<p>Just wondering if anyone has current experience with intensive summer programs in French language. DC is off to grad school in the fall and would like to solidify and renew skills in anticipation of it being helpful with career options (not a grad school requirement). A 4, 6 or 8 week time frame could work and Eastern Canada/East Coast is preferable. No need for credit, just wants to study intensively, likes immersion and wants to have a foundation that can be maintained with conversational groups while pursuing next degree. Interested in being savvy about cost. Very well-travelled person and studying in France is likely too much of luxury right now. Student has taken intermediate level college French as freshman.
Thanks for any ideas or suggestions.</p>
<p>Of course Middlebury summer language courses are the best. But unless they offer financial, it may not be cheaper than studying in France.</p>
<p>Immersion language needs a lot of self-discipline, too much for most people perhaps, unless there is an external motivation. A course with rigorous academic grades may actually be good, to force you to keep up. You don’t want a gratuitous C on your law school application, after all.</p>
<p>You can also check out Concordia Language Villages (Minnesota) and Rassias (Dartmouth) for other excellent choices.</p>
<p>Thanks, Sorghum. Middlebury is right up there. Would love to hear about other programs people may be familiar with as well. Student is self-disciplined, with prior experience in overseas immersion program (in a language not previously studied) and fortunately has acceptance to a top grad school in hand. As for-credit experiences are significantly more expensive (as a rule) and there is no need for the credit, there is flexibility about that. It will be the actual facility with the language that is relevant for employment, more than academic background. As education beyond masters is a likelihood, student is also concerned about creating yet another transcript after completing undergrad which included attending 4 institutions (her school entered freshman year, plus 3 others while there). Anyone have experience with Universite Laval, Quebec City? Appreciate the feedback.</p>
<p>Thanks, Franglish. Any experience with either of those?</p>
<p>My sister took a program at Laval … about 3 decades ago, so this is not current information!</p>
<p>However, for what it’s worth, I’d say Laval is a well-reputed Canadian university with long-established programs, and there’s nothing like immersion for actually working on language skills. No doubt the US college based programs people have been recommending are very good, but with a big province full of people going about their daily lives in French just north of those places, why wouldn’t you go to Quebec? It seems so much the obvious choice, given your student’s interests and objectives.</p>
<p>The Concordia Language Villages are amazing. Each village is built to represent it’s country. Wandering around the various villages is a blast. It’s also in a lovely area. You can get college credit or not (and not is a lot less expensive). I would HIGHLY recommend the camps. It’s is like being on vacation while being immersed in your language. They aren’t on the east coast though.</p>
<p>My college French classes 30 years ago utilized the John Rassias ‘DILM’ or Dartmoth Intense Learning Method. We spent 2 1/2 hours/day speaking French. It is based on repetition and builds upon new vocabulary learned each day. </p>
<p>It is amazing to me how much French I retain after 30 years. Last summer, while traveling to Europe, I was able to speak more French than my daughter who had just finished her second year of high school French.</p>
<p>I can recommend looking into the DILM program.</p>
<p>We know a number of folks who have done the Middlebury program and RAVE about it.</p>
<p>Thanks for all these great suggestions and descriptions of programs. It adds a lot to the research the student is doing. I have also heard great things about Middlebury’s program and did not know about the DILM until this week. Sounds interesting also.Concordia Village reads like people go for shorter time frames, I’ll have to dig a bit deeper there.</p>