LibGuides: Modern Languages & Literatures: French

Library Highlights

The materials listed below are only some of the many available resources to Cal State East Bay students, staff & faculty via the University Libraries. Depending on the format (i.e. video, book, article), some materials might be available to access for free online via the library's streaming subscriptions, or you can borrow/check-out the item for free. Find more course materials in the Library's catalog.

Learning the Language Resources

French in Action - Series of instructional French videos following an American student in Paris. Produced by Yale in 1987.

Radio Lingua Network: French - French podcasts at the beginner to intermediate level. "Coffee Break French" is particularly popular.

Français interactif - Interactive textbook and grammar book from the University of Texas at Austin.

Foreign Service Institute: French Basic Course - Audio course designed by the US Foreign Service Institute to help diplomats attain conversational proficiency.

Ma France - BBC-sponsored video course for intermediate students.

Open Culture: Learn French for Free - Collection of audio-visual French lessons

Radio France Internationale: Learn French - Check out "The News in Simple French" for their simplified broadcast (with transcript!).

TED Talks in French - These videos are frequently accompanied by transcripts in French and English.

-- From Butler University Libraries:
http://libguides.butler.edu/french/language

Free First-Year French Textbooks

Au Boulot! First-Year French
From abstract, "Au boulot! is a two-year college French program consisting of: a textbook, workbook and 21 accompanying audio exercises; as well as a reference grammar, to be used the entire two years. We also insist that our students obtain a fall-sized dictionary, and we recommend the HARPER-COLLINS-ROBERT bilingual New Standard Edition. (Instructors will note in reviewing the materials that we provide vocabulary lists at the ends of chapters, with translations, but no glossary. We have become convinced after years of experience that glossaries are counter-productive. It is vital that students learn to use dictionaries, and the sooner the better.)"
Chapeau! First-Year French
From abstract, "Chapeau! is a first-year college text. Although it may appear, at first glance, to move very fast and introduce a large amount of material early, the vocabulary and grammatical structures that we expect students to control actively by the end of the year are limited in accord with our notion of a reasonable application of the ACTFL proficiency guidelines. As a result, while some instructors may be surprised at such things as the absence of the possessive pronoun, no insistence on the use of optional subjunctives, and no active treatment of the relative dont, others may be disturbed by what we still include in a first-year text. What we do expect students to acquire (which is quantitatively less than what we present in the text for them to know about), we believe they will acquire well, providing a sound basis for further study (formal or informal) and permitting us to say to them, both during and at the end of the course, "Chapeau!""

Getting Started

These sites are portals or gateways to French resources.

ATHENA: Textes Français - La Bibliothèque Française
BBC Languages - French - Lessons, quizzes, radio, and tv
French Studies Web - Reference Shelf - All kinds of reference-type resources, and all in French!
Le Quartier Français du Village Planétaire - Here in the Global Village virtual French Quarter, grouped in the various locations one might visit in a French village, are Web sites and interactive communication activities of interest to all those who love the French, France, and the Francophone world
Literature and Culture of Francophone Africa and the Diaspora - A guide to resources on the web for research on the literature & culture of Francophone Africa and the Diaspora
Tennessee Bob's Famous French Links - Now a 10,000-Link Globe-Gate supersite

-- From Butler University Libraries: http://libguides.butler.edu/french/home

UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Modern Languages & Literatures

Useful Books

Library Highlights

Learning the Language Resources

Free First-Year French Textbooks

Getting Started