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French - Beginners

Course code: LSAV022P

Subject area: Languages

Study level: Part Time

Course level: U

Course details

Course time:

19:00 - 21:00

Days of week:

Monday

Course date:

28th Apr 2025 - 14th Jul 2025

Course location:

Abingdon Campus

Contact details

Phone:

01235 555 585

This is a course for beginners with some basic French. The main aim is to help you to ‘get by’ in a French speaking environment. “Rusty” beginners who have learned very little French but feel that revision and practice would be useful, may want to consider signing up as well. However, if this applies to you, you may need to consider that the course might be a bit too slow or easy for your needs, should you know much more than beginners.

In order to avoid disappointment, it is advisable to enrol at least 2½ weeks prior to the course starting. We will confirm course information two weeks prior to the start date.

The course will enable you to talk about yourself as well as asking and answering basic questions about your personal details, noting down and giving telephone numbers and email addresses as French do. You will also cover the transactional language needed in a range of common tourist situations such as visiting a town, describing streets and buildings, planning activities with time and days of the week, buying a train or a bus ticket, and going shopping for food and diverse items or ordering menus at a restaurant with specific requests and concerns.

You will cover basic grammatical concepts such as gender, adjectival agreement, singular and plural forms, and critically basic verb conjugation in the present tense and in the near Future. The emphasis however will be on speaking, listening and pronunciation; giving you an understanding of the fundamentals of the French phonics system so that you can apply it yourself to new words. You will do some basic reading and writing as well as short dialogues and interviews. You will also deal with relevant cultural topics based on life in France and other French speaking countries.

Please note due to half term there will be no teaching on 5th May 2025 and 26th May 2025.

Abingdon and Witney College is subject to Ofsted regulation and is required to work with all its students to make sure they understand Government initiatives around Safeguarding, Prevent and Fundamental British Values. Information on these matters will be shared with you during your course.

You will also be asked to complete monitoring paperwork, which helps us to deliver course content to the highest quality.

What next?
French - Improvers A
Entry criteria
The entry standard is based on a Beginners B course completed or the level A1 in terms of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. This course leads to an A2 level in the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages). If you are a “Rusty” beginner it is recommended that you speak to one of our tutors who will be able to assess the appropriate level of course for you.

Courses can fill fast, so please enrol early to avoid disappointment. Decisions on whether a course is to run are made two weeks prior to the start date - an email will be sent to you should there be changes to your course or if it is cancelled. Please check your inbox leading up to your course, including the junk folders. For anyone without an email account, our Admissions team will phone you instead.

For the first week of the course you will need to bring a valid form of identification; this includes passport, driving licence, debit/credit card, Birth Certificate or National Insurance card.

Please note - you should be 19 years old or over at 31st August 2024 prior to starting the course.

Fee information
A textbook is used, Talk French 1-For Absolute Beginners, published by the BBC (ISBN 978-1-40667-890-1); to accompany the course but it is optional to buy this (average cost £10). The textbook will support your learning for at least 1 year. You may also like to buy a small dictionary. Your tutor will be able to advise you at the first session.

Courses offered by the college are fully or partly funded by the Government and the published fee takes account of this funding.

Before starting a course, the College is required to check you meet conditions relating to that funding, e.g. age, residency status within the UK/EEA, prior qualification level and employment status. In some circumstances (such as with online enrolments), these checks can only be completed after you have enrolled and paid.

If you are unable to pay in full for this course at the time of enrolment, and the course tuition fee is £300 or more, an instalment plan is available. If this is your preference, please do not enrol online but rather call the Admissions Team on 01235 216400 to enrol.

Once enrolled, Admissions will take the first instalment payment from you and pass on your details to the Finance team who will email you to set-up your payment plan. Please return a fully completed instalment plan to Finance as failure to do so could result in being withdrawn from your course.

The rules on fee reduction are complicated, we would encourage you to talk to our Admissions Team on 01235 216400 to discuss these options. You can find more information on our Fees and Bursaries page - search "Fees and Bursaries" at the top of the page.

Course fees

19+ Fee:

Tuition Fee: £192.00

Exam Fee: £0.00

Books: £25.00

Total Cost: £217.00

19+ Reduced Fee:

Tuition Fee: £96.00

Exam Fee: £0.00

Books: £25.00

Total Cost: £121.00

Qualifications received
As this is a non-accredited course, there is no formal qualification. However, you will be asked to complete activities that demonstrate how you are progressing on your course.
Learning & method assessment
Learning activities will mainly be organised in pair work/small groups. Homework every week will be based on a summary sheet of the lesson for you to review in your own time. There will be no formal examination.

To track your progress and achievement you will be required to complete a short document.