» French course outlines

The Cactus Course Outlines provide a learning framework for the Cactus Foreign Language Evening Courses. They are designed to provide you with a good idea of what you might cover during the course and include typical themes, vocabulary fields, grammar, cultural content and skills work for the language and the level. The Outlines are flexible rather than prescriptive, in that our teachers always plan their lessons with the specific abilities, aims and interests of the students in their classes in mind.

• French Beginner 1
• French Beginner 2
• French Beginner 3
• French Elementary 1
• French Elementary 2
• French Elementary 3
• French Intermediate 1
• French Intermediate 2
• French Intermediate 3
• French Upper Intermediate
• French Advanced
• French Proficiency

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Greetings
• Alphabet + letters combination
• Nationalities and countries
• Jobs
• Numbers
• Giving personal details (address, telephone number, email, age)
• Filling a form
• Food and drinks
• Holidays in France and abroad
• Describing a city (jobs and places)
• Using a dictionary

Grammar:

• Nouns – feminine, masculine, singular, plural
• The verbs ‘être’, ‘avoir’ in the present tense
• Articles – definite and indefinite
• Adjective agreement in gender and number
• Verbs in ‘ER’
• Etre and Avoir
• Prepositions of place
• Il y a + Il n’y a pas
• Word order: sentence/question
• Key prepositions – à, dans, en, au, etc.
• Yes/no questions

Cultural content:

• Paris
• Cities of France
• French speaking countries
• French names
• Map of France

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/active practice
• Role-plays
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation – key sounds

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Review and practice level 1 vocabulary/grammar
• Talking about family, friends and celebrities
• Talking about oneself – key personal information + likes/dislikes
• Talking about hobbies
• Daily life – routines, habits, free time
• Days of the week
• Animals
• Telling the time
• Consumer goods – clothes, accessories, food
• Describing objects – shape, colour, size
• Talking about the weather
• Shopping

Grammar:

• Possessive pronouns
• Revision ‘ER’ verbs
• The immediate past: ‘venir de’
• Negative sentences
• Key verbs: faire, aller, sortir, etc.
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Frequency adverbs
• Reflexive verbs in ‘ER’
• Question words (quel)

Cultural content:

• French speaking celebrities
• French daily routine
• French brands and products
• Bruxelles

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/active practice
• Role-plays
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation – key sounds

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Food and drinks
• Talking about prices
• Eating out – booking a table, ordering
• Eating habits
• Talking about future plans
• Talking about abilities
• Talking about life experience

Grammar:

• Quantities
• Partitive articles: du, de la, des
• Near future : aller + infinitive
• Direct Object Pronouns : le, la, les
• Passé composé with être and avoir + past participles (regular/irregular)
• Verbs pouvoir and savoir
• Time words and phrases: depuis, pendant, il y a, etc.

Cultural content:

• French food and drinks
• Eating etiquette
• French eating habits
• Famous French people
• French NGOs
• French cheeses

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/active practice
• Role-plays
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation – key sounds

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Talking about learning a language
• Talking about feelings and emotions
• Talking about hobbies
• Home – describing rooms, furniture and activities in each rooms
• Accomodation – camping, hotels, etc.
• Describing objects – shape, size, usage
• Talking about health
• Describing ailments and symptoms + body parts
• Asking for and giving advice
• Giving instructions
• Giving your opinion – trouver/c’est + adjective
• Writing a letter/an email

Grammar:

• Review of Passé Composé
• Indirect pronouns – lui/leur
• Aims and causes (pour, parce que)
• Prepositions of place
• Comparison and superlative
• Pronoun ‘y’
• Imperative
• Should/Shouldn’t (devoir in the conditional)

Cultural content:

• Talking about Europe
• La pétanque
• French countryside
• French people and sport

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/active practice
• Role-plays
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation – key sounds

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Describing the past
• Comparing the past and the present
• Describing someone’s life
• Telling stories
• Ask for information about someone
• Imagining life in the future

Grammar:

• Imperfect
• Time phrases
• Indefinite adjectives and pronouns – tous, la plupart, quelque, aucun
• Using ‘on’
• Present continous – être en train de + infinitive
• Passé composé vs Imperfect
• Relative pronouns – qui, que, où
• The future tense – regular/irregular
• Si + future
• Word order: the adjective

Cultural content:

• Historical figures
• Strikes, demonstrations and struggles in France
• French painters
• Famous places in France
• French regions
• French proverbs and quotes

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/active practice
• Role-plays
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation – key sounds

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Asking for a favour
• Asking if you can do something
• Refusing/Accepting
• Explaining your reasons
• Describing actions in the past
• Telling anecdotes in the past
• Expressing different levels of certainty
• Talking about countries

Grammar:

• Modal verbs – vouloir, pouvoir, devoir
• Conditional tense
• Use of different registers to express opinions
• Question words – quand, comment, pourquoi, etc.
• Country genders + prepostions (à, en, au, etc.)

Cultural content:

• Dos and don’t in France
• Molière and performing arts in France
• Famous French people
• Francophonie
• French-speaking Africa
• French regions
• La Réunion

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/active practice
• Role-plays
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation – key sounds

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Talking about past experiences and encounters
• Expressing aims and causes – comme, puisque and parce que
• Providing a detailed description
• Describing personal motives
• Justitying a choice
• Talking about travels
• Making suggestions
• Giving your opinion
• Hypothesising
• Talking about countries and regions
• Describing a fictional character
• Describing feelings and emotions
• Talking of hopes and aspirations
• Expressing regrets

Grammar:

• Review of the past and future tenses
• Plus-que-parfait (Past perfect)
• Agreement of the past participle with avoir (passé composé tense)
• Direct pronouns (le, la, les)
• Conditional tense
• Hypothesis : si + imparfait
• Prepositions with countries and regions
• Past conditional
• Adverbs in ‘-ment’

Cultural content:

• French regions
• French people and their holidays
• Popular French tourist sites
• The French artistic scene

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/active practice
• Lots of listening
• Lots of new vocabulary
• Pronunciation

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Expressing, promoting and justifying opinions
• Debating: politics, recycling, the environment, new technologies, social issues, consumerism
• Expressing feelings and emotions
• Expressing obligation, possibilities and restrictions
• Writing a variety of texts (text messages, emails, letters etc.)
• Talking about movies (storyline and characters)

Grammar:

• Linking words
• Subjunctive
• Verbs to express opinion - je crois que, je pense que etc.
• Impersonal structures – il faut que etc.
• Gerund : ‘-ant’
• Direct vs indirect pronouns
• Structures with verbs expressing feelings – je regretted que/ je regretted de etc.
• Pronouns order
• Relative pronouns – ce qui, ce que, ce don’t
• Word order : the adjective
• Style and register: formal/ informal

Cultural content:

• Political life in France
• Environmental issues
• New technologies
• Social causes
• French cinema (films, directors and actors)

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/debating
• Lots of listening
• Producing various styles of written French

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Summarising and reporting information
• Presentations – structures and phrases
• Talking about the professional world
• Details of business etiquette
• Inequalities at work
• Expressing feelings and ideas
• The media
• Explaining the meaning of a word
• Playing with words – poetry, proverbs, word-play, word creation, metaphors, stylised writing
• Language register – colloquial idioms

Grammar:

• Reported speech – structures and tense agreement
• Collective nouns agreement – une majorité de, la plupart de etc
• Suffixes
• Passive tense
• Pronoun ‘en’
• Linking words
• Nominalisation
• Language register

Cultural content:

• Equality at work
• The French Educational system
• French people and the media
• Songs in French
• Francophonie
• French poetry
• Slam

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/debating
• Lots of listening
• Producing various styles of written French

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Defining words, concepts and objects
• French slang
• Reporting uncertain information
• Origin of some French words
• Advertising and slogans
• Colloquial expressions
• French sayings
• Advising according to different registers
• Genuine spoken French
• Expressing feelings and sensations
• Playing with the language
• French literature
• Writing a text message
• Describing a picture in details
• Presenting a document

Grammar:

• Complex relative pronouns – avec lequel, sur lequel etc
• Past and present conditional
• C’est, ce sont…qui/que
• Nominal sentences
• Adverbs
• Exlamation – ‘Comme c’est grand !’
• Negative sentences
• Word order : adjectives
• Subjunctive
• Past participle agreement
• Punctuation
• Pour vs par
• Imperative
• Prepositions of place

Cultural content:

• Origin of some French words
• The media
• Advertising
• French music
• Comic books
• French authors and literature
• French poetry
• History of the French language/different varieties of French

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/debating
• Lots of listening
• Understanding different accents
• Producing various styles of written and spoken French

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Making a presentation
• Putting forward arguments
• Cause/consequence
• Expressing opinions and feelings
• Hypothesising
• Reporting a message
• Expressing nuance
• Talking about memories
• Aesthetics
• Current events
• Social issues

Grammar:

• Presentations: words and structures
• Subjunctive: present, imperfect and past perfect
• Nominalisation
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Past participle vs gerund
• Si + tenses
• Conditional : present and past
• Past perfect
• Adjectives
• Structures for reported speech

Cultural content:

• The French education system
• French fine arts
• French music
• French cinema
• French literature
• French history
• Doing business in French

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/debating
• Lots of listening
• Understanding different accents
• Producing various styles of written and spoken French

Topics & Vocabulary:

• Expressing thoughts and feelings
• Subjectivity vs objectivity
• Structuring your speech
• Language registers
• Political and social issues
• Stereotypes
• Regional differences
• History
• Current events

Grammar:

• Subjunctive
• ‘Ne’ explétif
• Nominalisation
• Linking words
• Complex use of grammar to contribute in a debate

Cultural content:

• French institutions
• French values and symbols
• Francophonie
• French philosophy
• The media in France
• French politics
• French arts
• French gastronomy
• French body language

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking/debating
• Lots of listening
• Understanding different accents
• Producing various styles of written and spoken French