French in Normandy

So where do I spend most of my time?

French in Normandy is a small school set on a quiet residential street on the left bank of the Seine River, several minutes walk from Rouen city centre. It started in 1992 and is family owned and operated.

I found it searching for language schools on the internet last year. I had almost decided to go to Aix-en-Provence (southern France) because the school there offered everything I was looking for, but then I came across a random blog review that said if you wanted to know which schools were the best, check out which have received awards from a particular association. That led me to comparing several different schools, and I came up with French in Normandy.

It's been a very good choice. There are two basic streams: intensive (15 hours per week) and super intensive (25 hours per week). I'm in the latter. There are also different workshops offered every afternoon: grammar, reading, films, and a student help session-SOS.

 

I'm in this session every Friday

(I know, I know...I need a haircut! - I haven't been using a blowdryer either which doesn't help.)

 

I have been here a month and have had a variety of teachers. There is a different instructor in the morning and afternoon, and the instructors rotate every week. Each level is built around a 12 week cycle so each week has specific goals (points of grammar, vocabulary, etc.) and each instructor chooses a theme to teach the points (e.g. the economy, sports/leisure, communications and technology, endangered animals, French history…). There is homework and students have a journal of sorts that we use to track our progress.

We hand it in to our morning instructor each Friday and they give us their evaluation and let us know what we need to work on.

After the 12 weeks, there is an exam based on the DELF exams, an international French standard. This is used to determine whether a student is ready to go to the next level or not. I just finished my exam on Friday and did well, but I’m not sure I have enough of the previous material to move to the next level or not. One of the challenges of having new students start every Monday is that they always begin somewhere in the middle of the cycle. The points of grammar are repeated so over time students catch up.

Class sizes are limited to 10. For the most part there have been between 6-10 students in my classes.

We are always encouraged to speak through debates, games, and questions for discussion. My classmates come from all over the world. The countries that stand out in terms of numbers are Switzerland, Brazil, Japan, Germany and South Korea. One of my teachers said I was the first Canadian she’s had in class. I will have to see how many other Canadians have been here before me.

Classrooms are hooked up to the internet and have built-in LCD projectors. Instructors often use video and music clips in their lessons. Sometimes there is a glitch in the system (slow or dropped connections), but the instructors roll with it. They are always well prepared and work hard to make each lesson lively. I have learned a few things from how they use technology that I would like to incorporate in some of the things I teach as well.

There is a small computer and resource room as well. The computers, unfortunately, are hit and miss with the internet, but when we have our SOS session in here they bring in laptop computers which work better.

 

Even though the school is small, I counted over 100 students here one week. The maximum number accommodated is 130. Summer time is the busiest.

Malika and Landry are two of the people at the front desk. They are often busy answering questions – and they always have a smile on their face. They have been very helpful.

The school does more than teach French – it also does its part for ecology:

And has a special interest these days in the World Cup.

And at the breaks, this gets are real workout - especially with the under 30 group.

The school organizes several excursions a month to different places – often on Saturday, but other times as well. Students can sign up for a pastry making workshop – I can see myself there at some point. There is also a place to advertize upcoming events in town.

Thursday afternoons, I have a preparation class for the DELF exams (diplôme d’études en langue française) which I am taking in October. These exams are the French equivalent of the TOEFL (test of English as a foreign language) and are scheduled on specific dates internationally. Some of the students are preparing for the exam coming up in July. The exams are scheduled over two days. The first day students are tested on oral comprehension, written comprehension and writing. The second day is an oral exam. Students are given a choice of two topics and then they have 10 minutes to prepare for a conversation with the examiner.

Oral comprehension is my weakest skill and I have been working on it by watching French news and following lessons through an educational internet site - TV5Monde. It has so many different levels and exercises to follow. There are so many resources out there - amazing!

On Friday we said goodbye to several students who finished. Monday, there will be a new crop of students starting their programs. The school is a great place to be. They are serious about teaching French but are very personable as well. Students are encouraged to give it their all. As I said to someone recently, if I can't learn French here, I won't learn it anywhere. And I know it will come. I'm counting on the Demers genes to kick in!