Register now for our 2025 winter term!
- Multiple levels
- Small class size – max. 12 students
- Native-speaking & experienced instructors
- Affordable tuition – $380 per level
- 4 terms per year – each 10 weeks long
- Convenient downtown location or online
Learn French and study at ILI in Washington, DC or Online
Learn French with the International Language Institute. Our French Language Program at ILI consists of four 10-week terms throughout the year. We offer 8 different levels from beginner to advanced. French language classes meet once a week in the evenings or on Saturday mornings. Our teachers are all native-speaking and experienced. The French Language Program integrates speaking, listening, reading, and writing. We maintain small class sizes to enable adequate time for conversation in every class. To find your level, please refer to the level description or use our self-evaluation guide. If you have further questions, please call Jane Edwards, ILI’s Foreign Language Coordinator, at 202-686-5610 extension 105. Enroll now!
Live, Instructor-led In-Person or Online French Classes
Learn French in person or online from a live instructor using Zoom. All online classes are instructor-led, in real-time, allowing for the same live interaction as our in-person classes. Some of our classes are a combination of in-person and online students. We have 360-degree cameras in the rooms enabling online participants to feel part of the class. This hybrid class environment allows students to engage with each other and the instructor and to practice reading, writing, listening, and speaking the French Language.
Schedule Register Now!
Register now for our 2025 winter term!
2025 Term: | Session Dates: | Registration Deadline: |
---|---|---|
Winter | Jan. 13-Mar. 22, 2025 | Monday, Dec. 29, 2024 |
Spring | Apr. 7-Jun. 14, 2025 | Monday, Mar. 24, 2025 |
Summer | Jun. 30-Sep. 6, 2025 | Monday, Jun. 16, 2025 |
Fall | Sep. 22-Dec. 6, 2025 | Monday, Sep. 8, 2025 |
French Level Description
The emphasis of this introductory class is on pronunciation, vocabulary building, basic grammar and basic conversation. This course is for those students with little or no ability in the language. At this level, students will be exposed to the use of the present indicative tense and the formation and use of the imperative, which will enable them to handle basic everyday conversations about familiar topics. Introduction to basic listening, reading, speaking and writing skills will be addressed throughout the course. Previous French not required.
Objective: To introduce students to basic French vocabulary, present tense of regular and irregular verbs, gender in pronouns and nouns, and fundamental idiomatic expressions and to provide students with the ability to engage in simple conversation.
Learning Outcome: Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to use simple verbs in the present tense; engage in basic conversations involving greetings/introduction of self and the description of things; know general expressions and short phrases; and become familiar with the fundamental geography and culture of France and Francophone regions of the world.
Topics: Regular and irregular verbs in the present tense, informal vs. formal, gender of nouns, alphabet, colors, numbers, telling time, ask basic questions, use of the definite and indefinite articles, prepositions, pronouns, expressions of time and season, and imperatives.
Textbook: Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French All-in-One, 3rd ed., $51 including tax. Chapters 1-4, 10-11.
This course is the continuation of the Basic 1 level and for students who have taken formal instruction a while ago, or have previous informal exposure to the language. Building of the basic foundation provided in the introductory level, students will learn to introduce themselves and conduct simple conversations on a range of everyday subject. Students will learn to correctly use past and future verb tenses along with more complex vocabulary and grammar. Listening, reading, speaking and writing skills will be addressed throughout the course.
Objective: To provide students with the opportunity to expand their understanding of reading and pronouncing the French language and to continue to increase their conversational skills and knowledge of French and Francophone culture.
Learning Outcome: Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to engage in conversations involving themselves, each other and their immediate surroundings; name everyday objects, expand their knowledge of French pronunciation through reading and role playing, including increasingly complicated sentences and paragraphs and to gain a better understanding of French and Francophone culture.
Topics: More regular and irregular verbs; reflexive verbs; the verb avoir; pronunciation and counting; direct/indirect object pronouns; infinitive expressions; idioms; possession; adjectives; negations; vocabulary for asking directions and getting around town, and the expression il faut.
Textbook: Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French All-in-One, 3rd ed., $51 including tax. Chapters 5-8.
This level continues to build up necessary grammar skills that will enable students to understand, read, write and translate sentences and paragraphs. It continues to build on Basic 2 by adding vocabulary and more complex sentences. This course is well-suited for students that have completed at least one semester of college-level French or the equivalent in a language institute. Reflexive verbs will be studied in depth. Listening, reading, speaking and writing skills will continue to be addressed throughout the course.
Objective: To continue to develop and enhance students’ basic level toward intermediate level of reading, writing and oral skills in the French language through more intricate verb tenses and lengthier speaking and reading assignments.
Learning Outcome: Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to use more complicated French vocabulary in dialogues and written work; to correctly use present and reflexive tenses; and to continue to engage in increasingly complex conversations in French.
Topics: More reflexive verbs; relative pronouns; object pronouns; demonstrative pronouns; comparison; adverbs; definite articles, professions; telling time and the 24-hour clock; making suggestions, expressing likes and dislikes; the use of the verbs vouloir and pouvoir and the preposition chez.
Textbook: Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French All-in-One, 3rd ed., $51 including tax. Chapters 12-15, 28.
This course is ideal for those who studied French a while ago and need a refresher but Basic French is not advanced enough. While the first part of the course will be dedicated to a review, much of the course introduces new material. Grammatical points will include: idiomatic verb usages, expression of quantity, adverbial structures, expression of habitual and progressive actions.
Objective: To work toward a more advanced level of reading, comprehension and speaking with increasingly more complex subject matter and style.
Learning Outcome: Upon completion of this level students will be able to engage in conversations and be involved with reading about a broader range of topics with greater confidence and precision.
Topics: Students will review and expand their knowledge of verb conjugations, composite and verbal nouns, prepositions, direct and indirect object constructions, reflexive verbs, negative usages, possessives, conjunctions, and adjectives.
Textbook: Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French All-in-One, 3rd ed., $51 including tax. Chapters 16-19.
This course is designed to be a commencement of a thorough and comprehensive intermediate review with continuing understanding of intermediate elements of the French language and culture. Grammatical topics will review simple and irregular past as well as future verb tenses. More advanced thematic vocabulary and French and Francophone civilization topics will be introduced.
Objective: Through more complex vocabulary, grammatical style and topics, students will work toward a more complete understanding of reading and speaking, particularly about France and Francophone regions.
Learning Outcome: Upon completion of this level students will be able to take a French conversation or written passage to a more complicated level while acquiring a more advanced understanding of French and Francophone culture subjects.
Topics: By studying about current aspects of daily, real life situations such as speaking on the phone and making appointments, ordering food and discussing the details of food preparation and nourishment, students will review uses of the infinitive, auxiliary and reflexive verbs, relative clauses, and the past and future verb tenses.
Textbook: Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French All-in-One, 3rd ed., $51 including tax. Chapters 20-22.
This level is designed to be a final review of Intermediate classes as well as an introduction to the advanced levels. Students will be introduced to the complicated relationship between the passé composé and imperfect past tenses. Also included will be a deepening of already acquired topics, such as other verb tenses. Articles on Francophone culture will be presented in more detail than before.
Objective: Through increasingly more complex vocabulary and working interrelationships of verb tenses, students will deepen their knowledge of topics regarding reading and speaking and writing.
Learning Outcome: Upon completion of this level, students will have deepened their knowledge acquired in Intermediate 1 and 2 classes, and be able to successfully use all working verb tenses in an interactive manner. Past tense will become very familiar to students at the end of this course with the introduction of Passé Simple and listening and reading exercises in sophisticated past tenses.
Topics: Students will acquire enough fluency to be able to express thoughts and ideas, give detailed information about various means of transportation, directions, and detailed descriptions of areas, cities and towns in France. Students will review and master grammatical forms such as complex imperative constructions, conjunctions, subjunctives, adverbs, the recent past, conditional tenses, and expand their vocabulary.
Textbook: Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French All-in-One, 3rd ed., $51 including tax. Chapters 23-26.
This level is designed to prepare the student for advanced work in French. There will be a review of topics taught in Intermediate levels and introduction of new topics such as conditional and pluperfect verb tense and more sophisticated vocabulary and themes in French and Francophone culture.
Objective: Through new, advanced vocabulary, students will become accustomed to communicating in the imperfect tenses as well as review the use of irregular and reflexive verbs. A wealth of new vocabulary and idiomatic expressions will be introduced together with exposure to new cultural/social topics.
Learning Outcome: Students will become very familiar with various forms of the imperfect verb tenses, and they will be able to communicate in an evermore sophisticated fashion, especially about France and Francophone regions.
Topics: Grammatical areas of concern will be covered based on the specific needs of the participants in class. Grammar such as direct and indirect objects; more irregular verbs; adverbs; comparisons with adverbs and amounts; and the imperfect tenses, will be covered. Also, current social, economic, historical, political and other topics from varied French speaking countries will be introduced and discussed.
Textbook: Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French All-in-One, 3rd ed., $51 including tax. Chapters 27-30.
This level is for advanced work in French. There will be a review of previous material covered in the pre-advanced level, but the focus of this class will be on advanced topics; complex grammar, such as conditional, pluperfect, subjunctive verb tenses and more sophisticated vocabulary and themes in French and Francophone culture.
Objective: Through new, more advanced and complex vocabulary, students will become accustomed to communicating in the most advanced tenses as well as a review of irregular verbs. A wealth of new and more complex vocabulary and idiomatic expressions will be introduced together with exposure to new cultural/social topics.
Learning Outcome: Students will become very familiar with various forms of the conditional and subjunctive verb tenses, and they will be able to communicate in an evermore sophisticated fashion, especially about France and Francophone regions.
Topics: Grammatical areas of concern will be covered based on the specific needs of the participants in class. Grammar such as direct and indirect objects; more irregular verbs; relative pronouns; imperative and past tense of reflexive verbs; and the past perfect, conditional and subjunctive tenses, will be covered. Also, current social, economic, historical, political and other topics from varied French speaking countries will be introduced and discussed.
Textbook: Practice Makes Perfect: Complete French All-in-One, 3rd ed., $51 including tax. Chapters 31-36.
Program Details
We do not offer placement tests.
ILI is closed for the following holidays: Martin Luther King Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day. Group classes will not meet on these holidays and the missed class(es) will be made up at the end of the term.