In the past, I have studied languages in a formal school setting. These classes were usually four to five months with a chronological syllabus that guided the course. ILA’s structure is notably different than my past French language courses for multiple reasons. The first difference is the quantity of time spent actively learning French. Monday through Friday you are in the classroom for at least three hours a day. If you decide to take intensive French courses that number increases to around five and a half hours for three days a week; that’s a lot of time spent learning French! Because students spend so much time in the classroom, the class has time to cover more material and language components. For this reason, it makes sense that the pace of learning is increased compared to in-school language classes. With the addition of intensive French courses, you are able to practice these skills to reinforce some of the more dense lessons of verb tenses, etc.
Unlike a semester long course consisting of a consistent student roster, ILA caters its French language courses to anyone with at least a week’s time in the south of France. My experience in A2 as well as B1 were structured with six-week material ‘cycles’. This meant, if your first week at ILA French Language School was during week three of the cycle the order of your ‘cycle’ would be week three, four, five, and then weeks one and two. In this way, the cycle is completed without restarting every time a new student arrives. Welcoming new students was always a chance to learn new cultures, new vocabulary, as well as reinforce other lessons we had already learned in class. The new and different energy that each new student brought was an exciting way to keep the learning environment active and prevent a stagnant ambiance. Because class conversations tried to incorporate life experiences, we learned a lot about each other and the cultures we came from.
For the first month of my stay, the cycles worked smoothly; we welcomed many new students and bid others a safe continuation of their journeys. When a huge group of students came to ILA (over 200 new students) this cycle seemed to waver; struggling to involve new students while still progressing the learning of students that had been there for weeks before. The total number of students at ILA French Language School reached over 350 and resulted in a change of class schedules to accommodate the large influx. The effort to include this large flow of new students who had not received the previous five weeks of lessons led to the repetition of earlier grammar lessons. I was told that July was the busiest month for ILA and after about two weeks, the balance seemed to be restored. During this time, the staff at ILA was incredibly helpful and understanding of my desire to push my French learning forward and continuously provided options for me to accomplish this goal. It was then that I made the decision to move myself up to B1 to push my learning forward and avoid repeating previous lessons.
Progression of skills during my summer French language courses
Thanks to the combination of summer standard French courses, intensive French courses, and using previously learned skills at home with my host family, I gained impressive progress in my French skills within five weeks. Once I felt my progress slowed and plateaued in A2 I asked my professor for her opinion about changing courses to B1. She encouraged me that I was ready but also to ensure I was comfortable with the grammar of A2 before adding onto it in the next level. As I mentioned previously, this decision was confirmed with the influx of students and it was here that I felt my learning really began to take off.
ILA French Language School provides many opportunities to change levels and/or professors based on your comfort level. Before I changed to the standard course level of B1 I was already enrolled in the B1 intensive course. Thanks to this flexibility, I could customize my French learning experience in France to my own learning pace and language goals. Along this journey, ILA supported me by helping me find available slots in B1 level classes and communicating with my previous professors to ensure it was the right fit for me. Thanks to these adjustments, I could learn from multiple professors who each had a different way of teaching. This diversity of language lessons enforced my learning experience by exposing me to different rhythms of lessons and even different rhythms of French speaking in general. By the end of my eight weeks at ILA French Language School, I reached a level of French that I am proud of. Now, I can hold long, confident conversations in French!