Schedule & Locations
Online classes via Zoom starting the week of January 23, 2023
> Complete beginners (level A1.a): every Tuesday from 9:00am – 10:30am
Instructor: Caroline
> Beginners (level A1.a) – Second Semester: every Wednesday from 9:30am – 11:00am
Instructor: Mareme
> Beginners+ (level A1.b) – Second Semester: every Monday from 9:30am – 11:00am
Instructor: Mareme
> Pre-intermediate (level A2.a): every Wednesday from 11:00am – 12:30pm
Instructor: Valérie
> Students with more experience (level A2.b) – Second Semester: every Tuesday from 9:30am – 11:00am
Instructor: Mareme
Beginner Classes
“Grand débutant” (Level A1.a)
This introductory class is for students with no previous experience with French. During this course, you will acquire the basic language skills to introduce yourself and describe your activities and environment. You will learn how to express yourself in the past, present, and future, as well as how to give instructions and orders. Intrinsic to our program is French culture, an essential tool for communicating with and relating to native speakers. This course will prepare you for everyday situations and basic exchanges with French speakers.
You will see that being able to speak this beautiful language is a magical experience!
Beginner+ Classes
(Level A1.b)
This class is for students who have already taken lessons during previous sessions at LILA or elsewhere in the past. You already have the basics. This course will enable you to continue to refine and expand your language abilities with confidence…not to mention wow your family and friends. You will review what you already know before delving deeper into the French language, studying grammatical structures, learning to express a complicated necessity, and much more.
Beginner++ Classes
(Level A1.c)
This class is the continuation of A1.b and is for students who have already taken lessons during previous sessions at LILA or elsewhere in the past. You will discover new tenses to speak about your everyday life and you will learn to speak about more subjects related to your environment and daily experiences.
Beginner+++ Classes
(Level A1.d)
This class is the continuation of A1.c and is for students who have already have some familiarity with the French language. You aren’t a complete beginner when it comes to French, but you aren’t quite ready for intermediate classes just yet. You will discover new verb tenses and will practice speaking about your environment and daily experiences.
Pre-intermediate Classes
(Level A2.b)
This class is for students who are ready to bridge the gap between the beginner and intermediate levels. You will learn sentences and frequently used expressions related to personal and family information, shopping, local geography, and more. Building on prior knowledge, this course will enable you to communicate through simple and direct exchanges of information on familiar and routine matters.
Intermediate Classes
(Level B1.d)
This course is designed for intermediate students with prior French knowledge. You will develop the ability to understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Additionally, you will learn to deal with most situations likely to arise whilst traveling in an area where the language is spoken; will be able to produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest; and will be able to describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.
5 students must be enrolled for classes to be maintained.
Caroline
Caroline Ducout arrived in the US about 20 years ago. She has always wanted to create a cultural exchange between French and American high school students. Every summer, for several years, she connected about 100 French students to American students and households to exchange cultures. She has been a French tutor for many years. She has experience with adults and children. Her passion to share the French culture and the French language naturally led her toward a teaching position at the Alliance Française de Pasadena. She is a DELF examiner.
Mareme
Mareme Davis was born in France and grew up there. She is originally from Senegal. She studied at Marne-La-Vallée University where she majored in Applied Foreign Languages, International Business (English and Spanish). She speaks French, English, Spanish, and Wolof. Mareme moved to Senegal in 2008 where she opened a restaurant and later worked as a marketing manager for the national airline. She is a trained French teacher who started teaching French and working as a translator three years ago. She enjoys helping her students reach their goals.
Valérie
Valérie Daval is a French-born visual artist, art instructor and art therapist based in LA area since 2007. She studied Art and Architecture at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts du Mans, in France, with a focus on painting and drawing. In 2001, she obtained a Diploma in art therapy in Tours, France, and worked as art instructor and art therapist for several years in different institutions in France. In 2004, she moved to Paderborn, Germany where she was working in the Raum für Kunst artistic community. Daval’s artwork has been exhibited in France, Germany, the UK, and the US. Valérie has very good general knowledge, she has led various thematic workshops about New Caledonia, French cuisine, and some artists who painted in France. She teaches French to group classes of adults and children and she gives private classes. She is a DELF-DALF examiner.