French Course Level Structure

Our French group courses are divided into clear 10-week levels, with one 90-minute class each week. Complete beginners start with French Level 1, and each term builds on the language and skills covered in the previous level.

The course pathway follows the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, progressing from A1 beginner French through to B2 and beyond. Our classes use the Entre Nous course book series, with each book studied across several ILB levels. This allows students to build confidence steadily without rushing through important grammar, vocabulary and communication skills.

New French Level 1 classes start every term. Continuing classes progress throughout the year, subject to enrolments and student progression.

How Our Levels Work

Each ILB level is one 10-week course. Completing a full CEFR stage takes several terms:

• A1 Beginner: French Levels 1–5
• A2 Elementary: Intermediate 1–6
• B1 Intermediate: Advanced 1–8
• B2 Upper Intermediate: Upper Advanced 1–8

Most students use one course book throughout an entire CEFR stage, so you will usually keep the same book for several terms.

Entre Nous 1

French A1 - Beginner

A1 builds the foundations of everyday French. You’ll learn to introduce yourself, ask and answer simple questions, describe people and places, manage common travel and social situations, talk about your routines and begin discussing past events and future plans.

  • Introductions and everyday basics - Unit 1

    You’ll learn to greet people, introduce yourself and others, ask basic questions and talk about your nationality, work, interests and preferences. You’ll also practise numbers, prices and simple interactions in cafés and everyday situations.

    Language focus includes French pronunciation and the alphabet, masculine and feminine nouns, singular and plural forms, être and avoir, regular -er verbs and basic sentence construction.

  • Getting Around Town - Units 2 - 3

    You’ll learn to describe your town, talk about places and services, ask for and understand directions and discuss different forms of transport.

    Language focus includes question forms, possessive adjectives, negative sentences, prepositions of place, the pronoun on and the verb aller.

  • Family, Hobbies and Daily Life - Units 4 - 5

    You’ll learn to describe family and friends, talk about hobbies and interests and explain your habits and daily routine.

    Language focus includes common irregular present-tense verbs, demonstrative adjectives, expressing agreement and disagreement and telling the time.

  • Going Out, Work and Past Events - Units 5 - 6

    You’ll learn to make plans, invite someone out, talk about cinema and social activities and describe your work and skills. You’ll also begin talking about events that have already happened.

    Language focus includes question forms, reflexive verbs, negative sentences and an introduction to the passé composé with avoir and être.

  • Shopping, Food and Future Plans - 7 - 8

    You’ll learn to talk about weather, clothing, colours and sizes; buy and sell products; discuss food preferences; and order in a restaurant. You’ll also begin talking about upcoming plans.

    Language focus includes quantities and partitive articles, the futur proche, direct object pronouns and the verbs savoir, pouvoir and devoir.

Entre Nous 2

French A2 — Intermediate

A2 helps you become more independent in everyday French. You’ll describe experiences, homes, work and health; give opinions and advice; tell stories in the past; discuss future plans; and take part in longer conversations about life, culture and society.

  • Experiences, Opinions and Education - Unit 1

    You’ll learn to discuss school and learning experiences, give your opinion and express emotions, challenges and difficulties.

    Language focus includes revision of the passé composé and the use of indirect object pronouns.

  • Home and Lifestyle - Unit 2

    You’ll learn to describe your home, furniture and living arrangements, discuss lifestyle choices and manage situations such as renting accommodation in France.

    Language focus includes comparisons, superlatives and the pronoun y.

  • Past Events and French Culture - Unit 3 - 4

    You’ll learn to describe past habits and events, compare life in the past and present and discuss important moments and figures in French history and culture.

    Language focus includes the imparfait, time markers, indefinite adjectives and pronouns and using the imparfait and passé composé together.

  • Stories and Sport - - Units 4 - 5

    You’ll learn to tell an anecdote, react to other people’s stories and discuss sport and physical activities.

    Language focus includes continued work with past tenses, the imperative and the relative pronouns qui, que and où.

  • Health, The Future and Ecology - Units 5 and 7

    You’ll learn to describe health problems, symptoms and parts of the body; discuss future events; and talk about ecology, consumption and personal choices.

    Language focus includes the future tense, future time markers, demonstrative pronouns, expressing purpose and si clauses for possible situations.

  • Work, Advice and Hypothetical Situations - Units 6 - 8

    You’ll learn to discuss work and professional goals, ask for favours, accept or refuse invitations, express wishes and feelings and explain what is permitted, required or forbidden.

    Language focus includes the conditional, adverbs, expressing opposition and using si clauses to discuss hypothetical situations.

Entre Nous 3

French B1 - Advanced

B1 develops more confident and detailed communication. You’ll discuss travel, music, education, cinema, media and social issues while strengthening your control of past tenses, pronouns, the subjunctive, reported speech and more complex ways of expressing opinions and emotions.

  • Travel, Music and Past Experiences - Unit 1 - 2

    You’ll discuss tourism, travelling and living abroad, as well as music and its emotional impact.

    Language focus includes direct object pronouns, possessive pronouns, the plus-que-parfait and agreement of the past participle with avoir.

  • Projects, Fears and Regrets - Unit 3

    You’ll discuss dreams, plans, fears and the obstacles that can affect our goals. You’ll also learn to express regret and imagine how past situations could have been different.

    Language focus includes the gérondif, present participle, past infinitive and advanced si clauses using the plus-que-parfait and past conditional.

  • Belief, Social Media and Opinions - Unit 4

    You’ll discuss beliefs, superstitions, social media, appearance and reality while developing more detailed ways to express opinions.

    Language focus includes adverbs, relative pronouns ce que and ce qui and an introduction to the subjunctive.

  • Consumption and Complaints - Unit 5

    You’ll discuss consumption, responsible purchasing and scams, and learn to express dissatisfaction or make a complaint.

    Language focus includes the subjunctive, impersonal expressions and revision of direct and indirect object pronouns.

  • Cinema and Pronouns - Unit 6

    You’ll discuss cinema, describe films and express your emotional response to what you watch.

    Language focus includes direct and indirect object pronouns, the pronouns y and en and placing two pronouns together in a sentence.

  • Story Telling and Complex Description - Unit 7

    You’ll continue exploring cinema while becoming more confident describing events, people and reactions in detail.

    Language focus includes revision of French past tenses, indicative versus subjunctive, adjective placement and the relative pronoun dont.

  • Education and Reported Speech - Unit 7

    You’ll discuss education, alternative schooling and the role of arts in schools. You’ll also learn to interpret and talk about information presented in graphs.

    Language focus includes direct and indirect reported speech and changing tenses when reporting past statements.

  • Media, Fake News and Social Movements - Unit 8

    You’ll discuss information, media, communication, fake news and social movements while learning to communicate uncertainty more precisely.

    Language focus includes nominalisation, the passive voice, se faire, cause and consequence and revision of the conditional and the pronoun en.

Entre Nous 4

French B2 - Upper Advanced

B2 develops fluent, nuanced communication across a wider range of cultural and social topics. You’ll defend opinions, present ideas, analyse information and discuss subjects such as ethics, generations, discrimination, art, ecology and immigration using increasingly sophisticated French.

  • Food, Health and Ethical Consumption - Unit 1

    You’ll discuss health, cooking, the future of food and the ethical questions surrounding production and consumption.

    Language focus includes nominalisation, indirect speech and compound relative pronouns.

  • Generations and Family - Unit 2

    You’ll discuss youth, adulthood, ageing, family relationships and the generation gap.

    Language focus includes relative pronouns, comparison, progression and intensity, expressing concession and using sentence connectors.

  • Discrimination and Future Perspectives - Unit 3

    You’ll discuss discrimination and social change while learning to express more complex ideas about future developments and consequences.

    Language focus includes the future tense, futur antérieur, passive structures, restrictive and negative forms and sentence connectors.

  • Love, Friendship and Regret - Unit 4

    You’ll explore relationships, friendship and emotions and learn to discuss personal experiences with greater nuance.

    Language focus includes expressing feelings, regrets and purpose, along with agreement of the past participle.

  • Ecology, Cause and Collective Responsibility - Unit 5

    You’ll discuss environmental problems, possible solutions and personal and collective responsibility for the planet.

    Language focus includes impersonal expressions, indefinite pronouns and different ways to express cause.

  • Associations, Engagement and Registers - Unit 6

    You’ll discuss associations, volunteering, activism and different forms of social engagement.

    Language focus includes prefixes, compound words and recognising and using different registers, including informal French and argot.

  • Art and Subjectivity - Unit 7

    You’ll discuss contemporary art and different forms of creative expression and learn to present an artwork, artist, exhibition or museum.

    Language focus includes expressing subjectivity and using the past subjunctive.

  • Immigration and Formal Presentation - Unit 8

    You’ll discuss immigration and related social questions and develop your ability to give structured oral presentations.

    Language focus includes expressing consequence and intensity, advanced revision and an introduction to the passé simple.

French Travel Course 1 - 5 week French language course melbourne - inLanguage Boutique

French C1 Course

Flexible, continuing courses for experienced French speakers. Develop increasingly fluent, precise and nuanced communication through authentic materials, contemporary topics and advanced conversation.

  • At C1 level, students develop increasingly fluent, precise and nuanced French across a wide range of contemporary, cultural and abstract topics.

    ILB’s C1 courses currently operate as flexible, continuing proficiency classes rather than a fixed textbook sequence. Teachers select authentic materials, changing themes and areas of language development according to the interests and needs of each group.

    These courses are best suited to highly experienced French speakers who can already follow complex discussions, express detailed opinions and communicate spontaneously.

    View Current French C1 Courses