French Beginners 1 - You and Your Family - CANCELLED (OL12L23A)

Course overview

A real-time online French language course for beginners which will focus on the theme of how to talk about yourself and your family.

This course is the first of three online beginners courses each focusing on a different theme. Each course is a 10-week stand-alone course which can be taken together if you wish to complete a full year-long beginner's course.

Where This is an online course.

When Thursday, 6:30pm - 8:30pm from 24th September 2020 until 3rd December 2020 for 10 weeks.

29th October (Half Term)

Cost The full fee is £127.00. The concessionary fee is £63.00.


Additional Costs
The use of a dictionary is recommended, to support study in the sessions and at home. To avoid unnecessary cost please do not purchase any textbooks until you are certain that your course will run. Course decisions are normally made a week prior to the course start date. Course fees over £127 can be paid in one single payment at enrolment or in instalments by Standing Order. Please contact the office for details.

What you already need to know

This is a beginners course. You do not need to have any knowledge of French.

What you will learn

Topics will include :

• How to greet and conduct simple polite interactions with people
  • The use of formal and informal address
  • Polite greetings and thanks
  • Simple requests and short interactions
• How to give personal information about yourself and others (your name, age, marital status, home town, profession and nationality)
• How to describe your family (this may include the use of the 3rd person and how to describe someone's features).
• In order to cover these, you will learn some basic grammar, language structure and pronunciation cues, specifically
  • How to use the verbs to have and to be in the present tense (and a couple of regular verbs in the 1st person),
  • How to pronounce and read French letters and sounds,
  • How to recognise and apply appropriate gender markers, numbers and age

By the end of the course, you will have more confidence when greeting people for the first time and introducing yourself and your family.

On completion of this course, you may wish to continue developing your French language skills which you can do by enrolling on French Beginners - Shopping and Eating Out starting in January 2021 and/or French Beginners - Daily life, Leisure and Holiday starting in April 2021.

How you will learn it

This online course is taught in real-time so that you can learn directly from your tutor Julie Marrel as well as through presentations, videos and online resources. You will have an opportunity to develop your conversational skill and Julie will give you guidance and feedback.

Bring to the first session

This course is taught online in real-time using a video platform (usually Google Meet), supported by other online resources.

To ensure you get the most out of the course and can fully participate in the sessions you will interact with your tutor and other students through speaking, listening and the chat function, as well as being able to see each other via the video links, though you can turn off your camera and microphone at any time.

You will need to have access to either a laptop, computer or portable device (e.g tablet) (this ideally needs to be less than 5 years old), with a camera / webcam and microphone, as well as a good broadband / Wi-Fi connection.

Though not a prerequisite, we would advise that you create a separate email account for your online learning prior to the start of the course and let the ACRES' Office and your tutor know the address. This will be more secure and also allow you to share your email address with other students on the course to enhance your learning experience, without disclosing your personal information.

You will be sent more information about your course, including how to join your online sessions, in due course.


Additional items needed to do the course

• Pen and paper
• French dictionary (optional)

Extra study or practice

Practise between the sessions is encouraged - the tutor may give suggestions for follow-up activities but is optional.

How to enrol

You can enrol by phoning ACRES' House on 01825 761820 on Monday to Friday between 9:30 am and 4 pm. Alternatively, to register your interest in a course please email adultlearning@acres.org.uk with the course title and your contact details and a member of the team will call you back to enrol you on your chosen course.

Next steps within this subject with ACRES

Future online courses with Julie Marrel:
French Beginners 2 - How to talk about Food & Drink, Restaurants and Shopping - starting January 2021
French Beginners 3 - How to talk about Daily Activities, Leisure and Tourism - starting April 2021


Please check the ACRES website for up to date information on all upcoming ACRES courses.

Future steps beyond ACRES

Find out about other courses with the National Careers Service for opportunities to extend your skills and knowledge.

Further information

Please visit the ACRES website, see our brochure, or alternatively call a member of the team on 01825 761820 or email adultlearning@acres.org.uk