30 August 2018
“After taking my language test I can easily say that the two weeks of instruction at the Institut de Français was extremely beneficial! I learned French over five years ago in a classroom setting but have only used the language sporadically in my work and through my travels. I’ll admit that I was a little skeptical at first because I usually prefer to take copious notes during instruction and was unsure of my ability to retain the info without doing so. Of course our teacher held us to the course standard and we rarely wrote anything down. After the course I went to Germany to take my language proficiency test and scored higher than I ever have before! I actually got the highest score possible on this test. More importantly, I felt more confident in understanding the dialogue and the reading material. This is the first time that I actually felt confident during and after the test as I awaited my results.
I am glad that the course was full immersion. I believe that for most people speaking a foreign language is more difficult than reading and writing. The course structure that focuses on speaking and listening was challenging but important and I wouldn’t change it.
As for the teachers, I can offer only the best of praise for ours. She was always clear and concise and ensured all in the class understood the concepts discussed in class. She was fantastic! I must also give acclaim to Julien. The sessions we had with him and his role guiding the cultural outings was great. He made the topics enjoyable and providing a lot of background and history to help us understand the French culture.”
