I'm starting to compile a list of useful French resources for students at our school. I thought that some people here might find it useful, although you may already know about most of these! Thanks to big_dog and tastyonions for sharing some of their favourite resources with me. Please feel free to share your favourite resources here, or to share your opinions on some of the resources that I listed. French in Action http://www.learner.org/resources/series83.html These free half-hour videos are part of a larger language learning program. They can be used on their own to improve French listening comprehension skills. They’re a bit dated, but they're charming and they really do work. BBC - French http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/talk/ Interactive audio-video introduction to French. (for absolute beginners) http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/french/mafrance/ Interactive audio-video course. (requires some basic French) FSI Basic French http://fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php?page=French Basic This open source program was written and recorded by the American Foreign Services Institute. It offers a variety of drills and is – by far – the most comprehensive free French program available. It’s dry at times, but it will take you to a high level of automaticity in spoken French. 7 jours sur la planète http://enseigner.tv5monde.com/collection/7-jours-sur-la-planete Current news reports with full transcripts and learning activities for beginners and intermediate students. France Bienvenue http://francebienvenue1.wordpress.com/ Interviews and conversations on a variety of topics, with full transcripts. Duolingo https://www.duolingo.com This free site offers a gamified approach to learning vocabulary, sentence structure and basic grammar. Not enough on its own to learn French, but good for building vocab and drilling the basics. (free, but requires registration) About French http://french.about.com This site is full of regularly updated information, quizzes and explanations. Unfortunately, it’s plastered with ads, which can be a bit obnoxious. Still, it's very useful. http://french.about.com/od/lessons/ss/checklist_2.htm Suggested six-month self-directed grammar study for French beginners. Extra TV sitcom – complete with laugh track – aimed at language learners. Simple vocabulary and clear pronunciation. Television, News and Current Affairs from Canada * may not be available in other countries http://ici.radio-canada.ca/emissions/telejournal/2013-2014/ Téléjournal: daily half hour news http://vtele.ca/emissions/la-guerre-des-clans/ La Guerre des clans: game show (French version of Family Feud) http://www.radio-canada.ca/emissions/la_facture/2013-2014/ La Facture: consumer affairs http://vtele.ca/emissions/taxi-payant/ Taxi Payant: game show (French version of Cash Cab) http://ici.tou.tv/dans-l-oeil-du-dragon/ http://www.tagtele.com/chaine/Toutv/playlist/111 Dans l’oeil du dragon: investment reality show (French version of Dragon’s Den) http://www.ztele.com/emissions/comment-c-est-fait/emission Comment c’est fait: how everyday items are made http://ici.radio-canada.ca/emissions/la_semaine_verte/2012-2013/ La Semaine verte: environment http://ici.radio-canada.ca/emissions/l_epicerie/2013-2014/ L’Épicerie: food, health and home http://www.tetesaclaques.tv/ Têtes à claques: short animated comedy videos (some of them can be quite rude, so viewer discretion is advised) a variety of French language television shows are available on these sites: http://ici.tou.tv/ http://www.ztele.com http://vtele.ca news and current affairs (from Canada): http://www.radio-canada.ca http://www.lapresse.ca/le-droit/ http://www.lapresse.ca/ http://www.lactualite.com/ news and current affairs (from overseas): http://www.lemonde.fr/ (France) http://www.lanouvellegazette.be/ (Belgium) http://www.lenouvelliste.com/ (Haïti) http://www.tsa-algerie.com/ (Algeria) http://www.aujourdhui.ma/ (Morocco) * lots more available, but I stopped here. other useful sites (applicable to all languages) http://www.ankisrs.net - free spaced repetition software http://www.italki.com - tutors, language partners, text correction http://www.conversationexchange.com - language partners http://lang-8.com - text correction
Great list! I'll be going through many of the links, especially the French shows from Canada. I'll add some testing links that I've been keeping. DELF and DALF information and test sites: http://www.ciep.fr/en/delf-prim-del...caise-diplome-approfondi-langue/sample-papers Sample papers with audio for all levels of DELF and DALF preparation. http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/researchenterprise/dialang/about.htm Dialang self test for reporting your CEP language level. http://www.bonjourdefrance.com/preparation-delf/index.html Lessons and exercises for DELF preparation.
http://www.litteratureaudio.com/ Over 4100 free audiobooks in French. http://audiocite.net/ Hundreds of free audiobooks in French. http://librivox.org/ Hundreds of free audiobooks in French.
Nice list. For French TV I'd add CanalPlus (http://www.canalplus.fr/): it has lots of entertainment shows that you can watch from abroad (at least from here in the UK it works just fine). Le Petit Journal for example is a good satirical news show and Le meilleur du hier has lots of short clips from various programmes so it can be a good way to fill in a spare 5 minutes. The other French TV sites have videos too but they tend to only be available from France. Various sites let you watch news, but I've always found that TV/radio news gets quite easy quite quickly and other types of shows are more useful for everyday language.
The BBC beginners course (A1-2) from the 1990s 'The French Experience' is on YouTube - the books and CDs are still available as well, often at low second hand prices: (and so on - just track the episode number from the right hand side of the YouTube box (I think one is missing)). If you like retro BBC material (which I adore) - there are also the videos for Ensemble, their beginner's course from the 1970 - which are still useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNaEbmLJ9rc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vYH8g0yN1I The audio to Suivez la Piste (by Emile de Harven), the classic 1960s BBC roman policier for beginner-intermediate students - is here: http://ruevavin.tumblr.com/page/3 http://ruevavin.tumblr.com/page/2 http://ruevavin.tumblr.com/ Unfortunately, the PDF has been taken down (although not due to copyright reasons, so it might come back) - but the book is often available on amazon for $0.01 + postage. Emile de Harven also wrote two other beginners-intermediate novels - Aerodrame and Chemins dangereux - and the sound files are here: http://www.emcp.com/electronic_resource_centers/index.php?GroupID=5715
French Movies I apologize if there is a listing somewhere else; couldn't find it. But I know there are a lot of free (usually older) French movies online. One I watched recently: A bout de souffle (1960) Jean-Luc Godard - Spoiler A fast living French punk in post-war France kills a dude, steals a butt-load of cars, takes advantage of women, and winds up spending a lot of time trying to convince a cute female American reporter to visit Italy with him. The reporter speaks very fluently, but with a limited vocabulary and a really bad "american" accent. Fun, and amusing in ways the producer probably never intended.
Elexi, Those courses look excellent. Thanks for sharing. Is the Ensemble course just video? I couldn't find any related books.
Yes - there course came with two books and 2 LPs/cassettes. An example of the 2nd of the 2 books are here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ensemble-Fr...r=8-1&keywords=Ensemble: French for Beginners I have the LPs digitized to MP3.
There is a French humour channel on Youtube (GoldenMoustache), where all the video since one year are subtitled in French or English (or both). There are different authors so all the video have not the same kind of humour. I think that my favorites are from Suricate (especially Suricate - The Superheroes Hangover). Bon visionnage
If you already intermediate-advance in French or you just want to excercise your ears ; the radio show "Au cœur de l'histoire - Franck Ferrand" is definitely a good choice. First, it is a good show ^^. Second, the animator has a nice French with a good diction. You can easily download the podcast on your mobile, to do something else when you listen it. Podcast (I use Podcast Addict on my mobile phone) : http://cdn-new-europe1.ladmedia.fr/var/exports/podcasts/sound/au-coeur-de-l-histoire.xml Itune : https://itunes.apple.com/fr/podcast/id423534806
Ahh la conjugaison française. It is hard to talk about without any swearword, even natives have some hard times with it. So my best friends in this area are : http://leconjugueur.lefigaro.fr/ http://conjugueur.reverso.net/conjugaison-francais.html I hope they will help you too
Science B. ! With French subtitles For the hight level in French who struggle to find interesting stuff (@Mr A Callidryas). I hope it will be interesting for you. Alan Turing - Enigma, ordinateur et pomme empoisonnée - LPPV.05 - e-penser Guillaume Le Gentil - Mourir deux fois en cherchant Vénus - LPPV.02 - e-penser 10 choses à savoir sur l'univers 1/2 - Ep.23 - e-penser Le lieu le plus dangereux de France - quickie 01 - e-penser
For those on LingQ, I start to put some "lesson" in French for advanced level (and pronunciation). http://www.lingq.com/learn/fr/library/courses/?search_fields=owner&query=owner:Oreliane
Another good French channel (DirtyBiology) about biology on youtube with french and english subtitles for almost all the videos.
