Sophie recorded this most recent episode at the weekend in the run-up to Hallowe’en. She introduces the phrase avoir la trouille, meaning “to be scared”, and also lets slip her love of all things Harry Potter – en français, bien sûr! In her cultural input she tells us about her recent trip on a bateau mouche along the Seine.
Podcast (onlocation-french): Download
This week Sophie talks about the expression arriver à faire quelque chose, meaning “to succeed in doing something”. She provides examples in the positive and negative. She also talks about a recent visit to the Pompidou Centre.
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In this week’s first episode, Sophie talks about the expression se débrouiller, meaning “to get by”, or in some contexts “to muddle through”. She also taks about a recent visit to l’Hôtel des Invalides.
Podcast (onlocation-french): Download
Join Sophie in Paris as she explains our new video blog series On Location French.
Sophie is a Scottish student, currently studying in Paris, and she’s taking full advantage of the fact that she’s surrounded by native speakers of French. Each week she’ll be telling us about one expression or grammar point that she has learned in the course of the week. She’ll also take the opportunity to indulge in some “shameless tourism” and will be sharing her discoveries with us.
Podcast (onlocation-french): Download
It’s time for another lesson of Coffee Break French and this week we join Alf in his final text. He has been writing a diary over eight weeks while he has been renovating his new house in the south of France and attending daily French lessons with Veronica and Katie, the two other protagonists of our series. In this week’s text he tells us about the party he organised for his classmates.
In this week’s basic (free) version (12 minutes), we’ll present the text spoken at a slow speed and we’ll highlight one or two language points to help you understand the text. The extended version lasts over 29 minutes and includes a line-by-line analysis of the text and further examples of many of the grammar points and vocabulary included in the text. Topics covered in this week’s extended edition include more examples of preceding direct objects, some interesting situations where the subjunctive is used, and a number of worked examples where the listener will have to do some “mental translation”! As usual, in addition to the extended lesson, the members’ materials also include a lesson guide in both pdf format and our ePub version which now includes audio clips too. This ePub format has been specially created for the iBooks app on the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad.
If you’ve not yet decided to become a member for this season of Coffee Break French, you can purchase Season 3B (lessons 321-340) for £37.00 (+VAT in EU). If you prefer you can opt for Season 3 Complete (lessons 301-340) for £64.00 (+VAT in EU). If you’re an existing user, log into your Control Panel and choose your preferred option. If you’re new to Coffee Break French, choose between Season 3B (321-340) or Season 3 Complete (301-340) in our store. You may also be interested in Coffee Break French Season 3 on the iBookstore.
Purchase Membership | Access Members’ Materials | iTunes link | RSS feed
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Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
This week Apple announced that the iBookstore was launching in 26 new countries. We’ve added our new free iBook Focus on French Conversation to these stores, so the full list of links can be found below:
Over the next few weeks we’ll add our existing range of courses in iBooks format to the new international stores. As Apple continue to add new countries to the iBookstore programme, we’ll make our books available to learners around the world!
Since the launch of iBooks for iPod touch, iPhone and iPad we’ve been steadily repurposing our existing content for this new platform. However, we have also been working on some new content, pushing the possibilities of the format as far as possible. We’re very pleased today to announce that the first in the series of Focus on French is now available in the iBookstore. This first ebook features the basics of French conversation and is aimed primarily at learners of French in secondary schools. The content will, however, be useful to all learners of French. Best of all, Focus on French Conversation is a free download in the iBookstore!
Each chapter of the book begins with a short video presentation by our bilingual presenter Anaïs. Anaïs grew up speaking French but has lived in Scotland for the past few years so she has perfect French and English. Every phrase in the book is accompanied by an explanation, pronunciation tips and an audio clip, giving learners the chance to practise their own pronunciation. At the end of the chapter there’s another video in which Anaïs tests your understanding of what has been covered.
Future books in the series will cover grammar and common vocabulary areas useful for exam revision. These books will be launched in the coming months and we intend to have a whole range of titles available by exam time 2012 to help students prepare effectively for their exams.
iBooks can be viewed on all iOS devices including iPod touch, iPhone and iPad. You need to have the iBooks app on your device, and the title is downloaded directly through iTunes.
Focus on French Conversation can be downloaded from the links below:
Please note that because of the audio and video files included in the book it is 269mb and must therefore be downloaded via a wifi connection.
In this latest lesson of Coffee Break French we’ll be joining Veronica and listening to her final text. She has been learning French in Nice along with Katie and Alf and in this final text she updates us on what she has been doing and tells us of some important decisions she has taken.
In this week’s basic (free) version (15 minutes), we’ll present the text spoken at a slow speed and we’ll highlight one or two language points to help you understand the text. The extended version lasts over 32 minutes and includes a line-by-line analysis of the text and further examples of many of the grammar points and vocabulary included in the text. Topics covered in this week’s extended edition include the use of the word plus in positive and negative situations, and you’ll learn when you need to use l’un instead of un. As usual, in addition to the extended lesson, the members’ materials also include a lesson guide in both pdf format and our ePub version which now includes audio clips too. This ePub format has been specially created for the iBooks app on the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad.
If you’ve not yet decided to become a member for this season of Coffee Break French, you can purchase Season 3B (lessons 321-340) for £37.00 (+VAT in EU). If you prefer you can opt for Season 3 Complete (lessons 301-340) for £64.00 (+VAT in EU). If you’re an existing user, log into your Control Panel and choose your preferred option. If you’re new to Coffee Break French, choose between Season 3B (321-340) or Season 3 Complete (301-340) in our store. You may also be interested in Coffee Break French Season 3 on the iBookstore.
Purchase Membership | Access Members’ Materials | iTunes link | RSS feed
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Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
Lesson 28 of season 3 offers an analysis of the second part of Katie’s latest text. As usual, we’ll be covering a range of expressions and grammar points. The free version of this lesson includes the recording of Katie’s text along with explanations of the language she uses to help you understand the text.
In this week’s basic (free) version (14 minutes), we’ll present the text spoken at a slow speed and we’ll highlight one or two language points to help you understand the text. The extended version lasts over 32 minutes and includes a line-by-line analysis of the text and further examples of many of the grammar points and vocabulary included in the text. We’ll also be looking further at the Past Historic tense with -ir and -re verbs. As usual, in addition to the extended lesson, the members’ materials also include a lesson guide in both pdf format and our ePub version which now includes audio clips too. This ePub format has been specially created for the iBooks app on the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad.
If you’ve not yet decided to become a member for this season of Coffee Break French, you can purchase Season 3B (lessons 321-340) for £37.00 (+VAT in EU). If you prefer you can opt for Season 3 Complete (lessons 301-340) for £64.00 (+VAT in EU). If you’re an existing user, log into your Control Panel and choose your preferred option. If you’re new to Coffee Break French, choose between Season 3B (321-340) or Season 3 Complete (301-340) in our store. You may also be interested in Coffee Break French Season 3 on the iBookstore.
Purchase Membership | Access Members’ Materials | iTunes link | RSS feed
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
In the long-awaited return to Coffee Break French we spend episode 27 of season 3 looking at the first part of Katie’s latest text in which she updates us on what’s she’s been getting up to in Nice. In this episode we’ll be looking at a variety of grammatical topics including the relative pronouns ce que and ce qui, and we’ll also consider some examples of the future perfect tense. The second part of Katie’s text will be analysed in the next lesson.
In this week’s basic (free) version (14 minutes), we’ll present the text spoken at a slow speed and we’ll highlight one or two language points to help you understand the text. The extended version lasts over 32 minutes and includes a line-by-line analysis of the text and further examples of many of the grammar points and vocabulary included in the text. As usual, in addition to the extended lesson, the members’ materials also include a lesson guide in both pdf format and our ePub version which now includes audio clips too. This ePub format has been specially created for the iBooks app on the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad.
If you’ve not yet decided to become a member for this season of Coffee Break French, you can purchase Season 3B (lessons 321-340) for £37.00 (+VAT in EU). If you prefer you can opt for Season 3 Complete (lessons 301-340) for £64.00 (+VAT in EU). If you’re an existing user, log into your Control Panel and choose your preferred option. If you’re new to Coffee Break French, choose between Season 3B (321-340) or Season 3 Complete (301-340) in our store. You may also be interested in Coffee Break French Season 3 on the iBookstore.
Purchase Membership | Access Members’ Materials | iTunes link | RSS feed
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
We return to Alf’s story this week on Coffee Break French and his wife, Jennifer, has finally arrived in France. Alf has been preparing for her arrival, both with the house renovations and he’s even learned to cook! As usual there are plenty of useful expressions and interesting grammar points in this week’s lesson. In addition, following many requests from our members, the extended version of this week’s lesson features an introduction to a new tense, the Past Historic, which is a narrative tense used in literary texts.
In this week’s basic (free) version (12 minutes), we’ll present the text spoken at a slow speed and we’ll highlight one or two language points to help you understand the text. The extended version lasts 29 minutes and includes a line-by-line analysis of the text and further examples of many of the grammar points and vocabulary included in the text. As usual, in addition to the extended lesson, the members’ materials also include a lesson guide in both pdf format and our ePub version which now includes audio clips too. This ePub format has been specially created for the iBooks app on the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad.
If you’ve not yet decided to become a member for this season of Coffee Break French, you can purchase Season 3B (lessons 321-340) for £37.00 (+VAT in EU). If you prefer you can opt for Season 3 Complete (lessons 301-340) for £64.00 (+VAT in EU). If you’re an existing user, log into your Control Panel and choose your preferred option. If you’re new to Coffee Break French, choose between Season 3B (321-340) or Season 3 Complete (301-340) in our store. You may also be interested in Coffee Break French Season 3 on the iBookstore.
Purchase Membership | Access Members’ Materials | iTunes link | RSS feed
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
This is the second of our free bonus items for this week’s episode of Coffee Break French. The ePub / ebook version of our lesson provides the lesson notes and audio clips in a convenient ebook format which can be played on all iOS devices including iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. The ePubs have proven very popular with our members, and we hope that you find this useful. Please note that the multimedia elements will not work correctly on other ebook readers, and this ebook will unfortunately not work at all with the Amazon Kindle. eBook readers are unfortunately not yet standardised and at the moment it is not possible to create a Kindle version of our multimedia enhanced ebooks.
If you’re not able to use the ePub version, you can download our PDF lesson guide. There are no audio clips in this version, but you will still be able to access all the language notes, transcript and vocabulary associated with the lesson.
Download links: ePub for iOS devices | PDF document
If you’re an iTunes user you can download the ePub file using the link above and drag it into your iTunes library. You may also need to download the free iBooks app from the App Store. You can then sync it to your device and enjoy our free lesson. If you’re viewing this website on an iOS device you can use the ePub download link above and open in the iBooks app. We hope you enjoy this free bonus!
If you would like to be able to access the ePub and PDF version of every lesson, you may wish to consider becoming a member for this season of Coffee Break French. You can purchase Season 3B (lessons 321-340) for £37.00 (+VAT in EU). If you prefer you can opt for Season 3 Complete (lessons 301-340) for £64.00 (+VAT in EU). If you’re an existing user, log into your Control Panel and choose your preferred option. If you’re new to Coffee Break French, choose between Season 3B (321-340) or Season 3 Complete (301-340) in our store. You may also be interested in Coffee Break French Season 3 on the iBookstore.
This week we’re offering a special treat for our free subscribers: the extended version of our lessons is normally only available to subscribers, but this week we’re giving this extended version away free to our non-members to let you know what you’re missing! The extended version features the same basic content as the free lesson, but there are over 15 minutes of extra explanations, examples and tests to help you understand more of the language covered.
Use the play link below to listen to the extended version, or access it through the normal iTunes feed. We hope you enjoy this free bonus!
If you like what you hear, you may wish to consider becoming a member for this season of Coffee Break French, you can purchase Season 3B (lessons 321-340) for £37.00 (+VAT in EU). If you prefer you can opt for Season 3 Complete (lessons 301-340) for £64.00 (+VAT in EU). If you’re an existing user, log into your Control Panel and choose your preferred option. If you’re new to Coffee Break French, choose between Season 3B (321-340) or Season 3 Complete (301-340) in our store. You may also be interested in Coffee Break French Season 3 on the iBookstore.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
In this week’s lesson we’ll continue with Alf’s text from last week. There are some fantastic examples of preceding direct objects in this week’s show, and you’ll have the opportunity to practise ne … rien and ne … que.
In this week’s basic (free) version (17 minutes), we’ll present the text spoken at a slow speed and we’ll highlight one or two language points to help you understand the text. The extended version lasts over 32 minutes and includes a line-by-line analysis of the text. As usual, in addition to the extended lesson, the members’ materials also include a lesson guide in both pdf format and our ePub version which now includes audio clips too. This ePub format has been specially created for the iBooks app on the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad.
If you’ve not yet decided to become a member for this season of Coffee Break French, you can purchase Season 3B (lessons 321-340) for £37.00 (+VAT in EU). If you prefer you can opt for Season 3 Complete (lessons 301-340) for £64.00 (+VAT in EU). If you’re an existing user, log into your Control Panel and choose your preferred option. If you’re new to Coffee Break French, choose between Season 3B (321-340) or Season 3 Complete (301-340) in our store. You may also be interested in Coffee Break French Season 3 on the iBookstore.
Purchase Membership | Access Members’ Materials | iTunes link | RSS feed
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
Lesson 323 is the first of two lessons which focus on Alf’s latest text which has lots of interesting language points to discuss. Alf has been attending cookery lessons in Nice and he reports back on this in this week’s episode. Language points include lots more preceding direct object examples and the intriguing use of que l’on instead of qu’on!
In this week’s basic (free) version (12 minutes), we’ll present the text spoken at a slow speed and we’ll highlight one or two language points to help you understand the text. The extended version lasts over 27 minutes and includes a line-by-line analysis of the text. As usual, in addition to the extended lesson, the members’ materials also include a lesson guide in both pdf format and our ePub version which now includes audio clips too. This ePub format has been specially created for the iBooks app on the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad.
If you’ve not yet decided to become a member for this season of Coffee Break French, you can purchase Season 3B (lessons 321-340) for £37.00 (+VAT in EU). If you prefer you can opt for Season 3 Complete (lessons 301-340) for £64.00 (+VAT in EU). If you’re an existing user, log into your Control Panel and choose your preferred option. If you’re new to Coffee Break French, choose between Season 3B (321-340) or Season 3 Complete (301-340) in our store. You may also be interested in Coffee Break French Season 3 on the iBookstore.
Purchase Membership | Access Members’ Materials | iTunes link | RSS feed
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Podcast (cbf-podcast): Download
