French - Beginners Level A

Due to the extreme weather conditions and in the interests of the health, safety and wellbeing of our students and staff, the College will close early on:

• Wednesday 24th June: College will close at 2.00 pm

• Thursday 25th June: College will close at 1.00 pm

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Please note our Bicester Campus is open as normal and Bicester Open Evening will be going ahead as planned on Wednesday 24th June (our Bicester Campus has air conditioning!). Register below.

Please continue to check the College website, socials and emails for any further updates.

Bicester open day

Course details

Course time:

19:00 - 21:00

Days of week:

Tuesday

Course date:

22nd Sept 2026 - 1st Dec 2026

Course location:

Abingdon Campus

Contact details

Email:

enquiries@abingdon-witney.ac.uk

Phone:

01235 555 585

This is a course for complete beginners. The main aim is to help you to ‘get by’ in a French speaking environment. “Rusty” beginners who have learned very little French but feel that revision and practice would be useful, may want to consider signing up as well. However, if this applies to you, you may need to consider that the course might be a bit too slow or easy for your needs, should you know much more than complete beginners.

The course will enable you to talk about yourself as well as asking and answering basic questions about your personal details and those of your family and friends, spelling names, providing telephone numbers, professions, expressing likes or dislikes. You will also cover the transactional language needed in a range of common tourist situations such as saying where you come from, enquiring about distances, places to go to, prices, explaining where to meet you, where you are going, ordering at café or selecting a breakfast menu.

You will cover basic grammatical concepts such as gender, adjectival agreement, singular and plural forms, and critically basic verb conjugation in the present tense. The emphasis however will be on speaking, listening and pronunciation; giving you an understanding of the fundamentals of the French phonics system so that you can apply it yourself to new words. You will do some basic reading and writing as well as short dialogues and interviews. You will also deal with relevant cultural topics based on life in France and other French speaking countries.

Please note there are no classes during half term.

What next?

French - Beginners Level B

Entry criteria

There are no entry requirements for this course. The standard is based on those who are complete beginners or at A0 in terms of the Common European Framework. If you are a “Rusty” beginner it is recommended that you speak to one of our tutors who will be able to assess the appropriate level of course for you.

Please note - you should be 19 years old or over at 31st August 2026 prior to starting the course.

Fee information

A textbook is used, Talk French 1-For Absolute Beginners, published by the BBC (ISBN 978-1-40667-890-1); to accompany the course but it is optional to buy this (average cost £10). The textbook will support your learning for at least 1 year. You may also like to buy a small dictionary. Your tutor will be able to advise you at the first session.

As part of your course we may organise trips to assist you with your learning. Trips are optional, and you will not be penalised if you choose not to participate.

There are bursaries available to help you with other course costs. Call 01235 216 212 for more information.

The rules on fee reduction are complicated and we would encourage you to talk to our Admissions staff on 01235 216 400 to discuss your options. You can find more information on our Fees and Bursaries page - search "Fees and Bursaries" at the top of the page.

Co-Funded Fee (19+)

£224.60

Reduced Fee (19+)

£124.80

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