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Learn French with The Well-Trained Mind Academy!

Registration Open for 2023 - 2024 School Year

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Why French?


French is spoken far beyond the borders of France. With more than 300 million speakers on six continents, French is truly a world language. And after English, it’s the second most widely learned language, making it a key diplomatic language. Twenty-nine countries across the globe count French as a primary or one of its primary languages, which means that in addition to being the language of diplomacy, French also allows speakers to connect with people and culture across the world.

Not only does French allow you to communicate with speakers around the globe, but it’s also a language of literature and philosophy. Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, Jules Verne’s Voyage au centre de la Terre (Journey to the Center of the Earth), and the philosophy of René Descartes, Voltaire, and Simone de Beauvoir are all available in the original to the French speaker.

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Why Learn a Language with Well-Trained Mind Academy?


Language classes at the Well-Trained Mind Academy focus on acquiring the language—making the language your own and using it to communicate with others—rather than just learning grammar and vocabulary. This goes back to the classical roots of learning a second language, where Latin speakers learned a language like Greek through a combination of grammar and vocabulary lists, but also through reading stories and engaging with other learners and speakers. Our classical, acquisition-based approach means class time is spent using the language to encounter the world, particularly at the higher levels. Students might compare housing in the country they are learning about and their home country, read and interpret graphs related to recycling, and discuss favorite films and books. Whether a student communicates effectively can be gauged in real time, and students have an opportunity to negotiate for meaning, just as they would if they were communicating in a community where that language is spoken. It’s then that the students realize a need for correction and better understand the tools at their disposal.

Our small, live classes feature student-instructor interaction that makes it possible for students to see that they’re communicating in real time. And our support for learning grammar and vocabulary outside of class help students succeed in the more traditional classrooms they might encounter in college and beyond, as well as better understand their own language.

Registration for 2023-24 Courses is Now Open!

Enroll now for One Semester and Full-Year courses.

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