XPress: French in 40 Hours

French in 40 hours is a way for beginners to quickly achieve functional fluency in French.

During these 40 hours, you will learn: a) key vocabulary (around 500 words); b) pronunciation strategies and c) basic grammatical concepts.

Each vocabulary topic contains a table with English and French columns that can be hidden to move from comprehension to production. After initial exposure to words via English/French translation, you can listen to a word, then write it out. For example:

English French Listen and Repeat
Write
the dog le chien  

Each section also contains a series of interactive, vocabulary-building exercises and a game. Here's a preview:

  • the dog =

Play the game!

At the end of each section, you will find a grammar point and simple translation tasks to check with our Grammar Checker (BonPatron.com). Further grammatical explanations and exercises can be found in our comprehensive Grammar Guide.

Linguistic principles

French in 40 hours is different from other language learning programs because it is guided by the following linguistic principles:

a) Deep lexical learning ©

b) Learning through feedback

c) Learning through producing

d) Learning through noticing

Deep lexical learning © is an approach that allows you to do more than recognize a French word. You will know its meaning in English, be able to produce it in various ways and be able to do so spontaneously.

In terms of feedback, you will be able to immediately confirm your vocabulary knowledge by translating between English and French and by doing simple exercises to reinforce acquisition.

Importantly, you will learn to produce sentences with the words you learn and receive real-time feedback.In our view, the best approach is one that starts with the acquisition of core vocabulary, which is then used as a starting point to learn about French  grammar.

As you build sentences, you will notice and improve lexical and grammatical gaps in your knowledge.

You should spend two hours on each category. At the end, we suggest you review for an hour, then do the final exam.

How to move through the course

In order to thoroughly learn the vocabulary from each category, the following steps should be followed:

Step 1: Study each French word alongside the English one, listen AND pronounce the French word (20 minutes)

Step 2: Hide the English column, listen to and pronounce the French word; think of the definition (20 minutes)

Step 3: Hide the French (show English if needed), listen to words randomly, pronounce (imitate) and write the French word in the box (30 minutes)

Step 4: Do the exercises at the bottom of the page (10 minutes)

Step 5: Play the game; this is a way to see if you can come up with the word spontaneously (10 minutes)

Step 6: Read the grammar point, and access more detailed explanations if desired (5 - 10 minutes)

Step 7: Do the translations and check grammar on BonPatron.com (20 minutes)

Step 8: Write down any new words you learn in a notebook (and review from time to time) (5 minutes)

Once you are ready to build sentences with their vocabulary, they can make use of BonPatron's Grammar Guide and Grammar Checker (including a verb conjugator, dictionary and thesaurus).

Let's get started!


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