An easy reference, twenty-hour, ten-lesson, beginner's course in French that is specifically geared to those seeking the essentials of elementary conversation. Its brevity makes it well-suited for quick reference and last minute review. Stories and cartoons center around Robert and Mark, two American elementary school teachers visiting France, who face some of the problems of speaking the language. With the emphasis on speaking, each lesson introduces new words, grammatical forms and concepts, in a simple step-by-step manner, constantly reinforcing materials covered in preceding lessons. Includes lessons on three tenses for the regular and the more commonly used irregular verbs, correct ways to address people, the everyday forms of salutations, money, numbers, days of the week, time, dates and seasons of the year. An answer-key of sample answers to each lesson's oral exercise and conversation, and an easy reference French-English vocabulary are provided. Contains illustrations by James Mahoney.