All of the Alliance Française network’s language courses are structured according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF). The CEF is the language and fluency level scale used in the European Union. It serves as the guideline for describing the level of fluency achieved by a foreign language learner. Find out what is your French language fluency level.
The Alliance Française of Washington, D.C. offers multiple courses within each CEF level, as detailed in the chart below. See below table for learning objectives of each level. You can also use this table to perform a quick self-evaluation.
*New students with any prior experience studying or speaking French must take our free placement test before enrolling in a class. It is the best way to guarantee you are in the best class for your language needs.
*Check the curriculum table with the details of classes that the Alliance Française offers in DC. Please note that not all advanced classes are offered each session.
Ready to Register?
Register Now
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL) Language Fluency Levels
All of the Alliance Française network’s language courses are structured according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF). The CEF is the language and fluency level scale used in the European Union. It serves as the guideline for describing the level of fluency achieved by a foreign language learner. Find out what is your French language fluency level.
The Alliance Française of Washington, D.C. offers multiple courses within each CEF level. Click on each level below to get a detailed curriculum of all learning objectives and number of hours/course. You can also use this table to perform a quick self-evaluation.
*New students with any prior experience studying or speaking French must take our free placement test before enrolling in a class. It is the best way to guarantee you are in the best class for your language needs.
*Check the curriculum table with the details of classes that the Alliance Française offers in DC. Please note that not all advanced classes are offered each session.
A1: Breakthrough / Beginner Level
This entry-level course is designed for complete beginners to gain competency in French. Students will develop reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills necessary to identify vocabulary terms and utilize proper grammatical structures in French. Extensive preparation outside of class and active participation in class are required to succeed. Assignments will be assisted by texts, visual aids, and cultural reflection. Students will become familiar with engaging effectively in a variety of conversations in French.
Communicative Objectives
Salutations, taking leave; introduce oneself; ask and give personal information; talk about one's hobbies; talk about one's city; ask and give explanations; understand an itinerary's simple directions; give simple directions for an itinerary; ask closed questions
Vocabulary Objectives
Salutation formulas; identity; moments in a day; tastes; verbs and directions; how to be polite: simple formulas
Grammar Objectives
To have & to be (avoir & être); possessive adjectives; negation (ne…pas); numbers up to 100; definite and indefinite articles; present tense of verbs ending in -ER; preposition (places); "Pourquoi? Parce que" (Why? Because); interrogative adjective: "Quel"?; closed questions: "Est-ce que..."?
Course Materials
Alter Ego 1+ Dossier 0, Dossier 1, Dossier 2, lessons 1 and 2
Total Hours: 32
This course is designed for beginners to strengthen their competency in French. Students will sharpen their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills necessary to identify vocabulary terms and utilize proper grammatical structures. Extensive preparation outside of class and active participation in class are required to succeed. Assignments will be assisted by texts, visual aids, and cultural reflection. Students will become familiar with engaging effectively in a variety of conversations in French.
Communicative Objectives
Talk about one's job; describe a person; talk about one's family; talk about one's daily activities; talk about one's projects
Vocabulary Objectives
Most common professions; masculine and feminine for profession-based adjectives; physical and psychological descriptions; family relationships; daily activities
Grammar Objectives
Prepositions (places); demonstrative adjectives; stressed pronouns; qualifying adjectives; possessive adjectives; reflective verbs; near future; imperative mode and tense
Course Materials
Alter Ego 1+ Dossier 2, lesson 3; Dossier 3, Dossier 4, lessons 1 and 2
Total Hours: 32
A2: Way Stage / Elementary Level
This course is designed for beginners to strengthen their competency in French. Students will sharpen their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills necessary to identify vocabulary terms and utilize proper grammatical structures. Extensive preparation outside of class and active participation in class are required to succeed. Assignments will be assisted by texts, visual aids, and cultural reflection. Students will become familiar with engaging effectively in a variety of conversations in French.
Communicative Objectives
Ask questions; talk about past events; talk about seasons and the weather; talk about one's hobbies and cultural activities; call someone on the phone and answer the phone; express feelings
Vocabulary Objectives
Describe someone physically; weather forecast and climate; travel
Grammar Objectives
Syntaxic structure of questions; introduction to passé composé (past tense); near future, recent past and progressive present
Course Materials
Alter Ego 1+ Dossier 4, lesson 3; dossier 5, dossier 6, lessons 1 and 2
Total Hours: 32
This course is designed for beginners to strengthen their competency in French. Students will sharpen their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills necessary to identify vocabulary terms and utilize proper grammatical structures. Extensive preparation outside of class and active participation in class are required to succeed. Assignments will be assisted by texts, visual aids, and cultural reflection. Students will become familiar with engaging effectively in a variety of conversations in French.
Communicative Objectives
Talk about one's food; describe clothes; give a function to an object; precise quantities
Vocabulary Objectives
Food; clothes and fashion; lodging; daily consumerism
Grammar Objectives
Basic use of simple future; partitive articles; Direct Object and Indirect Object; basic use of "imparfait" tense
Course Materials
Alter Ego 1+ Dossier 6, lesson 3; dossier 7, dossier 8, lesson 1
Total Hours: 32
This course is designed for beginners to strengthen their competency in French. Students will sharpen their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills necessary to identify vocabulary terms and utilize proper grammatical structures. Extensive preparation outside of class and active participation in class are required to succeed. Assignments will be assisted by texts, visual aids, and cultural reflection. Students will become familiar with engaging effectively in a variety of conversations in French. This course concludes the core competencies needed for beginners in French and enables students to move on to intermediate courses at the 200-level.
Communicative Objectives
Make a comparison; talk about memories; suggest an outing; react; understand and set up rules
Vocabulary Objectives
Lodging; cuisine (gastronomy); daily life
Grammar Objectives
Expressions used for comparison; "Il faut" + infinitive and imperative; negation and restriction; expressions used for quantity; "Depuis / Il y a"; "Devoir / Il faut que"
Course Materials
Alter Ego 1+ Dossier 8, lessons 2 and 3; dossier 9
Total Hours: 32
This course is designed for students at the intermediate-level working toward proficiency in French. Students will further develop their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills, expand upon their vocabulary, and utilize more complex grammatical structures. Extensive preparation outside of class and active participation in class are required to succeed. Assignments will be assisted by texts, visual aids, and cultural reflection. Students will become familiar with engaging effectively in a variety of conversations in French.
Communicative Objectives
Talk about a friendship; describe a person; talk about what someone said; mention changes; narrate an encounter; talk about one's work, one's university studies, one's choice of profession; give advice
Vocabulary Objectives
Friendship; love relationship; studies; professional experience; work and professional life; love life
Grammar Objectives
Simple relative pronouns; passé composé tense / imparfait tense / plus - perfect tense; indirect speech in the present tense; comparison; time markers ("il y a , dans, pendant, depuis"), advice using imperative tense and mode; subjunctive to express necessity
Course Materials
Alter Ego 2+, Dossier 1, Dossier 2
Total Hours: 32
B1: Threshold / Intermediate Level
This course is designed for intermediate-level students working to strengthen their competency in French. Students will sharpen their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills necessary to identify vocabulary terms and utilize proper grammatical structures. Extensive preparation outside of class and active participation in class are required to succeed. Assignments will be assisted by texts, visual aids, and cultural reflection. Students will become familiar with engaging effectively in a variety of conversations in French.
Communicative Objectives
Talk about cultural differences; situate yourself in time; talk about one's place of living and justify one's choices; talk about an event; react
Vocabulary Objectives
Expressions to talk about a country and its inhabitants; media and press
Grammar Objectives
où;/ dont; demonstrative pronouns; superlatives; interrogative and possessive pronouns; "si" + imparfait tense; passive form
Course Materials
Alter Ego 2+, Dossier 3, Dossier 4
Total Hours: 32
This course is designed for intermediate-level students working to strengthen their competency in French. Students will sharpen their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills necessary to identify vocabulary terms and utilize proper grammatical structures. Extensive preparation outside of class and active participation in class are required to succeed. Assignments will be assisted by texts, visual aids, and cultural reflection. Students will become familiar with engaging effectively in a variety of conversations in French.
Communicative Objectives
Express appreciation; encourage the practice of an activity; select a tourist destination; look to the future: express wishes/ hopes; express a goal, an objective, an aim; imagine an hypothetical or unreal situation; give one's opinion; justify one's choices; express agreement and disagreement
Vocabulary Objectives
Hobbies; encouragement; tourism, boooking a hotel, a table; wishes; verbs to express goals; verbs to express fields of interest; idioms to express one's opinion
Grammar Objectives
The adverb in compound tenses; adjectives in a sentence; personal pronouns after "de" and "à"; indirect pronouns "y" and "en"; expressing wishes: souhaiter que + subjunctive; espérer que + indicative; conditional present to make a suggestion; conditional present (project, unreal situation)
Course Materials
Alter Ego 2+, Dossier 5, dossier 6
Total Hours: 32
Communicative Objectives
Talk about a life change; report a conversation; talk about an event in a narrative in the past; express regrets; take a position, voice an
opinion; understand the history of an event; talk about one's readings; understand and argue about prevention: encouragement and caution
Vocabulary Objectives
Performing arts and show; expressions used for feelings/emotions, attitudes/behaviors; impersonal ways of expressing need; verbs to talk about loaning/borrowing an object; verbs used to express consequence
Grammar Objectives
Expressing time: "avant de" + infinitive; "après" + past infinitive; reported speech in the past; "irréel du passé"" "si"+ plus perfect, conditional, recent past and near future in a narrative in the past; expressing need with subjunctive or infinitive; double pronouns; imparfait or conditional to express reproach
Course Materials
Alter Ego 2+, Dossier 7, Dossier 8
Total Hours: 32
This course is designed for intermediate-advanced students working to gain proficiency in French. Students will sharpen their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills necessary to identify vocabulary terms and utilize proper grammatical structures. Extensive preparation outside of class and active participation in class are required to succeed. Assignments will be assisted by texts, visual aids, and cultural reflection. Students will become familiar with engaging effectively in a variety of conversations in French.
Communicative Objectives
Characterize people; ask detailed information by mail; give orders and make suggestions; express feelings; write a mail to complain
about something; report someone's words
Vocabulary Objectives
Behaviors; professional strengths and weaknesses; friendship and love; lexicon of negation
Grammar Objectives
Simple relative pronouns and compound relative pronouns with demonstrative pronouns; subjunctive present; subjunctive past and past infinitive; subjuctive or infinitive after feeling verbs; compound relative pronouns; reported speech in the present
Course Materials
Alter Ego 3+, Dossier 1, dossier 2
Total Hours: 32
This course is designed for intermediate-advanced students working to gain proficiency in French. Students will sharpen their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills necessary to identify vocabulary terms and utilize proper grammatical structures. Extensive preparation outside of class and active participation in class are required to succeed. Assignments will be assisted by texts, visual aids, and cultural reflection. Students will become familiar with engaging effectively in a variety of conversations in French.
Communicative Objectives
Talk about one's experiences; matriculate in university; express a compromise and oppose something; talk about ways to get
information; give one's point of view on the first page of daily papers; analyze information; understand news titles
Vocabulary Objectives
Apprenticeship and experience; school and university; contradicting; how to write a small news story
Grammar Objectives
Imparfait and passé composé; plus que parfait (plus-perfect), rules of "participe passé"; nominal sentences; passive voice; express cause and consequence; how to express uncertain events
Course Materials
Alter Ego 3+ , Dossier 3, Dossier 4
Total Hours: 32
insert description
Communicative Objectives
Oppose something; encourage solidarity; express objectives and intentions; give impressions; participate in a debate: take the floor; keep the floor; interrupt
Vocabulary Objectives
Solidarity, help, involvement; how to encourage; how to suggest a program to one’s friends; how to like and participate in a debate
Grammar Objectives
Participe passé and gerund; different ways of expressing goals; interrogation; inverted question; adverbs in – MENT; relatives ruled by the subjunctive Alter Ego 3+ Dossier 5, Dossier 6
Course Materials
Alter Ego 3+ , Dossier 3, Dossier 4
Total Hours: 32
B2: Vantage / Intermediate Advanced Level
Total Hours: 32
Total Hours: 32
Total Hours: 32
Total Hours: 32
Total Hours: 32
Total Hours: 32
C1: Effective Operational Efficiency / Advanced Level
Total Hours: 32
Total Hours: 32
This course is designed for superior students to strengthen their proficiency in French. Students will sharpen their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills necessary to identify vocabulary terms and utilize proper grammatical structures. Extensive preparation outside of class and active participation in class are required to succeed. Assignments will be assisted by texts, visual aids, and cultural reflection. Students will become familiar with engaging effectively in a variety of conversations in French.
Total Hours: 32
Total Hours: 32
Total Hours: 32
Total Hours: 32
C2: Mastery / Proficiency Level