French Language Classes
Pasadena Language Center offers French lessons for adults and children at all levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced and conversation. Learn French in a comfortable, casual environment and make it a fun, enriching experience! We serve the areas of Pasadena, South Pasadena, San Marino, Arcadia, Alhambra, San Gabriel, South Arroyo, Altadena, Monrovia, Sierra Madre, Glendale, Burbank, Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, La Cañada, Montrose, La Crescenta & Sun Valley.
About the French Language
French is one one of the great languages of the world. Besides being spoken in France, it is one of the languages of Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada. It is the official language of Haiti, 15 African countries and various French dependencies such as Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Guadeloupe and Martinique. French is the mother tongue of more than 75 million people and millions more know it as a second language. French is one of the Romance languages, descended from Latin.
Curriculum and Structure
The French weekly and intensive classes are structured into three levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced. Each level is divided into four sub-levels: A, B, C, and D.
For Beginner and Intermediate levels we use Ultimate French Beginner-Intermediate by Living Language. We also use the Complete French Grammar (Premium 4th Edition) workbook by McGraw-Hill.
Beginner A (lessons 1-5): introductions and greetings, describing people and things, filling out forms, making a date, household objects;
Grammar and usage: subject pronouns, the verbs être and avoir, present tense of regular -er verbs, the gender and number of nouns, the definite and indefinite articles, adjective agreement, numbers 0-69, prepositions, gender of countries, the verb aller, present tense of regular -ir verbs, the interrogative form, negation, the days of the week, possessive adjectives, demonstrative adjectives, the verb savoir, etc.
Beginner B (lessons 6-10): expressing likes and dislikes, at the train station, at a restaurant, at the pharmacy, the weekend;
Grammar and usage: the verb faire, the verbs espérer and acheter, the immediate future, the seasons and months of the year, irregular feminine adjectives, irregular masculine plural adjectives, numbers 70-100, il y a, the polite form je voudrais, the interrogative adjective quel, telling time, expressions of time, the verbs prendre, manger, commencer, boire, vouloir, pouvoir, the present tense of -re verbs, the partitive articles, idiomatic expressions with avoir, the pronoun on, comparatives, negations, jouer de/ jouer à , quantity expressions, etc.
Beginner C (lessons 11-15): the family, asking for directions, everyday life, at work, in a department store;
Grammar and usage: stressed pronouns, telling your age, the preposition chez, the verb venir, the imperative form, numbers 100-1,000,000, expressing distances, impersonal verbs, present tense of reflexive verbs, the verb s'asseoir, exclamations with quel, expressions of time with en and dans, the immediate past, adverbs of time, the location pronoun y, demonstrative pronouns, direct object pronouns, the verb essayer, colors, etc.
Beginner D (lessons 16-20): the telephone, at the bank, the market, housing, at the hotel;
Grammar and usage: the verb appeler, the verb dire, indirect object pronouns, reciprocal verbs, parler à / parler de, the verb ouvrir, the verb changer, asking questions, prepositions, euro, the pronoun en, the position of consecutive object pronouns, weights and measures, prices and paying, comparatives, superlatives, ordinal numbers, measures: square meters, the word "room", donner / donner sur, c'est and il est+adjective+infinitive, the verb devoir, quelque chose de and rien de + adjective, the verb rester, the negarion ni...ni, etc.
Intermediate A (lessons 21-25): health, automobiles, cafés and restaurants, sports, on the street;
Grammar and usage: the verb suivre, the passé composé, avoir mal à versus avoir du mal à, onomatopoeia, reflexive verbs in the passé composé, the causative construction faire+the infinitive, il y a and pendant+ passé composé, the verb conduire, the imperfect tense, possessive pronouns, tout as adjective and pronoun, the verb mourir, direct object pronouns in the passé composé, interrogative pronouns, the verb penser, the verb manquer, using the passé composé and the imperfect, adverbs, position of adverbs, peut-être, etc.
Intermediate B (lessons 26-30): computer science, at the dentist's, the movies, tourism, household items;
Grammar and usage: reflexive verbs in the infinitive, the verb commencer, apologizing, late/early/on time, idiomatic expressions with coup, the relative pronouns qui and que, the relative pronouns ce qui and ce que, où, avoir mal à / faire mal, idiomatic expressions with dent, the verb voir, the relative pronoun lequel, the relative pronoun dont, ne...que, il s'agit de, the verb plaire, après / avant + infinitive, the pluperfect, hasard, the structure verb + prepositions + infinitive, telling or asking someone to do something, indefinite pronouns, -eindre and -aindre verbs, etc.
Intermediate C (lessons 31-35): at the airport, at the museum, exercising, vacation, the media;
Grammar and usage: the future tense, conjunctions with the future tense, the futur antérieur, the verb passer, the present conditional tense, si in idiomatic expressions, faire plaisir, professions, the past conditional tense, the verb devoir in the past conditional, entendre dire / entendre parler de, the parts of the body, the present participle, usage of the infinitive, the sequence of tenses, reported speech, to make+adjective, various translations of the word "paper", etc.
Intermediate D (lessons 36-40): at the flea market, politics, professions, schools and universities, literature;
Grammar and usage: the subjunctive, idiomatic expressions with "eye", the subjunctive and the infinitive, the past subjunctive, the subjunctive versus the indicative, the verbs connaître and savoir, the subjunctive after relative pronouns, the subjunctive after the superlative, the subjunctive with expressions of concession, the subjunctive as command, the use of the definite article, the verb vivre, the verb tenir, objects with the causative faire, adjectives preceding or following the noun, avoir beau, idiomatic expressions with coeur, written French versus spoken French, the verb cueillir, the prefix re-, etc.
For the Advanced levels we use “Ultimate French Advanced” by Living Language.
The conversation classes are structured around discussions on articles about different topics: news, politics, science, health, style, entertainment, sports, culture, etc. Video projections are also part of the curriculum.
For Beginner and Intermediate levels we use Ultimate French Beginner-Intermediate by Living Language. We also use the Complete French Grammar (Premium 4th Edition) workbook by McGraw-Hill.
Beginner A (lessons 1-5): introductions and greetings, describing people and things, filling out forms, making a date, household objects;
Grammar and usage: subject pronouns, the verbs être and avoir, present tense of regular -er verbs, the gender and number of nouns, the definite and indefinite articles, adjective agreement, numbers 0-69, prepositions, gender of countries, the verb aller, present tense of regular -ir verbs, the interrogative form, negation, the days of the week, possessive adjectives, demonstrative adjectives, the verb savoir, etc.
Beginner B (lessons 6-10): expressing likes and dislikes, at the train station, at a restaurant, at the pharmacy, the weekend;
Grammar and usage: the verb faire, the verbs espérer and acheter, the immediate future, the seasons and months of the year, irregular feminine adjectives, irregular masculine plural adjectives, numbers 70-100, il y a, the polite form je voudrais, the interrogative adjective quel, telling time, expressions of time, the verbs prendre, manger, commencer, boire, vouloir, pouvoir, the present tense of -re verbs, the partitive articles, idiomatic expressions with avoir, the pronoun on, comparatives, negations, jouer de/ jouer à , quantity expressions, etc.
Beginner C (lessons 11-15): the family, asking for directions, everyday life, at work, in a department store;
Grammar and usage: stressed pronouns, telling your age, the preposition chez, the verb venir, the imperative form, numbers 100-1,000,000, expressing distances, impersonal verbs, present tense of reflexive verbs, the verb s'asseoir, exclamations with quel, expressions of time with en and dans, the immediate past, adverbs of time, the location pronoun y, demonstrative pronouns, direct object pronouns, the verb essayer, colors, etc.
Beginner D (lessons 16-20): the telephone, at the bank, the market, housing, at the hotel;
Grammar and usage: the verb appeler, the verb dire, indirect object pronouns, reciprocal verbs, parler à / parler de, the verb ouvrir, the verb changer, asking questions, prepositions, euro, the pronoun en, the position of consecutive object pronouns, weights and measures, prices and paying, comparatives, superlatives, ordinal numbers, measures: square meters, the word "room", donner / donner sur, c'est and il est+adjective+infinitive, the verb devoir, quelque chose de and rien de + adjective, the verb rester, the negarion ni...ni, etc.
Intermediate A (lessons 21-25): health, automobiles, cafés and restaurants, sports, on the street;
Grammar and usage: the verb suivre, the passé composé, avoir mal à versus avoir du mal à, onomatopoeia, reflexive verbs in the passé composé, the causative construction faire+the infinitive, il y a and pendant+ passé composé, the verb conduire, the imperfect tense, possessive pronouns, tout as adjective and pronoun, the verb mourir, direct object pronouns in the passé composé, interrogative pronouns, the verb penser, the verb manquer, using the passé composé and the imperfect, adverbs, position of adverbs, peut-être, etc.
Intermediate B (lessons 26-30): computer science, at the dentist's, the movies, tourism, household items;
Grammar and usage: reflexive verbs in the infinitive, the verb commencer, apologizing, late/early/on time, idiomatic expressions with coup, the relative pronouns qui and que, the relative pronouns ce qui and ce que, où, avoir mal à / faire mal, idiomatic expressions with dent, the verb voir, the relative pronoun lequel, the relative pronoun dont, ne...que, il s'agit de, the verb plaire, après / avant + infinitive, the pluperfect, hasard, the structure verb + prepositions + infinitive, telling or asking someone to do something, indefinite pronouns, -eindre and -aindre verbs, etc.
Intermediate C (lessons 31-35): at the airport, at the museum, exercising, vacation, the media;
Grammar and usage: the future tense, conjunctions with the future tense, the futur antérieur, the verb passer, the present conditional tense, si in idiomatic expressions, faire plaisir, professions, the past conditional tense, the verb devoir in the past conditional, entendre dire / entendre parler de, the parts of the body, the present participle, usage of the infinitive, the sequence of tenses, reported speech, to make+adjective, various translations of the word "paper", etc.
Intermediate D (lessons 36-40): at the flea market, politics, professions, schools and universities, literature;
Grammar and usage: the subjunctive, idiomatic expressions with "eye", the subjunctive and the infinitive, the past subjunctive, the subjunctive versus the indicative, the verbs connaître and savoir, the subjunctive after relative pronouns, the subjunctive after the superlative, the subjunctive with expressions of concession, the subjunctive as command, the use of the definite article, the verb vivre, the verb tenir, objects with the causative faire, adjectives preceding or following the noun, avoir beau, idiomatic expressions with coeur, written French versus spoken French, the verb cueillir, the prefix re-, etc.
For the Advanced levels we use “Ultimate French Advanced” by Living Language.
The conversation classes are structured around discussions on articles about different topics: news, politics, science, health, style, entertainment, sports, culture, etc. Video projections are also part of the curriculum.