French Upper Intermediate (part 1)

In part 1, you’ll begin to increase your level of oral and written fluency. At this level, topics will be tailored to your individual needs and progress and will include discussing the future, making hypotheses, expressing judgement and justifying choices. You’ll revise the different tenses and learn more complex interrogative structures.

You’ll be asked to deliver a short presentation on the topic of your choice and debate the topic as part of a group discussion.

The 10-week module will give you a flavour of learning at an upper intermediate level without the commitment for the full year-long course.

Who is it for?

You should be able to communicate at CEFR B1 Level of French (approximately 180 hours of prior learning). You may have completed our full French lower intermediate syllabus or have a French A-level. The eligibility section has more information.

Timetable

This course takes place one evening a week at 18:30 for 10 weeks.

Benefits

• Learn without the commitment – part 1 of the course is completed in just 10 weeks
• Tailored learning to meet your needs
• Develop confidence to take part in discussions, debates and give short presentations
• Taught by qualified, native language tutors.

You’ll revise some lower intermediate topics during Part 1, including past events, work and studies and leisure activities. The learning topics given below are only a guide as topics change depending on your needs and progress.

By the end of this course you will be able to

• speak fluently on prepared topics and vocabulary
• give short individual presentations (10 minutes), followed by a group discussion
• talk about the future and make hypotheses
• give notions of time and duration
• express enthusiasm, indifference, dislikes with an enriched and expanded vocabulary
• express intention, judgement and opinions
• justify choices, approve and disapprove
• talk about French social current affairs, the education system and modern French society.

Grammatical structures

• revision of all tenses, including present, future, conditional, perfect and imperfect
• basic subjunctive present, key phrases
• pronouns: possessive, simple relative pronouns qui/que/où/don't
• more complex interrogative structures
• comparative and superlative; adverbs.

You will be awarded an official City, University of London certificate on completion of the course. You must attend over 70 per cent of the classes to be eligible for the certificate.

There is no formal assessment, but you will be expected to complete weekly homework tasks.

Teaching

This course focuses on developing oral and written fluency. Small group sizes mean the topics can be tailored according to the needs and progress of the class.

At this level we use more complicated learning material which relates to current affairs and contemporary social issues, giving a real-world setting to your learning. Discussions and debates will help give a level of sophistication to your oral skill development.

It is the right level if you:

• have completed our full French lower intermediate syllabus, or an equivalent course elsewhere
• can communicate at CEFR B1 level, according to the Common European Framework of languages
• have a A-level qualification in French
• have studied French formally for around 180 hours.

You should already know:

• the subjunctive, the use of gerunds and since/for/during
• how to speak fluently on most daily topics
• how to understand the content of newspapers.

English requirements

You will need a good level of spoken and written English to enrol on this course.