French Activity Workshops

8th July 2010 workshop
£35 including refreshments and lunch
£30 if booked by 8th June

Availability
As of early June we have places available.
Email us for more details or to reserve a place.

Summer French
This and the April workshop are aimed at those who have a basic knowledge of spoken French but want to consolidate what they know, and gain confidence actually using their spoken language. Perhaps you are an improver or intermediate student. The activities are exclusively oral, and aimed at getting you to practise, practise, practise your spoken French. You may well revisit French which you have already "studied" at some time in the past, but you should start to build up a reliable bank of basic spoken language that you can actually come up with without thinking too hard!

Venue
The workshop takes place in the council rooms at the new Ottery St. Mary council offices in the centre of town at The Old Convent,8 Broad Street, Ottery St. Mary, Devon EX11 1BZ. The rooms are on the ground floor of the building and are elegant and spacious - luxurious by adult education standards- and with comfortable chairs. There is full wheelchair access. Please come round the right side of the building to find the public entrance to the council rooms which is round the back. The main front door is reserved for Council Office staff.

The plan is for a 10 o'clock start, so arrivals from 9.50.

Refreshments will be available throughout the day and we will be going round the corner to a local pub for a sandwich and soft drink lunch followed by tea or coffee and this is included in the price for the day. (Those who are partial to a "coup de rouge" or other acoholic drink to add spice to the day can pay for this as an extra of course.)

There is no parking on site (except for disabled drivers, by prior arrangement), but there is a longstay carpark on Canaan Way which costs £1.50 for the day.The Old Convent is about 5 minutes walk away. Map showing the carpark. The Old Convent is next door to the Tourist Information Centre (marked i on the map).

Approach
The setting will be relaxed and informal. We expect everyone to make lots of mistakes, to go blank sometimes, and have to gesture and gesticulate to make up for forgotten or missing words! Nearly everyone who joins a language group as an adult is worried that everyone else will be much more advanced, speak better, remember everything and make very few mistakes. So if you are worrying about this, you know you will be with like-minded people! In fact you will be doing everyone a favour by making a mistake or forgetting something, because most people will be thinking "oh good, I'm not the only one to forget things!"