What you’ll be able to do
Everything is built around real situations, so you learn French you can use the moment you travel or meet a French speaker.
Hold a first conversation
Greet people, introduce yourself, and talk about where you’re from, your family and what you do.
Order food and drink
Handle cafés and restaurants, from a coffee and a snack to a full meal.
Travel and check in
Ask for directions, check into a hotel or campsite, and sort out problems when they come up.
Cope with the unexpected
Shop, change money, explain aches and pains, and get help at the pharmacy.
Who’s in the lessons
Mark presents the course, and Anna takes on the role of the learner: she asks the questions you’d ask and makes the mistakes you’d make, and Mark explains how the language works as they go.
The idea is that you understand how French fits together, so you can use what you’ve learned for yourself.
Inside every lesson
All 40 lessons follow the same shape, so you always know what to do next, and each one takes 15 to 20 minutes.
What’s included
Pay once and it’s yours for life, on every device you use.
- 40 full lessons Over 20 hours of audio, 15 to 20 minutes a lesson.
- Video lessons With words and phrases on screen.
- Comprehensive lesson notes Grammar, vocabulary and transcripts.
- A quiz every ten lessons Check your progress as you go.
- Downloads Take the audio and notes offline.
- Lifetime access One payment, no subscription.
Video
The video lesson
Mark and Anna work through the lesson, with the words and phrases on screen as you go.
Audio
The audio lesson
Download the same lesson to review on a walk, in the car or on the train.
Notes
Lesson notes
Read the dialogue, grammar explanations and vocabulary in full, with a little cultural background.
Bonus
Bonus audio
Test your understanding with review, translation challenges and extra vocabulary.
The 40 lessons
The lessons build up to a trip to France, with a quiz after every ten.
Part 1 · Lessons 1 to 10
Meeting people
Greet people, say where you’re from and where you live, and talk about your family, your job and what you like.
- 1Asking “how are you?”
- 2Greetings
- 3Saying where you are from
- 4Talking about where you live
- 5Introducing family
- 6Numbers and more family
- 7Talking about your job
- 8Talking about likes and dislikes
- 9Talking about what you’ve learned so far
- 10Happy holidays
Part 2 · Lessons 11 to 20
Around town, and eating out
Talk about languages and dates, ask for directions around town, then order in cafés and restaurants.
- 11Talking about language
- 12Numbers, days and dates
- 13Asking for directions
- 14Talking about your town
- 15Ordering drinks in a café
- 16Ordering snacks in a café
- 17Ordering food in a restaurant
- 18Restaurant situations
- 19Review of the unit
- 20End-of-unit special
Part 3 · Lessons 21 to 30
Travelling
Talk about the weather, check into a hotel or campsite, shop, change money and say how you feel.
- 21Talking about the weather
- 22Checking in to a hotel
- 23Problems with your stay at a hotel
- 24At the campsite
- 25Shopping
- 26Shopping at the deli
- 27Exchanging money
- 28Aches and pains
- 29More aches and complaints
- 30End-of-unit review
Part 4 · Lessons 31 to 40
Out and about
Travel to France, get around on public transport, put things right at the hotel, visit the tourist office and the pharmacy, and make friends.
- 31Travelling to France
- 32Arrival in France
- 33Mix-up at hotel check-in
- 34Breakfast at the hotel
- 35At the tourist office
- 36Shopping
- 37Travelling by public transport
- 38Seeking help at the pharmacy
- 39Language review in a party setting
- 40Linguistic diversity in France
From learners on the course
“Lesson one was wonderful. I love having audio as well as written. The Notes section is really good. I want to speak and read French. The grammatical explanations are really good. This is a wonderful website. I have my little notebook by my side after I listened to your podcast this week as well. Thank you!”
“I tried the first three lessons and found that it's designed so well. That's why I decided to buy the full version of courses. And thanks Mark for his teaching. This is the first time I feel confident that I can learn a new language via listening to your materials without going a real classroom. Brilliant. And thank you so much. Merci!”
“I LOVED the bonus audio exercise! So much fun. Thank you!”
Questions
What’s the difference between the course and the free podcast?
The free podcast is the audio of each lesson. The course adds the video lessons, comprehensive lesson notes, quizzes and bonus audio, all without ads, so you can study each lesson in depth.
Do I need any French to start?
No. Level 1 is for complete beginners and starts from your very first words. If you’d like a taste first, First Steps is a short free course.
Can I download the materials?
The videos stream online, and the lesson notes and audio download to your device, so you can listen and review wherever you are.
How long do I have access?
For life. Pay once and it’s yours, across all of your devices.
When does it start and finish?
It starts the moment you join and has no end date. It’s self-paced, so you set the timeline.
Can I try it before I buy?
Yes. Start with First Steps, our short free course, and you’ll see how the lessons work before you buy.
Find the course that fits you
Coffee Break French has five levels, from absolute beginner to advanced. If this one doesn’t feel right, try the level above or below.
The Level 2 courseMove beyond the basics and learn the grammar you need to go further
The Level 3 courseFollow a 40-lesson story set in Nice and broaden what you can understand and say
The Level 4 courseFollow a story set in Paris through 40 lessons of more advanced French
La Vérité éclate toujoursChallenge yourself with a crime novel for advanced learners, with all the support you need
Coffee Break French · Level 1
Start speaking French
All 40 lessons come with video, audio and full notes, so you can work through them at your own pace.
$269One payment, yours for life
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