OU French Courses - Alternatives?

[benedicte]

Hi, I've been looking at the OU 'Bon Depart' French Course but as I am a French resident the fees are double that if I still lived in the UK and I was wondering if there are other distance learning courses I should consider?

I have tried listening to CDs and taking lessons but I am finding it very difficult to learn French and I know that I work better with a structured course with tests/coursework etc. I don't need points toward any qualifications etc. although I wouldn't mind :)

Any ideas? Anyone here taken the OU Courses?

[Tourangelle]

Look up the local Alliance Française in your town, I've heard they are very good and they are geared towards exams.

[Sue56]

Hi

Oxford Open Learning offer distance courses.  Not sure if they are open to non UK residents but there is a web site.  I have done the AS level course with them and my tutor telephoned me every 3 weeks to discuss, in French, related topics.  Unlike the OU there was no video to follow and only 1 CD for listening.  It mostly consists of reading and answering qestions p;us grammar sections.

Out of the two I prefer the OU - it is more comprehensive and gives you more variety of material.  Although I feel my Oxford Open Learning tutor is very dedicated and puts a lot more effort in than is probably required - I can't comment if the other tutors from the Oxford Open Learning are as helpful.  Anyway their link is below.

Bon chance.

http://www.ool.co.uk/index.htm

 

[St Bernard]

Take a look at www.fle.fr. This will guide you to a huge number of specialists such as Alliance Francaise in providing French language courses for foreigners - hopefully there is one in your area but I believe that some of them have on-line courses as well.

 

Jan Laury

[benedicte]

Thanks for the replies. I have just been looking at the Oxford Open Learning Distance Courses and they seem to be what I'm looking for and at 245.00 UKP (GCSE level) they are a lot cheaper than the OU equivalent! And they are open to non UK residents at the same price :)

Only thing is that the exam costs are additional and I can't find on the site details of how much they are - Sue do you know how much the exams cost? (approximately).

[Sue56]

You need to find a local exam centre, in the UK it's usually a local secondary school. Not sure how you go about it if outside the UK.  You take the speaking, writing and listening exam through the school/local exam centre but the oral exam has to be taken in London or Oxford. Not sure if this is the case for GCSE but certainly for AS level.  The cost of exam for GCSE this year was £25.

Sue

[benedicte]

Thanks again Sue :)

[Deimos]

When I was looking for a course (not French), I also found the Open University exceptionally expensive if one is not a UK resident.  People here pointed me to alternatives and I think what I actually ended-up with is far better than the OU offering (irrespective of cost).

Ian

[benedicte]

Hi Ian, yes the OU does seem to be expensive. Even if you are a UK resident it seems to be more expensive than other alternatives for similar courses.

Out of interest what course did you take and with whom?

[Deimos]

Not French I’m afraid.  I’m doing Astronomy and Astrophysics.  It’s a modular system that uses the points thing (I believe I can actually take the points to the OU should I want to in the future).  I’m actually doing the courses with a couple of the UK Universities.  I think one thing that makes it so enjoyable is that I’m doing it completely out of interest.  Thus it’s the subject that is interesting and no pressure of passing exams (though must confess I did do some revision for the first exam).

 

Ian