B1.5 Core Program · Intermediate French
Mondes urbains
Urban Worlds and Better Living
From urban exploration and local news to gentrification, rural migration, pollution, walkability, and cycling, learn to describe activities, report events, voice complaints, and propose practical ways to make cities safer, healthier, and more accessible.
Who It's For
Who this course is made for
If any of these sound like you, this course is a great fit.
Learners at A2-B1 level who want to discuss cities and public life in greater depth
Learners who want to describe activities, report news events, and voice complaints in French
Learners who want to master the passive voice, adjective placement, and nominalization
Learners interested in housing justice, urban planning, pollution, walking, and cycling
Learning outcomes
By the end of this course, I can…
Build the French needed to narrate urban events, describe places, express dissatisfaction, analyze city challenges, and present practical proposals for better urban living.
Describe urban exploration, leisure activities, and personal experiences
Use the key elements of a news report to recount unusual or local events
Use the passive voice to emphasize results, affected people, or unknown agents
Discuss neighborhood change, gentrification, housing prices, and housing justice
Compare the advantages and disadvantages of cities, suburbs, and rural areas
Complain about noise, traffic, pollution, poor services, and commuting
Describe buildings, public spaces, roads, and neighborhood amenities
Place adjectives accurately and recognize meaning changes caused by position
Nominalize adjectives to express abstract qualities of urban life
Discuss walking and cycling and propose concrete improvements
Interpret infographics, select key data, and defend a city as the best place to live
Course content
Four units to build confident B1 communication
Through poetry, news reports, interviews, survey data, urban features, and infographics, explore urban adventure, neighborhood change, housing, rural life, health, pollution, and sustainable mobility while developing description, narration, argumentation, and civic proposal skills.
SOMMAIRE COURSE OUTLINEExplorer et raconter la ville
Exploring and Reporting the City
Use city poetry, urban exploration, and a Strasbourg news story to describe activities, recount experiences, and write a news report with the passive voice
Quartiers, logement et patrimoine
Neighborhoods, Housing, and Heritage
Discuss gentrification, housing prices, landmarks, and controversial architecture; analyze neighborhood change and propose housing solutions
Choisir son cadre de vie
Choosing Where to Live
Compare urban, suburban, and rural life; discuss pollution and health, express complaints, and master adjective placement and meaning
Mobilité et ville agréable
Mobility and Livable Cities
Analyze walking, cycling, public services, and road-user needs; practice nominalization and use data to select the most livable city
Vocabulary
La ville, les quartiers et les espaces publics
Cities, neighborhoods, and public spaces
Les bâtiments, l’architecture et le patrimoine
Buildings, architecture, and heritage
L’immobilier, la construction et la gentrification
Real estate, construction, and gentrification
Les faits divers, la police et les interventions
Local news, police, and emergency interventions
L’urbanisme, les services et les nuisances
Urban planning, public services, and nuisances
Les transports, les piétons, les cyclistes et les usagers
Transport, pedestrians, cyclists, and road users
La pollution, la santé et la qualité de vie
Pollution, health, and quality of life
Grammar
Le passif : être + participe passé, avec ou sans complément d’agent
The passive voice
Se faire / se laisser + infinitif à valeur passive
Passive meaning with se faire / se laisser + infinitive
La place de l’adjectif et les changements de sens
Adjective placement and changes in meaning
La nominalisation de l’adjectif : -té, -ité, -eur, -ance, -ence…
Nominalizing adjectives
