French Essentials

French Essentials: your first real French, spoken from lesson one

This is the course for the person who has never said a word of French, or who once learned a little and forgot most of it. In eight focused sessions of 45 minutes, one to one with me online, you will go from a blank page to actually getting by: greeting people, being polite, ordering a coffee and a meal, handling numbers and prices, asking where the station is, and answering simple questions about yourself. Nothing abstract, nothing you will not use. Bonjour to genuinely useful French, fast.

I am Xavier, a native French teacher from Nantes. I also teach at Burapha University in Thailand, and before teaching I spent years in logistics and operations, which is a polite way of saying I like things that actually work. That is how I teach: real phrases, real situations, and just enough grammar to make the phrases make sense. You will speak in the first five minutes of the first lesson. That is a promise, not a slogan.

Who this is for

• Complete beginners (CEFR A1) who want to start speaking, not just reading rules.
• Travellers with a trip coming up who want to order, ask, and get around without switching to English straight away.
• Returning learners who did a bit at school, lost it, and want a clean, confidence-building restart.
• Anyone who prefers one to one attention, so the whole lesson is about your goals, your accent, and your questions.

You do not need any prior French. If you can say “bonjour” and nothing else, you are exactly in the right place.

The programme, session by session

Each session builds on the last. We open with a short warm-up in French, learn the new language through real dialogue and practice, then rehearse it until you can use it without me. Here is the full path.

1. Session 1: First contact, greetings and politeness. Bonjour, bonsoir, salut, au revoir. Comment allez-vous? and the friendlier Ca va? The magic words: s’il vous plait, merci, de rien, pardon, excusez-moi. Tu and vous, and when to use each without stress. You will also learn to say your name and ask someone theirs: Je m’appelle… et vous? By the end you can open and close a polite conversation.
2. Session 2: Talking about yourself with etre and avoir. The two most important verbs in French, present tense. Je suis, tu es, il est… and j’ai, tu as, il a… You will say where you are from (Je suis anglais / Je suis de Londres), your age (J’ai trente ans, because in French you “have” your age), and simple states like J’ai faim, j’ai soif, je suis fatigue. Real, honest sentences about you.
3. Session 3: Numbers, prices and quantities. Zero to 69 solidly, then the famous 70 to 100 (soixante-dix, quatre-vingts, quatre-vingt-dix) explained so it finally clicks. Understanding prices: Ca fait combien? C’est huit euros cinquante. Phone numbers, room numbers, and quantities like un peu, beaucoup, un kilo, une bouteille. Numbers are where confidence is won or lost, so we drill them until they are automatic.
4. Session 4: At the cafe, ordering food and drinks. Je voudrais… (the polite “I would like”), un cafe, une biere, un verre de vin, l’addition s’il vous plait. Un and une, le and la (articles) taught through the menu, not through a table. Asking what something is: Qu’est-ce que c’est? Saying you would like a bit more or that it was lovely. You will run a full cafe order out loud, start to finish.
5. Session 5: At the restaurant and the shop. Booking a table (Une table pour deux, s’il vous plait), reading a simple menu (entree, plat, dessert), saying what you want and do not want, and handling dietary needs (Je suis vegetarien, sans…, je ne mange pas de…). At the shop: Je cherche…, Vous avez…?, Combien ca coute? Paying and thanking. This is the trip-survival core.
6. Session 6: Asking for directions with aller and simple questions. The verb aller (to go), which you also need for the near future. Ou est…? Ou sont les toilettes? Directions you will actually hear: a gauche, a droite, tout droit, en face, a cote de. Question words: ou, quand, combien, comment, pourquoi, qu’est-ce que. You will ask for and follow directions to a station, a hotel, and a pharmacy.
7. Session 7: Getting around and making plans with faire and aller. The verb faire (to do / to make) and the near future with aller plus infinitive: Je vais visiter, on va manger, qu’est-ce que tu vas faire? Transport and travel language: le train, le bus, un billet, un aller-retour, a quelle heure? Telling and asking the time. Weather small talk with faire (Il fait beau, il fait chaud), because that is genuinely how the French say it.
8. Session 8: Putting it all together, your trip in French. A full role-play arc: arrive, check in, ask directions, order a meal, shop, ask a question, handle a small problem (Je ne comprends pas, pouvez-vous repeter?, parlez-vous anglais?). We consolidate greetings, numbers, the four key verbs, and questions into a confident whole. You leave with a personal phrase bank and a clear plan for A2 if you want to continue.

Resources and materials

Everything is included and prepared for you. No textbook to buy.

• A shared online study document (Google Doc) that we build together lesson by lesson, so all your vocabulary, phrases, and my notes live in one place you keep forever.
• Graded dialogues and short reading cards written for A1, using only language you have met, so reading feels like winning rather than drowning.
• Native-audio phrase clips recorded by me for the key expressions, so you can hear real Nantes-accented French and copy the rhythm and sounds (the u in “tu”, the French r, the nasal sounds).
• Printable worksheets for numbers, the four core verbs, and cafe/restaurant menus, with answer keys so you can self-check.
• Real-world documents to practise on: a genuine French cafe menu, a metro map, a train ticket, and price tags, so the French you learn is the French you will actually see.
• Short homework after each session (10 to 15 minutes), plus a simple spaced-review list so last week’s words do not quietly disappear.

What you will be able to do by the end (A1 can-do outcomes)

These are concrete, CEFR A1 can-do statements. By the final session you will be able to:

• Greet people, be polite, and open and close a short conversation appropriately with tu or vous.
• Introduce yourself: name, nationality, where you are from, and your age.
• Use the present tense of etre, avoir, aller, and faire in everyday sentences.
• Understand and say numbers, tell the time, and handle prices when shopping or paying.
• Order drinks and a meal in a cafe or restaurant, and state simple dietary needs.
• Ask for and follow basic directions, and ask simple questions with ou, quand, combien, comment and qu’est-ce que.
• Manage the small emergencies of travel: ask someone to repeat, say you do not understand, and ask if they speak English.
• Get by on a trip in French for the most common everyday situations, with the confidence to try.

What is included

• 8 live one-to-one sessions of 45 minutes, online, scheduled around you.
• All materials: the shared study doc, worksheets, audio clips, and real documents, prepared for you.
• Short, useful homework after each session, with answer keys and a review list.
• Support between lessons: message me with a quick question and I will answer.
• Optional recordings of key explanations so you can revisit them anytime.
• A clear next-step plan at the end if you decide to carry on towards A2.

Price: 149 euros for the full 8-session course.

An honest word before you book

Eight sessions will not make you fluent, and I will never pretend otherwise. What they will do is take you from nothing to genuinely getting by: speaking on your first day, ordering your own coffee, asking your own directions, and understanding the answer often enough to feel it working. If you show up and do the small homework, you will be surprised how much you can say. When you are ready, allons-y. Let’s go.