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50 French Coffee Breaks: Short activities to improve your French one cup at a time
Transform your down time into 'do time'.
The most successful language learners create a habit of studying on a regular basis. 50 French Coffee Breaks makes it easy to master a simple routine of improving your French by effortlessly integrating it with your calming daily ritual - from a 5-minute espresso to a 15-minute latte.
Organized by 5, 10 and 15 minutes, these 50 varied and lively activities - from anagram and idiom challenges to recipes and quotations - are created for high-beginner to intermediate adult and young-adult learners and designed to keep you motivated while building your skills in key areas.
· Reading comprehension
· Writing skills
· Grammar confidence
· Translation abilities
· Vocabulary expansion
· Cultural awareness
By practicing French in a fun and relaxed way in the time you have, you will stay on track to achieve your language-learning aspirations. So, pick up your preferred brew and this practical book, and make learning the most pleasurable and productive part of your busy day.
For 15 years Coffee Break Languages has helped make it possible for millions of people to learn a language in a way that fits into their everyday life: whether that's while walking the dog, at the gym, or on their coffee break!
Teach Yourself has collaborated with Coffee Break Languages to bring their brilliant method to a wider audience by producing their first-ever printed product. All the activities are written by long-time teachers of the language in Coffee Break's characteristically friendly and conversational style. It's the perfect complement to your studies.
The activities are levelled for high-beginner to low-intermediate learners: CEFR A2-B1 and ACTFL Intermediate-low/mid
The most successful language learners create a habit of studying on a regular basis. 50 French Coffee Breaks makes it easy to master a simple routine of improving your French by effortlessly integrating it with your calming daily ritual - from a 5-minute espresso to a 15-minute latte.
Organized by 5, 10 and 15 minutes, these 50 varied and lively activities - from anagram and idiom challenges to recipes and quotations - are created for high-beginner to intermediate adult and young-adult learners and designed to keep you motivated while building your skills in key areas.
· Reading comprehension
· Writing skills
· Grammar confidence
· Translation abilities
· Vocabulary expansion
· Cultural awareness
By practicing French in a fun and relaxed way in the time you have, you will stay on track to achieve your language-learning aspirations. So, pick up your preferred brew and this practical book, and make learning the most pleasurable and productive part of your busy day.
For 15 years Coffee Break Languages has helped make it possible for millions of people to learn a language in a way that fits into their everyday life: whether that's while walking the dog, at the gym, or on their coffee break!
Teach Yourself has collaborated with Coffee Break Languages to bring their brilliant method to a wider audience by producing their first-ever printed product. All the activities are written by long-time teachers of the language in Coffee Break's characteristically friendly and conversational style. It's the perfect complement to your studies.
The activities are levelled for high-beginner to low-intermediate learners: CEFR A2-B1 and ACTFL Intermediate-low/mid
256 pages, Paperback
Published June 7, 2022
88 people are currently reading
2201 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
Want to read
October 27, 2022From the people who bring you Coffee Break website and podcasts etc, this first venture into the written word is a superb additional resource for the language learner. 5, 10 or 15 minute lessons/exercises are perfect for your coffee break. Love this book.
(Thanks to Net Galley for this Book).
(Thanks to Net Galley for this Book).
July 21, 2024
Strongly recommend. Very good for A1-B2, particularly adults. Also very good for inner peace - burnout and detaching from overthinking.
August 10, 2022
These books that offer various exercises, constructed in different ways and aimed at making us remember the words of the foreign language and its grammatical construction, are designed for those who already know the language and want to improve or brush up on it, but are not suitable for those who want to learn it from scratch.
I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.
I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.
Read
September 16, 2024I think the activities did improve my French and I enjoyed working my way through the book. It took me around two weeks to complete, doing a few exercises each day. They were a good mix of easy and intermediate without being too frustrating. I would purchase another workbook from this company. Recommended for early to mid intermediate language learners, A2-B2. Lots of fun!
Find out more at www.coffeebreakfrench.com
Find out more at www.coffeebreakfrench.com
November 21, 2022
Un petit peu French for those short on time
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, John Murray Press, for a digital ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily.
I have a full-time job and plenty of other things going on, so I only have a little time to study. Since watching a few French-language tv shows on Netflix, I've wanted to improve my high school French so that I don't have to rely on the subtitles and can focus on the action! '50 French Coffee Breaks', subtitled, 'short activities to improve your French one cup at a time, seemed like an excellent option.
The book contains activities, including: reading, grammar, writing, idiom explanations and vocabulary practice. These activities are grouped by the amount of time they take, either 5, 10 or 15 minutes, so you can pick an exercise based on how much time you have spare.
The book targets those whose French is lower intermediate level/A2-B1 on the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) scale. I obtained an 'A' in French in my GCSEs a long time ago but I took a free online test before using this book to see what my ability is these days. The result was that I am below B2 but capable of working up to that quickly, so I am in the target market for this book.
However, I did find it hard going. I was using this book in isolation. I think you need to use it as part of a more comprehensive self-learning programme to get a real benefit. The text alone can only give you some answers, even to the exercises in the book. Some of the activities in the book require you to 'free write in French' using prompts from the book. This is good for stretching your abilities, but it does mean the answers aren't in the book; you can't check that what you wrote was grammatically correct or that it means what you think it means. You have to check those answers yourself, perhaps using a translation programme. I was pleasantly surprised that I could free-write sentences that made sense when I translated them, so that stretch was good. Still, it added extra time to the task and meant I needed access to the internet to check my writing. So that is a real drawback for those who want a one-stop 5-minute exercise and full answer in a book.
For the purposes of this review, I was given an electronic copy of the book. I think this book's format lends itself to a physical copy instead. All the exercises are presented first, then you have to flick to the end to locate the answer for the activity you have just completed. E-books do not lend themselves well to flicking backwards and forwards between different exercises and between an exercise and its solution. I found that frustrating and unhelpful, but if I were to purchase a language learning book, I would always buy a physical copy anyway, so my criticism of the book in this capacity reflects my preference to read non-fiction in physical format.
Overall I recommend this book for someone who has a broader French self-study programme and not for someone who purely has 5 minutes a day.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, John Murray Press, for a digital ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily.
I have a full-time job and plenty of other things going on, so I only have a little time to study. Since watching a few French-language tv shows on Netflix, I've wanted to improve my high school French so that I don't have to rely on the subtitles and can focus on the action! '50 French Coffee Breaks', subtitled, 'short activities to improve your French one cup at a time, seemed like an excellent option.
The book contains activities, including: reading, grammar, writing, idiom explanations and vocabulary practice. These activities are grouped by the amount of time they take, either 5, 10 or 15 minutes, so you can pick an exercise based on how much time you have spare.
The book targets those whose French is lower intermediate level/A2-B1 on the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) scale. I obtained an 'A' in French in my GCSEs a long time ago but I took a free online test before using this book to see what my ability is these days. The result was that I am below B2 but capable of working up to that quickly, so I am in the target market for this book.
However, I did find it hard going. I was using this book in isolation. I think you need to use it as part of a more comprehensive self-learning programme to get a real benefit. The text alone can only give you some answers, even to the exercises in the book. Some of the activities in the book require you to 'free write in French' using prompts from the book. This is good for stretching your abilities, but it does mean the answers aren't in the book; you can't check that what you wrote was grammatically correct or that it means what you think it means. You have to check those answers yourself, perhaps using a translation programme. I was pleasantly surprised that I could free-write sentences that made sense when I translated them, so that stretch was good. Still, it added extra time to the task and meant I needed access to the internet to check my writing. So that is a real drawback for those who want a one-stop 5-minute exercise and full answer in a book.
For the purposes of this review, I was given an electronic copy of the book. I think this book's format lends itself to a physical copy instead. All the exercises are presented first, then you have to flick to the end to locate the answer for the activity you have just completed. E-books do not lend themselves well to flicking backwards and forwards between different exercises and between an exercise and its solution. I found that frustrating and unhelpful, but if I were to purchase a language learning book, I would always buy a physical copy anyway, so my criticism of the book in this capacity reflects my preference to read non-fiction in physical format.
Overall I recommend this book for someone who has a broader French self-study programme and not for someone who purely has 5 minutes a day.
August 20, 2022
I've recently taken up studying French again after doing it for A-level about 500 years ago. It's going quite well, and I'm always looking for new ways to improve. This series is a great idea, with bite-size exercises - divided into 5 minute, 10 minute and 15 minute sections - which can be done in a coffee break.
It's not a French course but a tool which can be used alongside other studies, and is aimed at improvers rather than complete beginners - people who know zero French won't get anything out of it. This is stated in the synopsis which makes it clear it's aimed at high beginners/low intermediate level learners (A2/B1 on the CEFR scale).
The activities are varied, innovative and fun, and a great way of getting in some extra practice without a significant time commitment. Kindle probably isn't the ideal format, though - this is the kind of book where you really want a physical copy to flick back and forth, write notes, etc.
Many thanks for the advance copy which is much appreciated.
August 24, 2022
This is a short but useful book for anyone who wants to keep their eye in and keep up some French study, but haven't the time or inclination for a full course or textbook. There's a good range of exercises, from straightforward quick questions to longer prompts encouraging you to form longer descriptions with greater vocabulary. These latter questions are I think the most useful for people who aren't sure how to keep up their language skills as it ptovides the opportunity to think more in that language and construct in greater depth. The downside of course is that you can't correct these yourself in the way of the simple question & answer prompts so it wiuld be trickier to know you're not getting stuck in the same errors unless you gave access to a teacher.
Conversely the prompts could be very useful for French teachers of GCSE level students to give as homework.
I would rank this as good for anyone at around the A2 level.
*I received a free ARC from NetGalley and I have chosen to leave a review*
Conversely the prompts could be very useful for French teachers of GCSE level students to give as homework.
I would rank this as good for anyone at around the A2 level.
*I received a free ARC from NetGalley and I have chosen to leave a review*
March 27, 2025
A lot of the lessons in this book are below my level in French, but I am enjoying the review. Some of the vocabulary is new to me, which is good because that is one of my weaknesses in French. I'm working through this book rather quickly because during the last few years, I have not been a huge fan of using books or textbooks for my learning; I've mostly been using apps, watching videos on YouTube, and reading fiction books. I have gotten several books to help me learn French in the last several years where I've done a couple of lessons in the book, and then I put it aside and forget I have the book. I did not want that to happen with this book.
I did use the Coffee Break French podcast when it first came out to review my French, which is how I eventually learned about this book. I enjoyed the podcast immensely.
I did use the Coffee Break French podcast when it first came out to review my French, which is how I eventually learned about this book. I enjoyed the podcast immensely.
October 20, 2022
Great stuff! I've been learning French for the past year via duolingo but wanted to also just give it a whirl on paper as I do mine over a screen, I've always found that I couldn't learn french from books etc so wanted to give this a whirl now I've started to nail down the pronunciation.
There is a good variety of exercises to get your teeth into, it's not going to teach you French however it will aid your own teaching and of course refreshen your mind if you have studied it in the past.
Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a free ARC in return for an honest review.
There is a good variety of exercises to get your teeth into, it's not going to teach you French however it will aid your own teaching and of course refreshen your mind if you have studied it in the past.
Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a free ARC in return for an honest review.
August 28, 2022
As I said for the German release this an excellent way to refresh a language you already know. Well done and easy to follow.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
December 17, 2024
This book was a lot of fun. Whether you have 5 min or 15 to spare, there are engaging activities to fit into your day. A good choice for A2, B1 level or B2 who is brushing up. I loved it.
November 18, 2025
Used them to drift off to sleep with
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews