The town of Villefranche-sur-Mer is a little jewel on the Mediterranean coast, an old fishing village with houses stacked up the steep hills above the sea. On one of those hillsides, in a lovely old villa with expansive terraced gardens, is the Institut de Français, a well-known immersion school, which Ron and I decided to attend for a month in the year before we moved to France. What fun, we thought, to study French all day, in such a setting! Before we signed up, though, we asked to talk to a former student about their experience.
When we called the former éleve, a lawyer in Florida, he did not tell us what we expected to hear.
“Listen, I’ve been through three years of law school,” he told us, “but this was absolutely the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I would have quit, but I’ve got kids, and I didn’t want to set a bad example.”
So, was it in fact difficult and stressful? Oui. Would we go back and do it again? Sans hésitation. In a heartbeat.
It’s difficult to anticipate just how much mental effort is required to struggle along for eight hours a day in a language not your own, while trying to master it. A lot depends on how well you can tolerate making constant mistakes. There were students there who had been back five or six times, and loved it. There was also a woman in my class who confided that she went home and wept every single evening after class, from sheer frustration.
No wimps need apply. Here is how our program worked: The first day you undergo extensive testing to determine which of seven levels you will fit into, including a 1:1 oral exam. You’re placed in a class of five to ten students of the same level. The right level is crucial. Too advanced, you’ll be lost and miserable. Too easy, you’ll be bored. The good news is, you can request to be moved after a couple of days, to get the right fit.
Only French is allowed, all day—at meals, on breaks, in class, or when talking with other students. (True beginners get a bit of English explanation in class). The staff joked that they charge a euro for every non-French word they hear. Few dared break the rule. Photo: Along the harbor at Villefranche.
A typical day: breakfast together at 8:00, small group instruction all morning, then lunch together. Professors sat with us at meals, for conversation and to be sure we didn’t lapse. After lunch there was a meeting of the whole group, with something fun and light, like a role-play of a French dinner party or a lesson on French cheeses. The end of the day was the dreaded language lab where we practiced specific skills, with the professor listening in. At 5:00, class was over, but ah, time for les devoirs, homework. Notably we each had to make two presentations on a personal topic to our class (beginners two five minutes talks, intermediate and up, 30 minutes). There were coffee breaks in the lovely gardens, with professors lurking to keep us on our toes (beginner Ron and his class found a secret lower corner of the garden, where they spoke illicit languages).
One of the most enjoyable parts of the experience was interacting with the other students, who were from all over the world. Among my class members there was a Time Magazine editor, a computer specialist living in Grenoble, a beautiful blond Norwegian Human Rights worker, and the CEO of a Japanese company who wore a suit and tie every day (his grammar was perfect and he had an absolutely incomprehensible accent). The other perk was, of course, the seductive setting, constantly tempting you away from your studies. The school puts you up in one of their many gorgeous apartments, and there is always le week-end, a reward for your hard work.
If you go, you probably won’t learn as much French as you thought you would. You will at some point wonder why in the world you signed up for a month of torture. And you'll have an experience you’ll never forget. Bon courage!
So, what to cook on a night when, at this advanced age, you have homework! We’re thinking quick and easy, and since we’re on the Med, we’re thinking seafood. And this makes me think of my Dutch neighbor Marion, who’s always inviting us over to dinner at the last moment, rummaging around in the pantry for something to fix, then producing a fabulous meal, toute de suite. Here is one of her best.
RECIPE: Marion’s Smoked Salmon Pasta 
For two people, Chop up 2 slices of smoked salmon , an onion, and a clove of garlic, plus a generous handful of Italian parsley. Chop all of these quite fine. Cook some linguine, or other thin pasta. While it cooks, sauté the onion in butter a few minutes until translucent, add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute, then stir in about 1/2 cup creme fraiche*. Stir to heat it up, then stir in salmon, and remove from heat. Immediately mix the sauce with with the hot, drained pasta and half the parsley, plus some ground pepper. Serve on warm plates, topped with remaining parsley and a bit of grated freshly Parmesan if you like.
*If you can’t find crème fraiche, take some sour cream and mix in some light cream to thin it out a bit, or just use heavy cream. Bon appétit, Y’all!
Favorite Reads: After a day of hard study, time for a good page-turner to relax. Pat Conroy's South of Broad has a special spot in my heart because it takes place right in the neighborhood we lived in, in Charleston SC. We know every street, every name he mentions. If you're fond of Charleston (or don't know it) and want to be transported there on the written word, click on the link and order it now.
13 thoughts on “Staying afloat when Immersion Is the Answer”
Much like the salmon & pasta I make…but as always yours sound like it would be tastier.and I am inspired I am missing Burgundy…the weather here in Virginia has been gray and cold, but it is improving…so Perhaps I will make your Pasta tonight. a bientot, Patty
Did Ron like the course at all? I am tempted….One day you just might see my Canadian husband (who speaks fluent Canadian French and Ukranian- no that won’t help) and I, who is semi-fluent in Spanish, come to conquer the shores of France. It would be interesting to be ‘immersed’ to say the least.
Oh, I LOVE smoked salmon pasta, and I haven’t even thought about it for years! I learned a dish called “Bigos”, which was supposedly Hungarian, and it’s similar but there are crucial differences:
First…don’t cook the salmon, just chop it up.
Second, after you mix everything up, put the smoked salmosn on top with some capers and/or cured black olives (your favorites, pitted). Finally, another dab of sour cream on top and a generous sprinkling of more parsley, chopped dill, or a mix of fresh herbs. Oh, Lord, I think it’s lunchtime (although it is 8:49 EST at this moment!)
Thanks, Lynn for reminding me about this!
And…I’ve considered the school at Villefranche for years, but I don’t know if I have the strength…my French is tres mauvais, but I manage to get along, always wishing I were fluent! At age 66, this seems like the Impossible Dream!
Linda
The French language, good food, and a good book. What a relaxing way to start the weekend.
I’m taking an Alliance Français course in my hometown. It’s good, but nowhere near as challenging. Just trying to create a 5 minute conversation from thin air with my class partner gave my brain cardiac arrest! I’m sure at your immersion program there were a lot of large silences as people ran out of vocabulary or struggled with conjugations. But I still think I might like to try one of those programs someday.
Bon week-end!
I laughed out loud about the Japanese fellow, perfect grammar, incomprehensible accent. Mais oui. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Casablanca for a year and so were seven earnest young Japanese fellows who had studied French in high school and at the university and in their training for the Japanese Peace Corps. They spoke French but no-one could understand them.
The Peace Corps training I had was six hours a day of immersion in French, interrupted only by lunch, with a notable emphasis on drills for verb conjugations, subject-verb agreement and so on. We were twenty-something so we survived and learned a lot of French. To this day (forty years later) I can transform, instantly, “Je dois acheter une baguette” to “J’aurais du acheter une baguette” and any verb tense you care to test. Meanwhile my accent was and is “affreux.” After two years in Morocco, I met one of my teachers (who was Moroccan) on Avenue Mohammed V in Rabat by happenstance and after the Bonjour and the Comment allez-vous she politely covered her mouth with her hand to keep from laughing out loud at my accent.
(In my defense: I spoke far more Arabic than French in Morocco. With a terrible accent, I suppose.)
P.S. I walked into a boulangerie in Paris a few years ago and asked madame for “trois croissants.” Her reply: “Comment, monsieur?”
I thoroughly enjoyed your blog today as always…especially pertinent as I study the advertisements in magazines and on line for immmersion courses in France for Spring!
I have heard how excellent this course is. For my budget and needs I am looking at a cia course in Antibes half mornings however. Any input or feedback on wonderful and not too expensive French Immersion courses your readers have experienced would be wonderful to hear about.
Meanwhile, bon weekend, et merci.
Sandra
A friend of mine, Elizabeth, sent your write up to me as I have attended the same school. I thoroughly loved the experience from beginning to end. My approach was to get on board from day one with their approach to learning, as did my classmates. We charged each other a euro for momentary lapses- which typically happened early in the morning before fully awakening! After classes we adjourned down to the port to a bar where we would sit and do our homework while sipping a glass or two of wine. Of course, we only spoke French. (Students are warned the first day that the locals are paid by the school to eavesdrop and make sure the students aren’t cheating by speaking their native tongue.) Our biggest challenge was speaking with loved ones back home and trying to make them understand our (somewhat creative) French.
This school is a place to have fun and go for it. There are no recriminations, no painful lessons… it is all for the fun and pleasure of learning. It’s not to say it is easy, far from it. But I was definitely speaking without fear by the time I left. This was several years ago and I am still taking French lessons weekly.
I can’t imagine a better way to spend a month than in Villefranche,
eating, drinking, learning and traveling around the Côte d’Azur.
Hi, I have been following your blog since the day AF in Birmingham, Alabama told our members about you. I was in VF in 1998. After few days of misery, I had a great time. I imporved my French a lot (lost a lot of it now due to no practice). When time came to leave, I cried. I did not want to leave at all. I have been dreaming of going back to the institue again but only for a visit few years ago. I dropped by to visit with Betty. She was still there but the grandson was running the bar now. Sweet memory.
My husband and I spend about six months of the year in Paris… fell in love about 10 years ago, we have retired and once our aging Airedale is gone, may spend more time there (if we can find an apt that will take a Himalayan cat!)… we use Rosetta Stone to tutor us in French and I’ve found that I can understand overheard conversations in bistros more than speaking… several years ago, while trying to order a glass of water and the waitperson looking perplexed, even tho I thought my pronunciation was right on, my husband leaned over and said “say it quickly and mumble”…. I did and got the water!
Randi’s goal is the same as my own, to be able to eavesdrop on the Metro or in a bistro or on the street. It is nice to know if someone is talking about you. Each time in France I get closer to the goal.
I’m a French teacher in California. Two of my students went to CIA in Antibes for three weeks 8 years ago. They made a lot of progress and really enjoyed the program. I did a two-week course there for teachers the same summer. If we can figure out a way to connect with one another, I’d be happy to tell you more about what I know about their program. It seems to me to be fairly strong overall, though the program for teachers wasn’t perfect.
So is there a way you as moderator can help us contact one another? Posting personal information here doesn’t seem like the best idea.
P.S. to Patricia–there are Flournoys on my dad’s/my family tree, Fun to see the name on this blog.
Oh Kathy, speak to me of the CIA program in Antibes. My husband and I are stationed in Germany and go to Provence at least once a year. We’ve spoken longingly of the VF program, usually while sitting here in the gray of the Rhineland, defiantly drinking Bandol rose and wishing our neighbors cooked with more garlic and less vinegar. (Anyone living in a small village understands there are few secrets in daily life…) Alas, one month of immersion study is a no-go until he retires from the Army, so something shorter, less-expensive, yet meaningful would be nifty.
Have been to the school in Villefranche in 2001, still look at my certificate and cherish it every day. Experience was fabulous – attendance was lower than normal as it was the Thanksgiving to Christmas session so we got to know the whole group rather than just our class. We used the time wisely and gathered every night at our favorite place Chez Net, the internet cafe down at the port, for our homework and wine and then went on to dinner at one of the restaurants in town. On the weekends we split off into small groups and explored areas nearby including Nice, Monaco and Italy. There were fantastic people from all over the world and all walks of life – Switzerland, Norway, Canada, England, Ireland, Japan, and a few from the US and students, career professionals, housewives, couples, singles aged 20-70. Don’t be intimidated by the French only, you will spend most of the day with people at your level so you will all stumble and laugh but the point is you do actually learn some French. After the month was up, I spent 2 weeks in Paris. Some of my fellow students joined me and four of us spent New Year’s together in Paris. By then our French was fairly good for beginners – evidenced by the fact that I was overheard speaking to a waitress in French and a gentlemen (who was Australian) leaned over an asked if I was French! A few words will go a long way. If anyone is considering L’Institue de Francais – I highly recommend it and can’t wait to go back and stare down that horse’s ass in the chambre du torture! For those who’ve been there you will recall the painting I’m referring to 🙂