French

Spoken on five continents, the official language of more than 30 countries, and used in many international organizations, French is a dynamic, thriving language. The French Department at Andover explores culture and identity in its courses through literature, art, current events, film, history, music, poetry, and theater in an immersive classroom setting. Emphasizing voices from a diversity of Francophone countries and exploring challenging histories of colonialism, we seek to use the French language to cultivate knowledge and goodness in students as they discover, understand, and interpret the world. We aim to foster a positive, inclusive, and collaborative learning environment for all students. We offer six course levels, from beginner to post-AP level. We facilitate off campus learning opportunities and provide additional support during conference periods, through the peer tutor program, at the club de la francophonie.

Andover French classroom in Samuel Phillips Hall.

Our Faculty

Meet our team! Claire Gallou is the Department Chair.

Gene Hughes

Gene Hughes

Chsntal Jordan

Chantal Jordan

Elizabeth Poland Headshot

Elizabeth Poland

Patrick Pothel Headshot

Patrick Pothel

Nathalie Stephan-Wiles

Nathalie Stephan-Wiles

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Ben Duclos

Benjamin Duclos

Instructor in German & French, Assistant Coach for Cycling and Indoor Track & Field, House Counselor [email protected]

“I approach my role as educator not with the goal that those students I work with necessarily develop into world-class linguists, runners or cyclists, but rather into ethically sound and morally courageous global citizens who have the tools and humility to make a better world, one built upon knowledge and goodness.”

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Claire Gallou Headshot

Claire Gallou

French Instructor and Chair, House Counselor, Yoga Instructor, Academic Advisor, EBI Instructor, Teaching Fellow Mentor, Admissions Interviewer and Reader [email protected] view full profile

Dr. Gallou has been teaching French at Andover since 2007. She also serves as a yoga instructor, house counselor, academic advisor, teaching fellow mentor, and admissions interviewer/reader.

Andover students in Morocco for the Inside:Outside, Learning in the World program.

Sample courses

FRE100 First-Level French
This course is designed for those students who have had little or no previous world language experience and those who are not sufficiently prepared for the second-level course. The course emphasizes the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing in the cultural context of the francophone world.

FRE 401-402-403 Inquiry-Based Approaches to the Francophone World
This course is intended for students who understand, read, and write French well and already speak at a competent level, but would like to develop further conversational skills and acquire the vocabulary and idiomatic expression necessary to be able to discuss and write about major cultural and social issues. Students use literary texts, film, TV programming, and journalism to provide a basis on which to discuss and understand issues in the francophone world.

FRE621 Translation and Interpreting
Learn how to judge translations as well as produce them professionally with reliable tools. Translate a wide variety of texts such as news articles, literature, U.N. speeches, user manuals, and popular songs. Become an official TED translator for your term project as you create and publish subtitles in translation for a TED Talk of your choice.

The Workshop Goes French

Mr. Hughes's “(Re)creating Kerouac” group is exploring how “Jean-Louis” became the author later known as “Jack”.

The department offers

16

sections

More than

150

students of French at Andover

There are over

320 million

speakers of French in the world

French is the

4th

language on the internet and the official language of the U.N. along with English

Student Organizations

Club de la francophonie
The club is run by students and can organize events and meetings.

Table francophone
Language tables meet every Tuesday at dinner time and invite everyone who would like to practice and listen to French in a casual atmosphere.

Affiliated Off-campus Program.
SYA (School Year Abroad) is an affiliated organization offering a five-week immersion summer program in Rennes, France. More at www.sya.org