learn a few frequently used prepositions of location;   4.Understand what tonic pronouns are; Distinguish the difference between subject pronouns and tonic pronouns; Identify the various contexts where tonic pronouns are used; Emphasize the subject of a sentence; Realise the singularity of tonic pronouns in the French language;   5.Identify the gender of geographical locations; Learn the prepositions associated with different geographical locations; Learn the different prepositions associated with the gender of countries; Recognise the different inflected forms associated with the gender of countries; Learn a few geographical names in French;   Week 4 Objective   1.Learn the concept of negation; Learn the different structures used to express the negation; Distinguish the different nuances of negation; Learn how two verbs can be placed adjacently; Learn the concept of infinitive form of a verb;   2.Learn a new subject pronoun; Distinguish between on and nous; Learn the different meanings of on; Learn the distinct features of on; Learn about indefinite pronouns;   3.Understand what closed questions are; Learn the three distinct interrogative structures associated with closed questions; Learn how to answer a closed question in French; Learn the structure of est-ce-que; Understand what inversion is;   4.Understand what open-ended questions are; Learn the various structures associated with open-ended questions; Distinguish between a formal and an informal interrogative structure; Learn what interrogative adverbs are; Learn how to answer open-ended questions;   Week 5 Objective   1.Learn a few basic and commonly used 2nd group verbs; Understand the peculiarities of certain regular ‘-ir’ ending verbs; Distinguish between regular and irregular ‘-ir’ ending verbs; Learn the present tense conjugation of all regular 2nd group verbs; Learn the irregular conjugation pattern of certain 2nd group verbs;   2.Understand the concept of French ‘modal verb’; Understand the rule regarding two adjacently placed verbs; Learn the irregular conjugation pattern of pouvoir; Learn the irregular conjugation pattern of vouloir; Learn the irregular conjugation pattern of devoir;   3.Learn a few basic and commonly used 3rd group verbs; Learn a few commonly used ‘-oir’ ending verbs that belong to the 3rd group; Identify the irregular ‘-er’ and ‘-ir’ ending verbs that belong to the 3rd group; Distinguish the different subgroups of verbs in the 3rd group; Learn the conjugation pattern of a few of these subgroups;   4.Learn what reflexive verbs are; Distinguish the different types of pronominal verbs; Distinguish between pronominal verbs and their corresponding verb; Learn how to conjugate reflexive verbs in the present tense; Learn how to conjugate reflexive verbs in the negative form;   5.Distinguish between moods and tenses; Distinguish the different types of pronominal verbs; Distinguish between pronominal verbs and their corresponding verb; Learn how to conjugate reflexive verbs in the present tense; Learn how to conjugate reflexive verbs in the negative form;   Week 6 Objective   1.Understand the function of avoir as an auxiliary verb; Learn the uses of the compound past tense; Distinguish between past participle and present participle; Learn the past participle form of verbs; Identify the different past participle endings associated with the three groups of verbs;   2.Learn how to make negative sentences in the compound past tense; Learn how to use the various negative word-pairs in the compound past tense; Learn the irregular past participle of certain commonly used verbs; Understand the position of adverbs in the compound past tense; Learn a new phrase associated with French negation;   3.Understand the two functions of ‘y’; Distinguish between a preposition phrase and an idiomatic expression associated with a preposition; Identify the prepositional phrases that are associated with ‘y’; Identify idiomatic expressions associated with the preposition à; Learn the various positions of the pronoun ‘y’ within a sentence;   4.Understand the three situations associated with ‘en’; Distinguish between divisible and indivisible nouns; Identify different expressions of quantity; Identify phrasal verbs associated with the preposition de; Learn the various positions of the pronoun ‘en’ within a sentence;   5.Understand the function of être as an auxiliary verb; Identify the difference between the auxiliary avoir and être; Learn which verbs required être as their auxiliary; Identify the verbs that use both auxiliary verbs; Understand how the meanings change depending on the auxiliary verb;   Week 7 Objective   1.Use the imperative in the affirmative form; Use the imperative in the negative form; Identify the verbs that have an irregular conjugation pattern in the imperative; Use reflexive verbs in the imperative; Learn the different order of words when a reflexive verb is used;   2.Say the time in French; Learn how to say the time in numerals; Learn how to say the time in fractions; Learn how to write the time in French; Learn a few prepositions associated with time;   3.Talk about the weather in French; Use different phrases to express different types of weather conditions; Describe a weather condition in different ways; Learn the various words and phrases related to weather; Learn the different prepositions used with weather and seasons;   4.Talk about actions that just happened; Identify and compare the differences between the other past tenses and recent past; Talk about actions that are about to happen; Review the conjugation of the verb aller; Review the conjugation of the verb venir;   5.Speak about actions that are yet to happen; Identify and compare the differences between the near future and simple future; Learn how to convert an order into a polite request; Learn how to express the future using the present tense; Identify which conjunctions require the simple future;   Week 8 Objective   1.Place an order in a restaurant; Take an order from a client at a restaurant; Identify the different courses of a meal; Identify basic expressions and structures associated with French gastronomy; Review partitive articles and expressions of quantity;   2.Learn a third past tense; Learn the various uses of the imperfect tense; Learn the conjugation of all verbs in the imperfect tense; Learn the conjugation of être; Learn how stem-changing verbs are conjugated;   3.Identify a direct object; Distinguish between transitive and intransitive verbs; Distinguish between definite articles and COD; Learn the different positions of the COD; Learn how the past participle of verbs with avoir agree with the COD;   4.Identify an indirect object; Learn about the different types of object; Identify which prepositions are associated with indirect objects; Learn the different positions of the indirect object pronouns; Learn which pronoun to use when the indirect object is an inanimate object;   5.Use direct and indirect objects pronouns in a single sentence; Learn the various positions of the object pronouns; Use object pronouns in the negative imperative; Use object pronouns in the affirmative imperative; Learn the word order specific to the indirect object pronouns associated with the 3rd person singular and plural;   Week 9 Objective   1.Distinguish between an adverb and a preposition; Learn the various adverbs of time; Learn the various prepositions of time; Use different adverbs and preposition for conveying the same meaning; Learn new meanings of the prepositions à and en;   2.Learn various ways of giving an advice; Learn various ways of advising against something; Learn a different use of the imperative; Learn a different use of the future tense; Identify impersonal verbs;   3.Learn about clauses – main clause and subordinate clause; Identify an antecedent; Understand the different types of antecedents; Learn how to avoid repetition by using qui and que; Understand when the past participle agrees with the antecedent;   4.Understand what the comparative is in French; Learn the structures of comparison; Understand the superlative in French; Learn the structures of the superlative; Identify the irregular comparative and superlative forms of certain adjectives;   5.Understand the uses of the verb ‘servir’; Distinguish the different meanings of servir à and servir de; Review interrogative adjectives in French; Review demonstrative adjectives in French   Week 10 Objective   1.Review the French alphabet; Review the numbers in French; Review how to read a phone number in French; Review qualifying adjectives; Review possessive adjectives;   2.Review ‘avoir’ and ‘être’; Review the function ofthe auxiliary verbs; Review the ‘-er’ ending verbs; Review a few basic and commonly used 1st verbs; Review the irregular conjugation pattern of certain 1st group verbs;   3.Review the definite articles; Review the indefinite articles; Review the contracted articles; Review the partitive articles; Review the distinction between these various articles;   4.Review the tonic pronouns; Identify the various contexts where tonic pronouns are used; Review the different types of prepositions in French; Review the prepositions of position; Understand the distinct features of French prepositions;   5.Review the prepositions used with geographical locations; Identify the gender of geographical locations; Review the different prepositions associated with the gender of countries; Review the different inflected forms associated with the gender of countries; Review a few geographical names;