Group Category: Languages

French Refreshers

Status:Active, open to new members
When: Monthly on Monday afternoons 2:00 pm-4:00 pm
4th Monday
Venue: Members' Homes

Parlez-vous français?

Our monthly sessions are relaxed and everyone is friendly.

We concentrate on enjoying each other's company and on trying to improve our communication skills. We cover all sorts of topics, from how to talk about ourselves in French to surviving in everyday situations when in a French-speaking country. We listen to recordings, watch videos, play games and generally try to improve our knowledge and grasp of French. After an hour or so we enjoy a cup of tea and biscuits.

French Les Moyens

Status:Active, open to new members
When: Weekly on Thursday mornings 10:30 am-12:00 pm
Venue: Members' Homes

This group started in March, 2006.

Les Moyens (Intermediate) French group meets weekly during school term time at the home of one of its members. The group encourages all members to contribute, particularly in terms of spoken French. To this end, most weeks, each group member is invited to give a short talk describing their activities during the previous week, a subject of particular interest or an account of a particular place, museum, book, play, etc.

The group also attempt to keep up with events in France through the medium of the magazine Rendez-Vous which, in addition to covering items of interest, has articles designed to improve the use of spoken French as well as some grammatical explanations. The magazine is accompanied by an audio disc speaking the magazine text. Group members are expected to buy their own copy of the magazine but the group leader provides the audio disc.

French Conversation 3

Status:Active, open to new members
When: Monthly on Monday afternoons 2:00 pm-4:00 pm
Venue: Members' Homes

Our group members already speak French, usually to GCSE (O Level) standard or above.

We meet each month - apart from a holiday break in August.

We tackle a variety of language practice activities and often read adapted news articles. At each meeting we look at two pages of a book written for adult students of French called Communication Progressive which contains dialogues, practice activities and a CD disc to use at home.

Each month members take home a 'homework' task and research various topics. Some group members occasionally go to the cinema together when French language films are showing, as we are very lucky to have three independent cinemas in Portsmouth.

French Conversation 2

Status:Active, open to new members
When: Fortnightly on Wednesday afternoons 2:00 pm-4:00 pm
1st & 3rd Wednesday
Venue: Pear Tree Court, Horndean

This group started in April, 2019.

This group is ideal for members who may be a little rusty with the French language and would like to get more practice with speaking French.

French Conversation 1

Status:Active, open to new members
When: Weekly on Tuesday afternoons 2:00 pm-4:00 pm
Venue: Members' Homes

We meet once a week and converse in French to the best of our ability. We do not have any formal instruction but we make use of on-line material.

This group is suitable for members able to contribute in an open French conversation.

French Beginners

Status:Active, open to new members
When: Monthly on Friday afternoons 2:30 pm-4:00 pm
4th Friday
Venue: Members' Homes

Our sessions are relaxed and everyone is friendly, no matter how rusty the French is, whether a beginner or someone with a little more knowledge.

We concentrate on enjoying each other's company and on trying to improve our communication skills. We cover all sorts of topics, from how to talk about ourselves in French to surviving in everyday situations when in a French-speaking country. We listen to recordings, watch videos, play games and try to improve our spoken French. After an hour or so, we enjoy a cup of tea and biscuits.

Fun French

Status:Active, open to new members
When: Fortnightly on Wednesday afternoons 2:00 pm-4:00 pm
2nd & 4th Wednesday
Venue: Members' Homes

This group started in August, 2025.

Fun French - simple, playful word games and basic, relaxed French interaction.

Spanish Conversation

Status:Active, open to new members
When: Weekly on Wednesday afternoons 2:00 pm-4:00 pm
Venue: Members' Homes

This group started in January, 2020.

We meet to keep on top of and improve our speaking of Spanish. We are not experts!

German Conversation

Status:Active, open to new members
When: Monthly on Tuesday afternoons 3:45 pm-5:15 pm
1st Tuesday
Venue: Pear Tree Court, Horndean

This group started in May 2019

We are a small friendly group with the conversation in German and our tutor helping out when we don’t know the German expression that we’re looking for.
After each meeting a topic (at intermediate user level) is given and we work through this together during the next meeting.

German (Intermediate)

Status:Active, open to new members
When: On Monday mornings 10:00 am-12:00 pm
Twice a month
Venue: Members' Homes

This group started in 2006.

We are a small group all with connections with Germany and German.

The basis of our fortnightly sessions is a theme from the German website Deutsche Welle which gives us German text, audio and exercises to discuss and practice. In addition, we talk about what we have perhaps done or seen over the past two weeks.

Our level is varied but none of us are experts or native speakers.