Start your beginner French learning journey with our Beginner French: A1.1 Course, suitable for complete beginners with no prior experience of French. This course introduces essential communication skills and provides a strong foundation in basic grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, making it ideal for learners wanting to learn the French language for travel, work, or personal enrichment in a supportive, interactive learning environment.

You will learn to introduce yourself and others, greet and say goodbye, ask for and give personal information, and communicate in simple classroom interactions. Grammar and vocabulary are taught in context, covering the verbs être and s’appeler, personal subject pronouns, indefinite articles, interrogative words, and gender in country names. Phonetics is integrated throughout, with practice in the French alphabet, the sound [y], intonation, and pronunciation of mute letters and basic liaisons to help you sound natural and confident from the very beginning.

DELIVERY MODE

Delivery mode for individual classes will vary from term to term, but will be listed as the following:

• Face-to-Face: WEA Sydney
• Online: Microsoft Teams

TEXTBOOK

• Cosmopolite 1 A1 Livre d'Eleve Book (Hachette: 2017), ISBN: 9782014015973

Supplier: Abbey's Language Book Centre
Please note that textbook cost is not included in the course fee. In the event of a course being cancelled, WEA Sydney cannot be held responsible for the purchase of any textbooks. Language courses will be confirmed or cancelled at least 7 days prior to their starting date.

COURSE OUTLINE

Communication

• Discovering the French language
• Introducing yourself; Spelling your first and last name
• Learning the names of countries
• Counting
• Communicating in the class
• Greeting/introducing someone; Bidding farewell
• Indicating someone’s occupation
• Asking and giving information
• Giving personal information

Grammar

• Present tense verbs : s’appeler, être
• Personal subject pronouns : je, tu, il, elle, nous, vous, ils, elles
• The different kinds of diacritic accents (acute, grave, circunflexe)
• The gender of the names of countries
• Subject pronouns: tu and vous
• Indefinite articles: un, une, des
• Interrogative words: qui, quoi, où, quand

Phonetics

• Pronunciation of the alphabet
• The sound [y]
• The stress of the last syllable
• The ascending and descending intonation
• Mute letters
• The verbal liaison of ils and elles

Vocabulary

• The first names
• Nationalities, Names of countries
• The days of the week, the months and the seasons
• Expressions for introducing oneself, greetings or someone else
• Expressions of politeness
• Numbers 0-99
• Professions

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Introduce themselves and interact in simple everyday situations, including greeting others, asking and giving personal information, talking about their nationality, occupation, and country, and communicating in the classroom.
2. Use basic French grammar and vocabulary with confidence, including the verbs être and s’appeler, personal subject pronouns, interrogative words, indefinite articles, and the gender of country names.
3. Recognise and reproduce key sounds and intonation patterns in French, including pronunciation of the alphabet, the sound [y], final-syllable stress, mute letters, and basic verbal liaisons.