French B1 course for teachers: intermediate French through immersion
Consolidate your French at B1 level in Bordeaux and move past the intermediate plateau through real-life communication and pedagogical exchange with European colleagues.
Plan your Erasmus mobilityFrench B1 language course for teachers · Part of our Erasmus+ teacher training courses in Bordeaux
Reaching the intermediate threshold often leads to a plateau. This French B1 course for teachers in Bordeaux is designed to unlock your potential by focusing on communicative competence. For many educators the challenge is not just grammar, but the ability to use the language spontaneously in professional and social situations.
This Erasmus+ French language course focuses on active use of the language. Through real-life tasks, debate and cultural immersion in the city, you will build oral fluency and the confidence to work in French with colleagues from across Europe. You can also explore our French A2 course or our CLIL training course.
Why improving your French at B1 level is a challenge
- At B1, learners understand a lot but still hesitate to speak spontaneously with native speakers.
- Fast, natural speech and idiomatic expression are harder to follow than written French.
- Professional contexts, meetings, projects, administration, require specific vocabulary and register.
- Without regular authentic practice, progress stalls at the intermediate plateau.
Objectives of this French B1 course
Our primary goals for this training include:
- Enhance oral fluency: use French spontaneously in real-life communication scenarios.
- Consolidate B1 grammar: master past tenses, the subjunctive and connectors of argumentation.
- Develop professional vocabulary: communicate confidently in international school projects.
- Understand French social codes: acquire cultural knowledge to interact naturally in and out of school.
What you will be able to do after this course
- Follow professional meetings and social conversations at natural speed.
- Express and defend opinions clearly in structured discussion.
- Use narrative tenses accurately when recounting experiences and projects.
- Collaborate in French with European colleagues on educational topics.
Explore the course in detail
Objectives, content and programme
This French B1 course for teachers Erasmus+ has one clear aim: to move you from understanding French to using it spontaneously. Over the week you consolidate the intermediate threshold, widen your active vocabulary and gain the confidence to handle real professional and social situations.
The objectives are practical and measurable: sustain a conversation on familiar and work-related topics, express and justify an opinion, and follow the natural pace of native speakers without losing the thread.
By the end of the course you will be able to hold spontaneous exchanges with European colleagues, take part in meetings and social gatherings in French, and use the past tenses and connectors that give your speech fluency and nuance.
You will also leave with a personal bank of reusable phrases and strategies for continuing to progress on your own once you are back in your school.
Our Erasmus+ French language course follows a task-based approach: every morning classroom session prepares you for a real task in the city in the afternoon, because learning French in Bordeaux means stepping outside the traditional classroom.
Trainers focus on active listening and phonetic correction so you can follow professional meetings and informal conversation alike, and modern digital tools keep the process engaging throughout the week.
Each day follows the same thread: understand, experience, design and transfer.
Monday: understanding spontaneous French
Morning
- Assessing your oral skills and setting goals
- Fluency versus accuracy: what matters at B1
Afternoon
- Guided city activity: real conversations in Bordeaux
- Build a bank of connectors and useful phrases
Tuesday: narrating and expressing opinions
Morning
- The past tenses in context
- Giving and justifying opinions
Afternoon
- Debate and discussion practice
- Repair strategies: keeping a conversation going
Wednesday: understanding real speech
Morning
- Listening to native pace and register
- Pronunciation and intonation
Afternoon
- Cafe conversation and role-plays
- Peer feedback
Thursday: professional and school French
Morning
- Vocabulary of school life and meetings
- Writing short professional messages
Afternoon
- Design a speaking task to reuse with learners
- Collaborative review
Friday: building your fluency
Morning
- Short presentations and exchange with European teachers
- Reflecting on progress
Afternoon
- Final speaking project
- Personal plan to keep improving
- Course evaluation, Europass and certification
Approach, impact and practical details
What consistently helps B1 learners is not more grammar but more speaking time in meaningful contexts. Ordering at a market, asking for directions or negotiating a plan with peers pushes you to produce language under real conditions.
We also work on repair strategies, how to reformulate, ask for clarification and keep a conversation going when a word escapes you, the skills that separate a hesitant speaker from a fluent one.
You leave with concrete techniques you can transfer to your own learners: scaffolding spoken production, using the city as a resource, and designing tasks that connect language to real life.
These action-oriented approaches mirror how we teach, so you experience as a learner the very methods you can later apply as a teacher.
The point of an Erasmus+ mobility is not the week itself but what follows. Your renewed confidence in French feeds directly into your teaching, your international projects and your ability to welcome French-speaking partners.
This course is part of our Erasmus teacher training courses in Bordeaux, and many participants return to launch exchanges, eTwinning projects or further mobilities with the colleagues they meet here.
Before you arrive, we help with your Learning Agreement and practical preparation so your grant application is straightforward, and you follow a clear, documented programme during the week.
Afterwards you receive your Europass Mobility certificate and evaluation, plus any additional documents your National Agency requires for recognition.
Bordeaux offers the ideal setting to practise French: a UNESCO-listed city centre, a lively student atmosphere and warm, patient locals happy to help you speak.
Easily reached from across Europe, it combines cultural richness with a human scale that makes teacher mobility both productive and enjoyable.
Target audience
This B1 course is intended for teachers and school staff who want to work confidently in French: classroom teachers, trainers, educational and career counsellors, school psychologists, headteachers, school leaders and administrative or management staff. They join from primary, secondary and vocational schools, adult-education centres, training organisations, higher education and NGOs, and mixed-level groups are the norm rather than the exception.
Erasmus+ funding: how it works
If you work for a school or education organisation, as a teacher, trainer, headteacher, school leader or in any other role, you can apply for an Erasmus+ KA1 grant, so your institution may cover travel, accommodation, meals, cultural activities and the fees of this French B1 course through the grant.
The course is priced to fit within the Erasmus+ grant, and we propose several options to secure the best comfort and quality within the limits of the grant.
Erasmus+ quality standards
This French B1 course respects the Erasmus Quality Standards, so you always know in advance the course description and its outcomes, the dates, the venue and who is providing and teaching it.
We help with each step of certification and validation, European instruments, staff-mobility learning agreements, the quality commitment and Europass Mobility, and, on request, add certification or reporting documents together with photos and a sum-up video for visibility and dissemination.
Quality standards for our courses
- European values and policies
- Composition of the group and networking opportunities
- High quality teaching
- Inspiring and interactive learning
- Trustworthy, innovative and relevant content
- Use of digital tools and blended learning
- Continued learning
- Facilitating institutional impact
- Certification of learning outcomes
- Advance and complete information about the course
- Straightforward application process
- Preparation
- Transparent costs
- Changes and cancellations
- Support before, during and after the course
- Qualified staff
- Proportionate duration and schedule of the course
- Appropriate venue
- Inclusion
- Feedback and assessment
Our Erasmus+ organisational quality standards
- Practical arrangements
- Health, safety and respect of applicable regulations
- Preparation
- Monitoring and mentoring
- Support during the activity
- Evaluation and recognition of learning outcomes
- Core tasks, keeping ownership of the activities
- Integrating results of mobility activities in the organisation
- Developing capacity
- Regular updates
- Gathering and using participants’ feedback
- Sharing results within the organisation
- Sharing results with other organisations and the public
- Publicly acknowledging European Union funding
- Inclusion and diversity
- Digital education
- Active participation in the network of Erasmus organisations
- Environmental sustainability and responsibility
What is included in the course
- Responsive support: full-day chat assistance
- Grant-ready: eligible for Erasmus+ KA1 funding
- Hassle-free changes: flexible rebooking with minimal conditions
- The full package: from morning coffee to cultural discoveries
- Certificate of attendance on completion
Official Erasmus+ validation
To ensure the recognition of your French B1 course for teachers, we provide all required European certification and Erasmus+ compliance documentation:
- ✓ Europass Mobility: Official recognition of your professional development and teaching skills.
- ✓ Quality Commitment: Full compliance with Erasmus+ quality standards.
- ✓ Final Certification: Official certificate of attendance with training hours.
Social & cultural programme
Your Erasmus+ teacher mobility in Bordeaux is also an opportunity to experience French culture and build connections with other European teachers.
- ✓ Welcome aperitif: Network with European colleagues in a relaxed setting.
- ✓ Guided city tour: Discover Bordeaux’s UNESCO World Heritage sites.
- ✓ Local recommendations: Explore the best markets, cafés and cultural spots.
Optional premium add-ons can be arranged on request on Saturdays (e.g. Arcachon Bay & the Dune du Pilat, or a Médoc / Saint-Émilion château; other options available according to your interest).
Erasmus+ teacher mobility in Bordeaux
Consolidate your French B1 in Bordeaux
Join teachers from across Europe and leave with the confidence to work in French from your very next project.
Start my projectFrequently asked questions
Yes. It is fully KA1-fundable, so your grant can cover travel, accommodation, meals and course fees.
The course is aimed at learners around A2 to B1 who want to reach confident, spontaneous B1 communication.
A certificate of attendance, a Europass Mobility certificate, and a completed Learning Agreement and evaluation for recognition.
One week in Bordeaux, in small groups of no more than 16 participants.
Teachers’ zone
Our online programmes let you maximise your learning potential and bring your new skills straight into your everyday teaching. Participants also get virtual classroom access.