French as a second language

Our range of A–B–C level courses is designed to help you acquire, maintain, or enhance your proficiency in French, a valuable asset in Canada’s bilingual job market. While our courses focus primarily on the four communicative modes of the Action-Oriented Approach (reception, production, interaction, and mediation), they also place strong emphasis on developing your knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and cultural awareness. Most of the course units offered in this cluster carry academic credit, and students from all faculties, schools, and departments are welcome to register.

Our French as a Second Language (FLS) courses enable you to:

• Develop your French skills through a variety of engaging learning activities and motivating instructional materials. The program integrates task-based approach, hybrid course formats, and experiential learning.
• Communicate with confidence and ease in a wide range of social, academic, and professional settings, or international contexts, positioning yourself for success in Canada’s bilingual job market and beyond. French opens doors to positions in government, education, business, international relations, public service, translation, and tourism.
• Build a strong and confident linguistic foundation through systematic practice in grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation. Our courses are designed to help you improve fluency and accuracy across all four communicative modes: reception (listening and reading), production (speaking and writing), interaction (reciprocal communication), and mediation (facilitating communication).
• Benefit from extensive learning support through multimedia resources, web-based activities, conversation workshops, language labs, and a dynamic support service.
• Foster autonomy and lifelong learning skills through independent projects, collaborative tasks, and reflective language practice. 
• Enhance your cultural awareness by exploring Francophone cultures, literature, and social traditions from around the world. Learning French opens the door to both Canadian and global cultural diversity. As one of Canada’s founding languages and a vibrant force across Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific, French connects you to a living global heritage and a community that spans continents.

Enroll in a wide range of French language courses to meet your needs

After taking our online French language placement test, you will be guided towards the courses appropriate for your level of proficiency, from total beginner to advanced level.

FREN 1001 – French 1 (1.0 credit)

This course is designed for absolute beginners in the language. Classes use audio-visual methods, and emphasis is given to the spoken language. Introduction to reading and writing. 

FREN 1002 – French 2 (1.0 credit)

Taught in French for students who have had exposure to French but who have difficulty using it in day-to-day communication. Emphasis on oral expression and comprehension; development of reading and writing skills. Oral practice, oral presentations, interviews, cultural activities, grammar exercises. 

FREN 1100 – French 3 (1.0 credit)

Taught in French. Emphasis on speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. Oral presentations, discussions, interviews, reading of novel excerpts and magazine articles, listening activities, grammar exercises, compositions.

FREN 1110 – French 3: Writing (1.0 credit)

Taught in French. For students with high oral proficiency and low intermediate writing skills. Improvement of spelling, grammar, sentence-structure, and vocabulary. Study of the processes involved in the production of a variety of texts. Use of references.

FREN 2100: French 4 (1.0 credit)

Taught in French. For non-francophone students. Advanced speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. Advanced level reading from various sources, including literary texts. Grammar exercises, essays, oral presentations. 

FREN 2110 – French 4: Writing (1.0 credit)

Taught in French. For students with intermediate French writing skills. Refinement of spelling, grammar, sentence-structure and vocabulary; accuracy and textual organization. Essay-writing. Use and referencing of various sources. Self-correction.

FREN 2701 – Travaux pratiques en français oral (0.5 credit)

Practical exercises designed to develop ease and fluency in oral expression. This course is not suitable for native French speakers or students returning from an exchange program.

FREN 3060 – Perfectionnement de la grammaire par la pratique (0.5 credit)

Critical analysis and systematic practice of grammatical structures within discourse, encompassing sentence construction, agreement markers, tense concord, prepositions and their complements, homonyms and homographs, false cognates, and anglicisms. The course further emphasizes the development of effective self-correction strategies and the proficient use of computerized linguistic tools.

FREN 3701 – Techniques avancées d’expression orale (0.5 credit)

Students develop advanced oral communication skills aimed at achieving clarity, precision, and coherence across a wide range of topics. The course strengthens proficiency in both interactive and extended speaking contexts, emphasizing the ability to debate, present, and defend viewpoints through well-structured arguments. Particular attention is given to active listening, responsiveness to diverse perspectives, and the effective delivery of well-organized oral presentations.

FREN 3702 – Techniques avancées d’expression écrite (0.5 credit)

Advanced Written French. In-depth practice in the production of diverse text types, and genres with particular attention to paragraph organization within coherent informative and argumentative discourse. Emphasis is placed on the critical reflection and application of effective written communication principles. Texts are analyzed and discussed to enhance awareness of writing strategies and conventions.