Coffee Break French Level 1

Take your first steps in French

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Are you planning a trip to a French-speaking country? Do you want to impress your French-speaking colleagues? Or perhaps you have French-speaking friends or relatives. With Coffee Break French you'll learn to communicate in French and understand how the language works using our easy-to-follow lessons, where and when it suits you.

What does the course contain?

There are forty lessons in total, representing over twenty hours of audio content, and extensive lesson notes to help you get the most out of the course. In each lesson, teacher Mark guides learner Anna on her language-learning journey. Topics covered include all common travel situations and you'll learn, alongside Anna, to communicate effectively with native speakers to make friends, buy things, order food and drink, check into a hotel, cope with emergencies and lots more.

The course is aimed at complete beginners, and through the forty lessons of Level 1, you'll acquire a solid grounding in the language. You'll soon be able to use French confidently with native speakers from all over the French-speaking world.

How does Coffee Break French work?

Think of Coffee Break French like going for a coffee with your friend who happens to speak French and is helping you learn in a relaxed, enjoyable way. Then add a solid structure and carefully constructed pedagogy which ensures that you progress through the lessons and build on previously-learned language.

Coffee Break French is not a simple series of "listen and repeat" audio programmes: in each lesson Mark explains how the language works, helping Anna - and you - to manipulate the language and use it in practical situations. As a learner Anna asks questions, and makes mistakes, so through Mark's explanations, corrections and pronunciation tips you'll build your confidence and begin to understand and speak the language.

In the same time it takes you to sit down and enjoy a coffee in your favourite coffee shop, you can make progress with your French. Our 15-20 minute lessons are perfect to keep you focused and let you develop your confidence in regular sessions.


Your Instructor


The Coffee Break French Team
The Coffee Break French Team

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.


Each lesson contains:

  Video lesson

Each video lesson is around 20 minutes in length and features the main learning content including dialogues in French, discussions about the language between Mark and Anna, and tips on grammar and culture. Think of the video lessons as "synchronised flashcards" where you'll see the words and phrases being taught on the screen as you learn.

  Audio lesson

We also provide an audio version of the lesson which you can download and listen to on the go. This will allow you to review the materials covered in each lesson to consolidate the language fully.

  Lesson guide and transcript

There's a full set of lesson notes for each lesson with transcripts of any dialogues contained in the lesson and explanations of all grammar points and cultural information.

  Bonus audio episode

Having listened to the main audio lesson and worked through the notes, it's now time to test what you've learned. The bonus audio content helps you test your understanding with review, translation challenges and bonus vocabulary.

Class Outline


  NEW: Access this course on Coffee Break TV
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  Lesson 3 - Saying where you are from
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  Lesson 4 - Talking about where you live
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  Lesson 6 - Numbers and more family
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  Lesson 7 - Talking about your job
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  Lesson 8 - Talking about likes and dislikes
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  Lesson 9 - Talking about what you've learned so far
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  Lessons 1-10 Quiz
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  Lesson 11 - Talking about language
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  Lesson 12 - Numbers, days and dates
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  Lesson 14 - Talking about your town
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  Lesson 15 - Ordering drinks in a café
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  Lesson 16 - Ordering snacks in a café
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  Lesson 17 - Ordering food in a restaurant
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  Lessons 11-20 Quiz
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  Lesson 21 - Talking about the weather
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  Lesson 22 - Checking in to a hotel
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  Lesson 23 - Problems with your stay at a hotel
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  Lesson 29 - More aches and complaints
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  Lessons 21-30 Quiz
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  Lesson 33 - Mix up at hotel check in
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  Lesson 34 - Breakfast at the hotel
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  Lesson 37 - Travelling by public transport
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  Lesson 38 - Seeking help at the pharmacy
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  Lesson 39 - Language review in a party setting
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  Lesson 40 - Linguistic diversity in France
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  Lessons 31-40 Quiz
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  We would love to hear from you!
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Frequently Asked Questions


Can I download the materials for offline use?
We use streaming video for the video episodes in this course, but you can download the lesson guides and store them on your device for handy reference. You can also download the audio files so that you can listen on the go to review what you've learned in the videos.
How long do I have access to the course?
This is a lifetime access course: you pay once and you'll have access to the course for as long as you like - across any and all devices you own.
When does the course start and finish?
The course starts now and never ends! It is a completely self-paced online course - you decide when you start and when you finish.
What's the difference between the course and the free audio I can find on iTunes?
You can indeed find Coffee Break French audio lessons on iTunes, but this course provides much more! You'll get the updated video versions of the lessons, lesson notes and the bonus audio materials which have all been created to help you make faster progress with the lessons. In addition, some of our free audio lessons contain advertising, but the Coffee Break French Premium lessons never contain advertising.
Is there a free trial?
Absolutely! You'll see on the course curriculum above that the materials for lesson 1 are available to preview. Simply click on the "Preview" button for each of these lessons and you can get a feel for what is involved. If you'd like to see how far this course will take you, we'd be happy to send you the lesson notes for lesson 40 to help you see how much you'll learn. Just pop your name and email address in the box below.
 

I just wanted to say how much I love your programs and I'm constantly talking about them. I just returned from a really long trip to Europe for work armed with Coffee Break French. It was fantastic! If only these materials were so easily accessible when I was a kid I might speak them all by now. Keep up the great work and thank you!

Justin Gould, Coffee Break French Facebook comment

I just discovered this last week and have been addicted to Coffee Break French ever since. I’ve listened to 11 lessons in the past week. I love Mark and Anna. The dynamic between them both is so charming and professional and the fact that Anna is also learning makes me feel more comfortable in my difficulties learning pronunciation. They are so much fun to listen to, with those adorable Scottish accents, and their French accents are amazing. This podcast is great for beginners and the pace is perfect.

SDIana, Coffee Break French iTunes Review

I tried a couple of other French courses before this one but found that they moved too fast for me or expected my learning ability to be intermediate plus. I haven’t studied French since GCSEs (10 years ago), and so my knowledge was very basic. CBF’s pace gave me the confidence to build up my skills and the lessons are all really applicable to the real world.

Hanabat, Coffee Break French iTunes Review

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