French essentials course for travellers

MANY TikTok users may have the word ‘croissant’ stuck in their heads, from the sound currently trending with about fifty thousand uses overall.

Well, the Alliance Française will be holding a French essentials course in Bendigo to get people excited to travel to French-speaking countries, where they can try the iconic pastry in its birthplace.

Marion Nouvel has been teaching with the organisation for the past 14 years, and now that she and her husband have been in Bendigo for about a year, she thought it would be great to expand its offerings regionally.

“Each class is designed to learn something that would be useful if you were travelling in France,” she said.

“For instance, we’ll have a class about learning directions, and talking about transport, and ‘How do I buy a ticket for the Metro in Paris?’, or ‘How do I ask for directions if I’m in the city centre of Lyon and I don’t know where I’m going?’.

“Alongside that, we’ll also learn a bit more about the different regions of France and get an idea of which cities we could be visiting for our next holiday, or what are the specialities of each region.”

The class will be taught mostly in French, as if students were really having to communicate in France.

“So even from beginner level I will be speaking mainly in French, but without having to pay the plane ticket,” said Ms Nouvel.

“We will be learning a little bit of the grammatical building blocks because there is no way around them, but we will keep it more on making sure we can communicate as soon as possible.

“We’re trying to keep it as fun as possible, because it is a Saturday afternoon, you don’t want it to be copying conjugations for two hours.

“We are trying to bring our love for the French language and the French culture here, and if anybody is interested but it’s not quite their level, they’re very welcome to get in touch.

“The more I know about what kind of profiles are out there and what people want in Bendigo, the more I can then ask and design classes for them.”

The course will run across five Saturday afternoons, starting 19 August, for adults 18+ at Bendigo Library.

“I’m also looking at getting us some croissants to eat in class, enjoying the French culture as well as the French language,” Ms Nouvel said.