Extend your vocabulary as your virtual French journey continues

On this four-week course, you’ll continue your travels through different parts of France with your virtual guides, who will help you discover more interesting facts about the country’s geography and population. You’ll learn to talk about a wider variety of rural and urban places and environments in greater depth.

Through activities, articles, and audio clips, you’ll explore the rich geographical environment of France to learn how it developed and is still evolving today.

Discover new skills to extend your French language skills further

You’ll discover constructions and expressions used to make comparisons, qualify statements, and quantify phenomena such as population figures and densities. This will not only widen your knowledge of France and the French-speaking world but also your ability to use the language in a broader range of situations. You’ll take part in activities to develop your listening skills, helping you to better understand spoken French.

You’ll be encouraged to read a variety of French online source materials whilst researching a specific region in more detail, building on what you discovered in the first course of this ExpertTrack.

Develop your intercultural communication skills

As you progress through this course, you’ll transition from being a language learner to being a competent user of French by building the language skills needed to hold natural conversations about topics like the weather, places, and people.

You’ll also have the opportunity to apply your research and language skills to write a short case study of a French-speaking region.

What topics will you cover?

Describing the physical geography of a country or region
Describing different built environments
Discovering processes of urbanisation and demographic change in France

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

Improve your ability to understand written and spoken French
Develop your confidence to communicate in French through speech and writing
Apply and consolidate your understanding of basic French grammar and increase your receptive and productive vocabulary
Explore and broaden your knowledge of the physical and human geography of France

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for those with a good basic knowledge of French (fully at Level A2 of the Common European Framework of Reference ‘Elementary’) who want to improve their French language skills and deepen their knowledge of French culture.

Who will you learn with?

Bill Alder

Dr. Bill Alder is an Associate Lecturer in French at The Open University and has contributed to numerous French language modules. He has a special interest in French-language crime fiction.

Who developed the course?

The Open University

As the UK’s largest university, The Open University (OU) supports thousands of students to achieve their goals and ambitions via supported distance learning, helping to fit learning around professional and personal life commitments.

Established
1969
Location
Milton Keynes, UK
World ranking
Top 510Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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