7 March, 2019
“Eight years ago I came to the Institut de Français, having studied French for years, with the hope of overcoming my hesitation at speaking. I was thrilled with my results—in 4 weeks I leapt over whatever barriers I’d had and found myself speaking fluidly. Six months ago we moved to France to live full-time, and this time at the Institut my goal was different: support my husband in learning French, and brush up on my own.
I enrolled for 2 weeks and was assigned to the Advanced 2 class. I was pleased to see that our fabulous professor quickly assessed the strengths and weaknesses of each student and adapted his lessons so that all students felt challenged. By the end of the second week I realized that most of what I was reviewing and learning was extremely valuable, and so I extended my enrollment to the full 4 weeks. Very happy that I did! I acquired new vocabulary, practiced grammatical constructions that had always tripped me up, and learned subtleties in language and usage to which I’d never been introduced. Our professor was demanding and class sessions were rigorous, but always with a delightful sense of humor.
I recommend the Institut to students like me who can already get by quite well in French, but wish to “up their game.” If you dive in with humility and stay open to all you can learn, you will reap the benefits—all the while having a good time, meeting fascinating people, and eating like royalty (thanks Nathalie and all the kitchen crew!).”
