There are 13 French language levels offered year-round, ranging from Elementary to Proficiency. The program is thoroughly monitored and structured to guarantee continuity from one level to the other. Integrated into campus life, the teachers are constantly aware of the learning difficulties and progress of each of their students. Each student is required to participate actively and regularly in class, and are encouraged to have systematic oral practice in the language.

The first morning of study is reserved for a placement test to better evaluate the student's current knowledge of French, choosing a course level that best suits his/her personal needs. This unique exam, designed by the school's team of professors, is separated in two categories:

1. A series of two collective tests with increasing levels of difficulty (40 min): written comprehension / written expression
2. An individual oral exam (10 min.). This test is preceded by a brief interview to better assess the prior experience as well as the individual strengths and weaknesses of each student.

All programs have a maximum of 14 students per class, with an average of 10. Each lesson has a duration of 55 minutes.

Intensive French Program

Group 21 hours per week: 84 hours total in each four week session of French Language study. Classes are from Monday to Friday from 9:00am to 12:00pm and Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 1:30pm to 3:30pm. The number of students per class : minimum 6, maximum 14. Minimum 2 weeks and no limited time of duration.

Complementary to the morning class ( Standard French Class) the approach adopted in this course is an analysis of the language in terms of capacities (comprehension, production, interaction and mediation). The control of the capacities must allow the trainee to communicate in everyday life situations, according to the language level of each class. The acquired linguistic elements are treated in the perspective of written and oral communication. The student is brought to apprehend the reality of French and French-speaking culture, the language style and register, the code of social relations … and the student can convey and exchange information related to his/her own environment in an intercultural approach.

There are two options:

Written specialization : This course allows the student to learn or to improve, according to the language level, how to collect, process, restore, transmit and give information. Practical work is based on written documents (articles, essays, questionnaires…). Students acquiring linguistic skills in a pragmatic context. With a variety of texts the student has to seize the whole of the text as well as the details, the implicit aspects and abstractions, must establish correctly the bonds of dependence between complex ideas with the use of words or expressions in order to articulate them effectively, seize the majority of the illustrated or idiomatic expressions and resort selective reading. Improvement of writing skills: to write with effectiveness and precision a variety of texts, to effectively synthesize ideas and information drawn from a written source, to ensure the cohesion of a text. Consolidation of written French grammar and lexical exercises.

Oral communication : Expression, comprehension and interaction. The student acquires and improves the skills to get, to pass on and exchange information, to request, to negotiate, to argue, to convince and to express feelings. Exercises to combine linguistic, pragmatic and sociocultural abilities in a pragmatic context. Use of varied and unmodified authentic supports. Reinforced oral activities and enrichment of linguistical know-how. Acquisition of oral abilities privileging the phonetics and semantics. Each act of speech is put in scene in situations of communication. Focusing according to the level, on some particular aspects of the communication from the lexical and cultural point of view.

Intensive Plus French Program

Group 25 hours per week; 100 hours total in each four week session of French Language study. Classes are from Monday to Friday from 9:00am to 12:00pm and from 1:30pm to 3:30pm. The number of students per class : minimum 6, maximum 14. Minimum 2 weeks and no limited time of duration.

In addition to the Standard Course and the additional options. The student will attend Practice in the afternoon class (Wednesday and Friday):

While remaining closest to a modern linguistic reality, this course allows the trainee, according to the language level, to express himself in a large variety of daily situations and to understand colloquial conversation, the media or films and to express thoughts with precision. The ability to communicate is implemented through varied linguistic activities generally concerning the reception, the production and the exchange of information. The trainee is put in a situation of production. The phonetic improvement takes again the difficulties of the French phonetic system and stresses on the sound aspects of the communication in French.