College French Language Tutoring

Elementary French (Levels 1~2)

General Course Format: 

Your first year of learning French will likely consist of frequent classes, where the professor will immerse you in the language through reading, speaking, listening, and writing tasks. By the end of the class, you will probably learn how to conjugate basic verb tenses (the present, past, and future tenses of the indicatif), spelling and corresponding pronunciation conventions, and simple grammatical constructions. 

Useful Resources: 

Most elementary French courses will consist of an introduction to basic vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation conventions. Most classes at this level will meet more than once a week, which helps get you familiar with the language quickly. However, to maximize your learning, it is important to review vocabulary lists and practice getting your pronunciation correct. Although this will feel like rote memorization at first, it will start to feel more and more natural as you interact with the language more. For these tasks in particular, it is often helpful to practice spaced repetition by making flashcards with platforms like Quizlet or Anki. 

Another aspect of French learning that can be difficult for students is verb conjugation. You can reference Le Figaro’s Conjugaison webpage, which provides conjugations for all French verbs and tenses. Simply type in the infinitive form of the verb into the search bar, and you’ll be able to conjugate any French verb that you can think of!

Quick Note: As you’re just starting out, it might be tempting to use Google Translate every once and a while, whether that be because you’re short on time on an assignment or don’t feel like reading an assigned passage in French. Do NOT do this! Not only does this keep you from actually learning the language, but you will also not be able to use these kinds of resources on tests, whether written or oral. But, with that aside, there are plenty of other translation websites that are often more accurate and equally as accessible, including Linguee and WordReference. WordReference is even used by native speakers and provides both French to English and English to French translations. Linguee serves as a similar resource, while also deriving more colloquial definitions from original French texts, adding a layer of nuance to your translations.

Intermediate French (Levels 3~4)

General Course Format:

Intermediate French classes, which correspond to a student’s second year of learning, tend to focus on improving skills, as well as broadening students’ vocabulary and grammatical knowledge. This is an exciting time in your language learning journey, as by the end of your second year, you’ll be able to speak with a reasonable amount of ease — think study abroad — and will be able to read shorter novels like Le Petit Nicholas by René Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempé and L’Étranger by Albert Camus!

Outside of the Classroom: 

The resources provided above for introductory French learners still apply for students at the intermediate level. However, there are additional challenges that come with later stages of learning the language. As you become more proficient in the language and learn more verb tenses, grammatical constructions, and high-level vocabulary, it is great to supplement your in-class learning with reading and listening to French media. FranceInfo is a French news site (with an app that you can download onto your mobile device) that will both help improve your French reading comprehension skills through articles and listening comprehension skills through televised segments and video clips. Le Parisien is also a good news site similar to the NYT, and Radio France Internationale (RFI) is a good source for media coverage in other francophone regions. However, if you want to engage with French outside of the news, there is plenty of French and Francophone media readily available: Dix pour cent [Call My Agent!], Lupin, and Le Bazar de la Charité [The Bonfire of Destiny], just to name a few titles. Netflix typically provides both English and French subtitles.