(Spring 2024) French 1 (Beginning French), Part Two with Nathalie LaPierre

Continue your study of French, a beautiful, rich, melodious, and analytical language that encourages critical thinking in the student.

How to get the most out of French 1, Part Two with Nathalie LaPierre:

  • First, read the course materials below before the first class meeting.

  • Then have a notebook ready and available for class notes. I recommend dividing your notebook in four sections:

  1. Vocabulary: in French, nouns have a grammatical gender and should be learned with an article. Writing these words in a list or in context can be helpful for memorization;
  2. Verbs in French are complex. Organizing them in tables is necessary for memorization;
  3. Grammar rules section;
  4. Conversation in context, and written composition.
  • Some weeks, a video will be posted to explain a grammar point, verbs, French sounds, or expressions. These topics relate to the homework and assignment of the week. They should be viewed before the live class.

  • Each week will have a quiz for the grammar and vocabulary of the week, exercises from First Start French with the answer key, a self-correct spelling test, and most week will also have an assignment to be graded by the teacher. The order of completion should be like this:

  1. Watch the short video explaining the grammar/verb/expressions of the week;
  2. Read the lessons in First Start French;
  3. Come to the live class 20 minutes early;
  4. Complete the exercises in First Start French, correct your answers with the answer key, and use the quiz to sharpen your mastery of the topic(s) of the week (the quiz can be taken as many times as you would like and the highest grade is your final grade);
  5. Take the spelling test;
  6. Complete the assignment and submit it on Moodle for grading.

  • The class is recorded every week. You can review it as many times as you would like. Every effort will be made to practice conversation in our weekly class.

  • There are three tests for this course. I encourage you to come prepared to take the test in one sitting within one hour.

  • The project to be presented at the end of this semester consist of an oral presentation of a written composition by the student. Throughout the semester we will develop the paragraph to be written by the student. Each student will find that even with a limited vocabulary, they can express themselves well in French. The topic is about the coming summer vacation: Les grandes vacances.

  • At the end of the first year, the beginner student will have invested approximately 30 hours of live interaction with the teacher and 20 hours of recorded instructions and about 2 hours a week on reading assignment and homework to learn a basic level of French which will enable the student to understand and use simple French expressions, meet people, and ask simple questions. It will be easier to speak or read than to understand what the native French speaker says.

  • Once the course is completed to the parent's and professor’s satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records.

Total Classes: 13

Duration: 75 minutes

Prerequisite: French 1, Part One or equivalent. If desired, a quiz confirming abilities to understand and use the material taught in French 1, Part Two will be available.

Suggested Grade Level: 8th to 12th grade

Suggested Credit: One full semester French or Foreign Language

Instructor: Nathalie LaPierre

Instructor email: hsc.nathalie@gmail.com 

Course Description: More than 220 million people speak French on all five continents. Therefore, the ability to speak French is an advantage on the international job market. It is a culture that has influenced the Western World, and the Americas, and it is a beautiful and fun language to learn.

In Part Two, we will learn more irregular verbs in the present tense, and we will learn imperative, ‘near future’, and an introduction to ‘passé composé’ verb tenses. We will learn basic vocabulary words related to our homes, rooms, furniture, food/meals, animals, calendar, weather/seasons, measuring in French, stores/shopping, restaurant/transportation and profession.

Course Outline:

  • Week One: Review verbs avoir/être, verbes réguliers -er, verbes réguliers -ir, aller, faire; greetings, writing numbers, large numbers, comparing.
  • Week Two: house/furniture vocabulary and verb tense ‘futur proche’.
  • Week Three: Verbe vouloir/pouvoir, verbes boire/voir/dire, impératif; vocabulary words concerning meals and dishes.
  • Week Four: Review, test 1
  • Week Five: More on food, study an authentic French text: Dame Tartine.
  • Week Six: Verbes -re, verbe ‘devoir’; names of animals.
  • Week Seven: Review of verbs; how to study verbs; calendar: days of the week, months, vocabulary concerning time.
  • Week Eight: Review, vocabulary concerning the seasons and the weather.
  • Week Nine: Review 2 and Test 2.
  • Week Ten: Le passé composé, adverbs, shopping.
  • Week Eleven: Travels, restaurants.
  • Week Twelve: Professions.
  • Week Thirteen: Review 3 Test 3.

Course Materials: First Start French Level 1 Student Edition by Danielle L. Schultz, Memoria Press; ISBN# 978-1-93095-365-9 (https://amzn.to/2rAC5Mm)

Homework: Learning a second language is demanding. Depending on your goals, a minimum of 30 minutes a day is recommended. To help the memorization of the vocabulary words and grammar rules, different exercises have been developed for this class. There are: recordings for the vocabulary words, or the lesson of the week - the student can listen and repeat what he hears to develop his speech; quizzes on Moodle; and the exercises from the Student book. Quizlet sets (always in progress) help him memorize the meaning of words, their grammatical gender, their spelling and conjugation of verbs. Each week, a unique assignment has been created by the teacher for grading purposes, except the week the students have a test.