One of the main frustrations met by many young or adult students learning French is the capacity to use the language on a daily basis at a level that allows them to be understood. It requires a method that makes it intuitive, fun and allows you to recognize the progress that you have made. The core of learning French is about listening and speaking; this why we focus on immersion into the language and using the language.
Being able to speak French, with correct grammar and adequate vocabulary, is a challenge for many people who engage in taking French courses or who engage in learning the language.
After years learning French at school, you hoped that on your first trip to France you would be able to manage to get around the country with a certain ease. Sure, you knew your French wouldn’t be perfect, but correct enough to understand the people, and make yourself understood by them.
But it didn’t go quite as expected: the accents you met, how quickly people spoke, the vocabulary that didn’t match what you learned in school, this was not what you thought speaking French was like.
There is a good reason for this. You learned French in a very specific environment that was not at all like speaking French in real life. Learning any language is a complex process, especially the French language that requires the use of more words than English to ensure your sentence is correct.
This is why at L’École des Trois Ponts, we focused the entire learning process on one concept: how to use what you learn in real life situations in a French environment with native speakers. In this process, there is a key element that is the ground base for learning French: building self-confidence by speaking with French natives, without feeling intimidated.
First, there is the immersion into France. The reason for this is to put you in a place that is surrounded by the French language. Unlike a school where the use of French is limited to the size of the classroom, by being immersed in France, the classroom is literally the entire country. To emphasize this aspect, L’École des Trois Ponts is located far away from Paris, the most English-speaking friendly city in France, in the countryside, where it will be difficult to avoid speaking French.
Second, the cooking courses. Sure, L’École des Trois Ponts is a French learning school in France, but it still needs to be fun. And if there is one fun activity to do in France, it is cooking. Our cooking classes also serve a purpose: it is the perfect moment to use what you learned during the French courses.
Thus, our method is simple, making sure that you enjoy speaking French by putting you in a context that will make you want using it. It has worked for all of our students.
