Levels
The workshops are exclusively for working with spoken French, so it is important not to get bogged down in traditional definitions of "levels" with the emphasis on grammar and reading and writing skills. Our workshops are aimed at people with different levels of ability to use spoken French.
If you have been involved in adult education classes which focus on the spoken language you will be familiar with the levels of beginner, improver and intermediate as mentioned below. On the other hand if you are some-one who has not been involved in this context it is useful to have a rough guide as to what we mean by these terms.
French-speaking mornings ("café-croissant")
These mornings are conducted entirely in French and are aimed at people who can get by speaking the French needed to engage in a conversation with a helpful person at a slow to medium speed. The format of the mornings means that within that loose description, there will be people whose French is at differing levels, but you would be able to get across and understand the gist of conversation about where you live, family, things you did in the past, plans for the day and the future, and ask other people about the same things. At this level you would expect to make quite a number of mistakes of course, and not remember wll the words you need, but that is not really relevant. The most important thing is that you would get by one way or the other and you'd be able to ask your partner if you didn't understand anything they said etc. The range of levels suitable for the French speaking mornings and the all-day workshops are about the same.
All-day workshops
These days are conducted entirely in French and are aimed at people who can get by speaking the French needed to engage in a conversation with a helpful person at a slow to medium speed. The format of the workshops means that within that loose description, there will be people whose French is at differing levels, but you would be able to get across and understand the gist of conversation about where you live, family, things you did in the past, plans for the day and the future, and ask other people about the same things. At this level you would expect to make quite a number of mistakes of course, and not remember wll the words you need, but that is not really relevant. The most important thing is that you would get by one way or the other and you'd be able to ask your partner if you didn't understand anything they said etc. The range of levels suitable for the French speaking mornings and the all-day workshops are about the same.
The beginners' workshops - "Fun with beginners' French" - format
These workshops are aimed at "almost beginners". They are not suitable for you if you have absolutely no prior knowledge of French. The workshops would be suitable for you if you have done some French at some time, possibly many years ago, and have forgotten all, or almost all of it. On the other hand you may never have studied French in a classroom, but you may have learnt a little during frequent holidays to France. Maybe you have just started to learn French in an adult education setting and have done a couple of terms or so.
the important thing for these workshops is to have some knowledge or background in French. The emphasis will be on "ringing bells" from things you have done in the past and "unlocking" the French which you have a vague feeling is there but not actually usable. Your knowledge of French might be very recent indeed, of course. If you have just recently followed a couple of terms of beginner-level French as an adult you will also have the platform from which we can help you to take off!
Future workshops for post-beginners
We are intending to run further workshops, for the "in-betweeners" - people who have done a year, or possibly more, of French as an adult, and are at a level beyond the "beginners'" workshop, but are not yet confident enough to join in with the "Fun with French" groups. If you are interested and would like to be kept informed about these, contact us.
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