- Online, In-Person
- $425
This course can be applied to the UBC Certificate in French Language and Culture or taken as a standalone course.
At the Intermediate and Advanced level, you should be able to understand most common and non-technical speech in French, and be able to hold a fairly fluent conversation on a variety of topics.
In this course, focus on improving your conversational fluency by acquiring more complex grammatical structures and sentence formation. Possible grammar topics, based on student needs, may include the advanced level verb tenses (conditional, future anterior, and introduction to subjunctive,) or use of relative pronouns. Increase your language spontaneity through interesting conversational exercises such as debates, presentations, cultural discussions, and small group work using French articles, poetry, websites and more.
Explore French language and culture in an enjoyable, interactive environment, guided by an experienced, native-speaking instructor. For extra practice between classes, you can access resources chosen by your instructor using our online system, Canvas.
If you need to miss a class, French Intermediate/Advanced is offered several times during the week, so you have the opportunity to make up your class on another day if necessary.
Course outline
This is not a prescriptive list. Exact course outlines are determined by the instructor to best meet the needs of each class. This is meant to serve as a guideline and suggest what may be covered at this level. It is often necessary to repeat levels in order to become completely comfortable with the skills at each stage with a different teacher and style.
Objectives
- describe a person, an object (review)
- talk about past experiences (review)
- talk about the future (review)
- be aware of different language registers
- express oneself with ease and fluidity
- express oneself with more complex use of idioms
- relate two different events in the past
- express hypothetical situations
- express and justify your opinion
- read simple authentic texts and understand general meaning
- contradict or qualify a statement
- produce a descriptive text
- express cause, consequence, opposition, concession
- give arguments to convince
- report somebody’s sayings
- refuse a request by giving a justification
- express regrets, apologies
- express different degrees of certainty
- express yourself in writing in 2-3 paragraphs with a minimum of errors
- communicate clearly and efficiently with French speakers
- make oral presentations in class
Possible linguistic objectives
- review of conjugations: present, imperfect, future
- pluperfect
- conditional
- comparatives and superlatives
- relative pronouns (qui, que, dont, etc.)
- direct and indirect object pronouns (review)
- pronouns y and en • order of pronouns
- linking words for opposition, consequence, obligation, cause, aim, etc.
- verbal expressions (venir de, être en train de, etc.)
- formation of adverbs from adjectives
- pronounciation and phonetics
- various expressions of time (pendant que, etc.)
- concordance between past tenses
- preposition and conjunctions
- subjunctive
- gerundive
- passive form
- difficult verbs: se douter, se figurer, manquer
- imperative and pronouns
- future anterior
- discours indirect
- double negatives
- variety of linking words
- pronunciation
How am I assessed?
This is a non-credit course without letter or numerical grades. You receive verbal feedback on your conversation and grammar skills from your instructor during class. Written homework is typically corrected in class. Some lesson modules may include quizzes.
Record of completion
A record of completion will be emailed to students who participate and satisfy the course requirements within two weeks of the course end date.
Technology requirements
You’ll need access to a laptop or desktop computer or tablet, an email account, and internet access and an up-to-date web browser. For real-time classes, you’ll also need access to a video camera and microphone.
Requisites
To register in this class, you should:
- be at ease speaking in the imparfait, the passé compose, the futur proche and the futur simple
- be able to respond spontaneously to a given situation
- be able to understand 70-80% of common daily conversations
Course format
This course may be offered online, in-person, or a combination of both. Please see Available Sessions for details on the course format.
About online learning
Our online conversational language courses offer you a real-time virtual classroom experience where you can see and interact with your teacher and classmates. Each week, you log in at a set time to your class using our intuitive learning management platform, Canvas. Through Canvas, you access Zoom, a web conferencing app, for your live class. Just like in a classroom, you do individual, pair and group work, ask questions and receive verbal feedback from your instructor.
Outside of class time, you can access handouts and other materials online at your own pace and rhythm. You might be doing readings or watching videos to prepare for your next class, or practising with the material you have learned in your previous class. You do get out what you put in.
In order for a virtual classroom to be successful, we want to see your faces! Please be prepared to participate with your video turned on. We provide virtual drop-in sessions for you to test out the Zoom app before your first day of class. We will also send you instructions on accessing Canvas before your course begins.
Learn more about online learning at Extended Learning.