This is a list of episodes of the French-language television series French in Action.
Orientation Leçon 1: Orientation An introduction to French in Action: its creation, its components, and its functioning. How to work with the video programs and how to integrate them with the audio and print components. This is the only program in English; the others are entirely in French.
Planning and Anticipating Greeting and leave-taking; talking about health; expressing surprise; planning and anticipating; expressing decisiveness and indecisiveness. Subject pronouns; masculine and feminine adjectives and nouns; definite and indefinite articles; immediate future; agreement in gender and number; aller; être; present indicative of -er verbs.
Leçon 2: Planning and Anticipating I "Lesson 2 takes us from a classroom into the streets of Paris. A young woman named Mireille is hurrying to school. On her way, she exchanges greetings with several friends and acquaintances, a professor, and her Aunt Georgette, all of whom speak French."
Leçon 3: Planning and Anticipating II "Back in the French class, the teacher announces that we are going to invent a story of two young people: an American man and a French woman. We'll invent friends and adventures for them. It should be fun and useful for learning French, he says. Let's hope so."
Leçon 4: Planning and Anticipating III "What kind of story should we invent to learn French? A novel? A comedy? A detective thriller? In a preview of things to come, we see our young American arriving in France. His companions will take public transportation to a student dorm. He will take a taxi to the Latin Quarter."
Names and Origins Numbers; expressing age; giving commands; necessity; negation. Numbers 1-29; avoir; avoir in expressions of age; ne ... pas; imperatives of -er verbs; il faut and infinitives.
Leçon 5: Names and Origins "Our two characters must have names. She will be Mireille, and he, Robert. She gets working parents and two sisters, one married. Robert is an only child. His mother is French. His parents are divorced, his mother remarried. Robert just may have a few hangups."
Physical Characteristics Reality and appearance; describing oneself; talking about sports. Numbers 30-100; faire; aimer and faire with sports; questions with intonation, inversion, and est-ce que.
Leçon 6: Physical Characteristics I "What will Mireille look like? On the petite side, perhaps, but healthy, athletic, strong; long slender fingers, oval face, long blond hair, blue eyes. She has a quick, lively mind and a certain fondness for poking fun."
Leçon 7: Physical Characteristics II "A Portrait of Robert: medium height, slim, athletic. He has a strong chin, brown hair, and dark eyes. He's smart. Maybe just a bit less quick than Mireille, but calmer, more indulgent. What will happen when these two meet? Will they meet?"
Kinship Talking about family relationships; asking the identity of people and things. Numbers 100-999,000,000; dates; partitive; possessive adjectives.
Leçon 8: Kinship "A look at Mireille's family tree. We learn about many relatives, going all the way back to her great grandparents. On an impromptu visit to the family's country house, we meet many of these characters, including Mireille's ten-year-old sister, who has a mind of her own."
Describing Others Describing others; talking about games; expressing agreement and disagreement; talking about time; talking about the weather. Present tense with il y a ... que and ça fait ... que; possessive and demonstrative adjectives; stressed pronouns; venir; savoir versus connaître.
Leçon 9: Describing Others I "Lesson 9 takes us back a few years to vacation time in Brittany. It's raining. Mireille, her sisters and cousins decide to pass the time by playing a game of portraits. The game is interrupted by a minor accident."
Leçon 10: Describing Others II "It's a rainy day in Brittany. Mireille, her sisters and cousins tire of their game of portraits and check to see what's playing at the movies. Meanwhile, the sun has come out, and Cécile, moved by the spirit of adventure, goes for a sail."
Encounters Starting a conversation; talking about seasons and time of day; exclamations; talking about studies; referring to lack and abundance; expressing approval and disapproval; reacting to compliments; expressing politeness. Immediate past with venir de; direct object pronouns; reflexive verbs; imperative and pronouns; demonstrative adjectives and pronouns; interrogative adjectives and pronouns; parler versus dire; imperfect; imperfect of être and avoir.
Leçon 11: Encounters I "In Lesson 11, the stage is set for our two heroes to meet. It's a beautiful spring morning. Robert sets off to explore the Latin Quarter, and Mireille, relaxing in the Luxembourg Garden, has an unwelcome encounter."
Leçon 12: Encounters II "In Lesson 12, our American, Robert, is exploring the Latin Quarter. He follows some student strikers into the courtyard of the Sorbonne. Mireille, who is on her way to school, ends up by pure chance in the same place."
Leçon 13: Encounters III "Our two heroes have just caught each other's eye and stand smiling in the courtyard of the Sorbonne. On an upper floor, Jean-Pierre, the pickup artist, reveals the tricks of his trade to a not-very-appreciative audience.
Leçon 14: Encounters IV "Robert and Mireille meet in the courtyard of the Sorbonne. They're getting to know each other, when Mireille realizes that she's late for an appointment. She rushes off, leaving Robert to contemplate the spring day, and write a postcard to his mother."
Occupations Talking about work; degrees of assent; days and months of the year; buying and spending; approximating; talking about years and centuries. Aller versus venir; prepositions; contractions of definite article with de and à; adverbial pronouns y and en; vouloir, pouvoir; c'est versus il/elle est; ne ... plus, ne ... jamais; pronoun on; indirect object pronouns; formation of adverbs.
Leçon 15: Occupations I "Robert is looking for Mireille. Just as he has given up hope, she comes up to him at a café, and they walk again to the Luxembourg Garden. Lo and behold, they discover they have an acquaintance in common. Robert then makes another interesting discovery: Mireille has a younger sister."
Leçon 16: Occupations II "Marie-Laure has sent her sister on a wild goose chase. When Mireille returns, Robert tries to persuade her to join him in calling on Madame Courtois. It's just his luck that Mireille has already planned a trip to Chartres. Ever resourceful, Robert has a brainstorm - could he join her?"
Leçon 17: Occupations III "Robert and Mireille are talking about family names, like Taylor, that are also names of trades or professions. They compare notes on their childhood ambitions, recalling their dreams of being a fireman, a sailor, a nurse, an actress."
Leçon 18: Occupations IV "Robert and Mireille are sharing stories of people they know who have ended up not doing quite what they had originally planned. As they muse about the twists and turns of fate, Mireille wants to know what Robert intends to do. Invite her for a drink, that's what!"
Education Identification and description; talking about occupations; talking back; excusing oneself; expressing incredulity. Passé composé; plaire; negation with jamais, rien, personne; mettre, boire; passé composé and direct object pronouns; savoir and infinitives; agreement of past participle with avoir.
Leçon 19: Education I "Robert and Mireille are having an aperitif and discussing their high school days. After years of hard study at high school, Mireille is delighted to be at the university. She's especially enthusiastic about one of her art history teachers. Robert is not amused."
Leçon 20: Education II "Robert and Mireille are talking about school. Robert, no doubt trying to impress Mireille, launches into a wholesale condemnation of the educational system. He has taken a leave of absence from college to 'find himself.' 'Poor thing,' says Mireille, 'were you lost?'"
Leçon 21: Education III "Over their third aperitif, Robert and Mireille are discussing education. Robert dismisses school learning as useless. Mireille springs to the defense of education and culture. Neither seems to notice that a strange man in black has taken an interest in their conversation."
Getting Around Using the telephone; receiving invitations; expressing optimism and pessimism. Passé composé of reflexive verbs; passé composé with être; agreement of past participles; future.
Leçon 22: Getting Around I "It's noon-time, and Mireille has left Robert to return home for lunch. After several unsuccessful attempts, Robert finally manages to place a telephone call to Madame Courtois. She's a great talker, and Robert can't get a word in edgewise, but he does get an invitation for dinner."
Leçon 23: Getting Around II "Robert has been invited to dinner at the Courtois', and he tries to convince Mireille to get herself invited too. Mireille doesn't commit herself, and Robert spends the next forty-eight hours wondering if she'll be there. He then gets hopelessly lost trying to get to the Courtois' apartment."
Food and Drink Talking about food and drink; ordering in a restaurant; thanking hosts. Future of irregular verbs; relative pronouns qui and que; imperative with direct and indirect object pronouns; position of en with object pronouns; ne ... que; expressions of quantity; vowel change e/è.
Leçon 24: Food and Drink I "Robert arrives at the Courtois' apartment - no Mireille. Then a moment later, she shows up. The dinner is delicious, but Robert is a little irritated by Monsieur Courtois' fixation on gastronomy. He'd love to take Mireille home, but all he can do is ask for her phone number."
Leçon 25: Food and Drink II "It's morning. Robert gets up, has breakfast, and sets out to explore Paris. He visits an open air market near his hotel, then crosses the Seine to the Right Bank. He ends up at a restaurant, where he is distracted by a scene between a fussy customer and a hapless waiter."
Leçon 26: Food and Drink III "In a good restaurant, Robert notices a young couple at a nearby table. She is blond and Robert thinks she may be Mireille, but he can't tell. The chef has named several dishes after an old girlfriend of his, another Mireille, who died of ingestion. Touching!"
(Note: the couple in question are Mireille's sister Cecilé and her husband Jean-Denis.)
Transportation and Travel Expressing fear; insisting; talking about means of transportation; talking about cars; expressing admiration; making suggestions. Pluperfect; conditional; conditional and imperfect; past conditional; compound tenses and past participles; agreement of past participles; expressions of time.
Leçon 27: Transportation and Travel I "Mireille is going to Chartres, and Robert invites himself along. Robert nearly gets lost in the Métro, on his way to meet Mireille at the station, but they board the train on time. On the way, Mireille suggest that they use the familiar tu. Progress!"
Leçon 28: Transportation and Travel II "The train arrive in Chartres right on time. Robert and Mireille have a bite to eat, and then visit the cathedral together. Robert is deeply moved by the beauty of the place and of his companion. But when she leaves briefly to visit a nearby museum, he imagines he's being betrayed."
Leçon 29: Transportation and Travel III "Returning to Paris, Robert and Mireille get seats on a crowded train, unaware that they are sharing the compartment with a mysterious man in black. Tonight, Mireille must visit a friend in Saint Germaine, tomorrow one in Provin. Robert, ever jealous, spends hours trying to find her."
Leçon 30: Transportation and Travel IV