Season 3 – Lesson 01 – Coffee Break French

Welcome to the first lesson of Coffee Break French Season 3! In this episode listeners will meet American student Katie, Australian entrepreneur Veronica, and Alf who is a retired teacher from England. Our three characters are studying French at a language school in Nice, and in each episode you’ll hear an extract from their diaries, recounting their adventures on the French Riviera. We’ll pick up on a couple of language points in each lesson to help listeners understand the content. Please note that lesson 01 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 301 of Coffee Break French. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners.

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The premium version of Coffee Break French Season 3 provides additional materials which will help you move forward more effectively with your French studies. These are available on the Coffee Break Academy.

Extended audio

Each lesson of Coffee Break French Season 3 features a full discussion of the text with extended audio recordings.

Lesson notes

Study the language of each lesson in greater detail and access additional information about French in our comprehensive lesson notes.

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13 thoughts on “Season 3 – Lesson 01 – Coffee Break French”

  1. Hi! First of all, thanks for the new season of CBF! I’ve just listened the first lesson, so I feel like it’s going to be a lot of interesting language information in this season. Waiting for the next one!

    Reply
  2. Thank you for continuing with Coffee Break French! Season 1 and 2 were perfect review sessions for my recent trip to Paris. I can’t wait for Season 3 to continue my language learning. The first episode was great!

    Reply
  3. Mark, I am very impressed with Season 3 so far. I started listening to CBF in 2008. Having exclusively native speakers for Season 3 is a super idea. Also, the interesting dialogs of Season 3 sound great.

    Reply
  4. Mark,

    So far, Season 3 exceeds expectations! Thank you.

    One glitch for me. I have downloaded both the pdf and ePub versions to my iPod Touch. I like the ePub better, but for those of us with older eyes, the font (even the larger one) is too small, and the two finger swipe to enlarge does not work. Help!

    Reply
  5. oooh, I am so happy to hear coffee break french again !!!!

    I`m a german physiotherapist working in luxemburg and I need so much more knowledge in foreign languages, and its so wonderfull to ingrease my english and french in one podcast!!!!

    Thank you very much!!!!

    Reply
  6. I have just loaded the epub versions of CBF 301 to 305 into my ebook reader. Just what I’ve need waiting for.

    As I am now doing the Spanish Course and oftern go back over CBF’s early lesson. I would be great if you could go back and publish in epub form. I’d willingly pay a supplement.

    Please keep up the good work

    Reply
  7. Hi
    Sorry but im totally confused. My husband and I have followed all 80 of your coffee break french programmes and just love them but no matter where I look I cant seem to find the free downloads of season 3. We planned to listen to them and then maybe buy into them but definitely buy into season 4 but they seem impossible to find. I have tried searching cbf lessons 301, season 3 lessons 1-10, anything but they remain resolutely hidden!Help!

    Reply
  8. I am disappointed thus far in the direction your podcast took for Season 3, Season 2 involved excellent lessons on French grammar with a call and response approach that was just what I needed to supplement immersion-style learning of Rosetta Stone. Now CBF is following that format I will need to look elsewhere for more lessons on grammar.

    Reply
    • Hi Joe. Thanks for your feedback. We believe that when you’re learning a language there comes a point when “moving forward” on a narrow road becomes more difficult, and instead you have to go at a slower pace and move forward on a wider road. This wider road allows you to build your range of expression and vocabulary while getting to know new grammatical structures. This is what we aimed to do with Season 3. Throughout the season there are many, many grammar lessons, but they’re based around the language you’ve naturally encountered through the story. The texts of the story of Alf, Veronica and Katie are simply there to provide a context within which to approach those grammar points. Although there’s no Anna in Season 3 to emulate the role of the listener, there is still lots of call and response built in to the audio. If you’ve just listened to lesson 1 of Season 3 I would definitely suggest you give the season a try. If you’ve listened to multiple lessons and still don’t enjoy them, I hope you find something else suitable. I would also suggest that you consider our huge range of other resources including our Walk Talk and Learn French videos, and also the Coffee Break French Masterclass which will be returning later in the year.

      Reply
  9. I finally listened to a Season 4 announcement about La verité éclat toujours and Ep 1 of S4. I really loved the in-depth grammar and explanations and the good cheer that went into these episodes. While I’m eager to get into the next Masterclass, I want to start with Season 3 and move along. I’ve been looking everywhere for detailed study like this and have cobbled together my own over several years. En ce moment, je suis très content. Merci.

    Reply

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