CBF Masterclass - Class of September 2018
Become a master of the French language
Presque disponible ...
The Class of October 2019 will be open for reg the Class of September 2018 has reached capacity. We'll be running the Masterclass again in 2019. Please complete the form below and we'll keep you posted when the next session is starting. If the form below isn't loading correctly, please click here.
Take your first steps to becoming a
Master of the French language!
- Six monthly modules covering the areas of French you need to know
- Multimedia lessons presented by expert teachers and native speakers
- Exercises, activities and checklists
- Homework activities and lesson discussion
How does it work?
The Coffee Break French Masterclass has been designed in response to the needs of intermediate learners in our community. With our regular, friendly lessons which fit your lifestyle we'll help you build your knowledge and develop your range of expression with the Coffee Break French Masterclass.
The course is structured in six modules, each module lasting one month. Over the course of the month we'll make available lessons and activities to help you plan your learning and build on what you've learned previously. If you can spend just 20 minutes on your learning three or four times a week, the Masterclass is perfect for you.
You'll be following the course with a group of learners from around the world, and we'll be with you every step of the way. Take the audio lessons on the Coffee Break Academy, and then complete the homework activities to test your understanding. Best of all, we're delighted to be able to guarantee feedback from our team of native speakers and experienced teachers.
Regular audio lessons
The Masterclass is built around our regular audio lessons, and in each module there will be five main lessons. As usual, the audio lessons are presented by our expert teachers joined by native speakers, and in addition to learning content and original dialogues, you’ll also benefit from our translation challenges and worked examples.
Exercises and challenges
We’ve also developed a set of exercises and challenges for each module which will help you consolidate the language you learn in the lessons. Some of the exercises are based around translations between English and French, and our challenges will involve you putting your language skills to the test with some writing practice.
Join the community
Our private discussion area within the Coffee Break Academy will allow you to share your learning with the Masterclass community. You can try out what you’ve learned with regular activities, or if you have questions about a particular aspect of the module lessons, you can ask our experts. The discussion area is completely private, open only to those involved in this Masterclass group so you can be safe in the knowledge that you’re working with a dedicated group of fellow language learners.
Course outline
The full curriculum of the course is listed below. The Masterclass is organised in monthly modules, and in each module you'll receive five audio lessons with accompanying notes and background reading. In addition, each month you'll take part in an activity to practise the language you've learned, and we'll send you a checklist and a review video to help you consolidate the language before you take the monthly test. Read on to find out more about what language is featured in each module.
Month 1: September 2018 - Learn about some of the trickiest verbs in the French language. Do you know the difference between savoir and connaître? What about amener and emmener? And can you use faire in all its senses and situations, including the tricky faire faire construction?
Month 2: October 2018 - How is your relationship with pronouns? Can you comfortably use direct and indirect object pronouns? Do you know when to use y and en? Do you despair with disjunctives? This module will help you build your confidence with French pronouns.
Month 3: November 2018 - Sometimes words in French look like words in English – and that’s when you need to be more careful! Words don’t always mean what they look like they mean. In this module on “false friends” you’ll encounter a series of words and expressions which often trick learners, and you’ll learn exactly what they mean, and how to say what you think they mean!
Month 4: December 2018 - Get on top of five of the most common tenses in French and know exactly when to use which one, how to conjugate regular and irregular verbs in each tense, and master the perfect, imperfect, future, conditional and pluperfect completely!
Month 5: January 2019 - In this module you'll be introduced to what learners often find to be one of the most tricky aspects of French: the subjunctive. You'll learn to recognise triggers, to form the subjunctive and use it in your own speaking and writing.
Month 6: February 2019 - The final module of our first season of the Coffee Break French Masterclass will help you to sound more French, using filler words, changing your questions and word order and lots more to help you sound more like a native speake
Your Instructor
The Coffee Break French team includes language teachers, native speakers and host learners, making your experience learning a language fun and enjoyable. You can be sure every course has been carefully written by experienced teachers to ensure you progress steadily through the lessons.
Frequently Asked Questions
"I have really enjoyed Masterclass so far. It has helped to stay focused on my study of the French language. Its format allows for different skills i.e. listening, reading and writing. I particularly value the video and checklist at the end of the module which is really useful for a quick recap of the main points without going through the entire module."
- Lesley Lamb, Masterclass Student
"After completing CBF seasons 3 and 4 I decided to give the CBF Masterclass a try and have not regretted it. I find it amazingly enjoyable. The lessons are so well structured and presented and, in my opinion, would suit learners of French on any level from beginners to more advanced. The modules, being targeted on one certain aspect of language, allow one to concentrate and get to grips with the presented theme. At the same time there is excellent opportunity to glean a multitude of extra vocabulary and idioms from the spoken paragraphs. Here the fact that Mark and native French speakers present the paragraphs, read both at normal and also slower speed, gives the perfect opportunity for fine tuning one’s aural comprehension. These I find invaluable, also with respect to the fact that there is a progression in each module which utilises themes presented in earlier modules thus re-enforcing the learning experience. The forums and exercises I really do enjoy as they not only allow for consolidation but in addition the contributions from the other equally eager participants are most helpful and the fact that there are corrections, if we wish, is yet another bonus of enjoyment and learning."
- Aileen Murdoch-Larsen, Masterclass Student