UPCOMING EVENTS

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• BJ061 French 3.2 (Intermediate, DELF B1)

  • Start
    06 Jan 2025
  •  
  • End
    27 Mar 2025
  •  
  • Schedule
    22 sessions
  • Location
    Remote on Zoom (online)
  • Spaces left
    6

  Register

  Course Description

  This lively French course will improve your ability to deal with an array of everyday life situations in French. This level is for students who understand simple, straightforward information and can express themselves in familiar contexts and take part in an everyday conversation on simple, predictable topics.

  Using interactive methods to ensure learner engagement and lasting progress, the course will help you develop your vocabulary, oral and written expression, comprehension, and pronunciation.

  Geared for learners with an intermediate knowledge of French, the 90-minute class will be held in French, twice a week for a total of 3 hours per week.

  About the Instructor

  Audrey Charmont has a Masters in Marketing and Communications as well as a DAEFLE (French as a Foreign Language). She has years of French teaching experience in France and abroad.

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• BJ062 French 2.2 (Beginner DELF A2)

  • Start
    06 Jan 2025
  •  
  • End
    27 Mar 2025
  •  
  • Schedule
    22 sessions
  • Location
    In person, location TBD
  • Spaces left
    6

  Register

  Course Description

  This course is designed for beginners, either for first-time learners or those who want to refresh their French at a basic level.

  Throughout the course students will acquire the essential French skills (writing, speaking, pronunciation) needed to function in everyday-life situations.

  Each class will take place in a lively and friendly atmosphere that encourages students' enjoyment and active participation. Along with  linguistic exercises, references to French culture and gastronomy will also be presented.

  The course meets twice a week for 90 minutes (a total of 3 hrs/week) and is conducted in French. When necessary, supplementary explanations may be given in English.

  About the instructor

  Nathalie Allain is a native French speaker with a master’s degree in FLE (French as a foreign language) who is also fluent in English, German, and Japanese. To future students, she says: “In addition to textbooks, I like to make French come alive by using the language to discover the culture and history of Paris in one field trip each month.”

   

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• BJ092 English Guided Discussion

  • Start
    09 Jan 2025
  •  
  • End
    27 Mar 2025
  •  
  • Schedule
    11 sessions
  • Location
    Online via Zoom
  • Spaces left
    6

  Register

  Course Description

  This English Guided Discussion Group is open to people who have a strong intermediate or advanced level of English. Our group leaders suggest interesting topics and readings prior to each group discussion. If you enjoy reading, speaking, presenting, and engaging in diverse topic-centered discussions, this group is for you. In addition to learning and developing through guided conversation with other participants, you will also have the opportunity to get personalized constructive feedback. The group speaks only in English for one
  hour.
  

  Ce groupe de discussion guidée anglaise est ouvert aux personnes qui parlent anglais presque couramment (niveaux intermédiaire-avancé ou avancé). Nos animateurs proposent des sujets intéressants et des textes avant chaque groupe. Si vous appréciez la lecture, la communication, la présentation et la participation à des discussions
  diverses, ce groupe est pour vous. En plus d’apprendre et se développer à travers des discussions guidées avec d'autres participants, vous aurez également la possibilité d'obtenir des
  commentaires constructifs. Ce groupe de discussion guidée est un endroit idéal pour rencontrer d’autres passionnés de la langue anglais. Le groupe ne parle qu’anglais pendant une heure.

  Note: A Zoom link will be provided the day before the
  course begins. Be sure to check your email for it
  

  Facilitators

  The group will be led by several native English speakers of varying interests and backgrounds.

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• BJ093 French Guided Discussion

  • Start
    09 Jan 2025
  •  
  • End
    27 Mar 2025
  •  
  • Schedule
    10 sessions
  • Location
    Remote on Zoom
  • Spaces left
    3

  Register

  Course Description

  This French Guided Discussion Group is open to people who have a strong intermediate or advanced level of French. Group leaders provide participants with engaging weekly readings on a wide range of topics prior to each dynamic and fast-paced seminar. If you enjoy reading, speaking, presenting, and engaging in varied, topic-centered discussions, this group is for you. In addition to learning through focused conversation with other participants, you will also have the opportunity to get personalized constructive feedback. The French Guided Discussion group speaks only in French for 90 minutes which gives participants an excellent space to practice.

  About the Instructors

  Brice Dardel and Brigitte Le Quere, both native French speakers with extensive experience leading discussions, alternate weekly sessions.

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• BJ101 French 4.2.1 (Advanced Intermediate, DELF B2)

  • Start
    10 Jan 2025
  •  
  • End
    28 Mar 2025
  •  
  • Schedule
    11 sessions
  • Location
    Remote on Zoom (online)
  • Spaces left
    3

  Register

  Course Description

  This dynamic course will fine tune your abilities in an array of everyday life situations in French. Students at this level have the ability to express themselves on a range of topics. They are comfortable in most situations and have a strong vocabulary with few mistakes. Using interactive methods to ensure learner engagement and lasting progress, the course will facilitate your progress in vocabulary development, oral and written expression, comprehension, and pronunciation. Geared for learners with prior advanced-intermediate French, this course will be held in French once a week for 90 minutes.

  About the Instructor

  Audrey Charmont has a Masters in Marketing and Communications as well as a DAEFLE (French as a Foreign Language). She has French teaching experience in France and abroad.

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• BJ102 French 4.2.2 Advanced Intermediate, DELF B2)

  • Start
    10 Jan 2025
  •  
  • End
    28 Mar 2025
  •  
  • Schedule
    11 sessions
  • Location
    Remote on Zoom (online)
  • Spaces left
    4

  Register

  Course Description

  This dynamic course will fine tune your abilities in an array of everyday life situations in French. Students at this level have the ability to express themselves on a range of topics. They are comfortable in most situations and have a strong vocabulary with few mistakes. Using interactive methods to ensure learner engagement and lasting progress, the course will facilitate your progress in vocabulary development, oral and written expression, comprehension, and pronunciation. Geared for learners with prior advanced-intermediate French, this course will be held in French once a week for 90 minutes.

  About the Instructor

  Audrey Charmont has a Masters in Marketing and Communications as well as a DAEFLE (French as a Foreign Language). She has French teaching experience in France and abroad.

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• BJ103 French Film Discussion

  • Start
    10 Jan 2025
  •  
  • End
    14 Mar 2025
  •  
  • Schedule
    3 sessions
  • Location
    Remote on Zoom
  • Spaces left
    6

  Register

  COURSE DESCRIPTION: For this advanced French course, you will watch a film at home (available on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Canal Plus, Orange, YouTube and other platforms) before a lively and engaging discussion in class. Each month a new film provides a basis for an immersive lesson with authentic spoken language and cultural reference points. If you love movies, there’s no more enjoyable way to increase vocabulary, improve conversational skills, and deepen your understanding of French cinema and culture. 

  Each discussion will focus on analyzing the film from different angles:

  • Creation; production; and reception, both critical and commercial
  • Screenplay, direction, and artistic collaborations such as script, cinematography, acting, and music
  • Specific features in the director's filmography and its place in the French cinema of his/her era.

  Winter trimester films :

  1. Rois et Reine (2004) d’Arnaud Desplechin
  Avec Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos
  César du meilleur acteur pour Mathieu Amalric
  Nora, mère d’un petit garçon, a déjà été mariée deux fois. Veuve de son premier mari, elle s’apprête à épouser Jean-Jacques. Ismaël, un musicien, son ancien compagnon, est interné dans un hôpital psychiatrique. Destins parallèles.
  La mise en scène d’Arnaud Desplechin s’emballe pour mieux nous captiver et fait tomber les frontières entre le burlesque et le tragique, l’instinct et l’intelligence, la folie et la normalité. Un mélo qui convoque Bergman, Truffaut, la musique de Henri Mancini, la
  psychanalyse…
  
  2. Illusions perdues (2021) de Xavier Giannoli
  Avec Benjamin Voisin, Vincent Lacoste, Gerard Depardieu, Xavier Dolan
  D’après Honoré de Balzac
  7 César dont meilleur film, meilleur espoir masculin, meilleur second rôle masculin, meilleure adaptation, meilleur réalisateur.
  Lucien est un jeune poète inconnu dans la France du XIXème siècle. Il a de grandes espérances et veut se forger un destin. Il quitte l’imprimerie familiale de sa province natale pour tenter sa chance à Paris, au bras de sa protectrice. Bientôt livré à lui-même dans la ville fabuleuse, le jeune homme va découvrir les coulisses d’un monde voué à la loi du profit et des faux-semblants. Une comédie humaine où tout s’achète et se vend, la littérature comme la presse, la politique comme les sentiments, les réputations comme les âmes. Il va aimer, il va souffrir, et survivre à ses illusions.
  En adaptant avec brio le roman-fleuve d’Honoré de Balzac, Xavier Giannoli signe avec ce film une fresque ambitieuse et populaire qui résonne comme l’un de ses films les plus aboutis. Un théâtre de faux-semblants aussi cruel que jouissif.

  3.  Anatomie d’une chute (2023) de Justine Triet
  Avec Sandra Huller, Samuel Theis, Swan Arlaud
  Palme d’or au festival de Cannes 2023.

  Sandra, Samuel et leur fils malvoyant de 11 ans, Daniel, vivent depuis un an loin de tout, à la montagne. Un jour, Samuel est retrouvé mort au pied de leur maison. Une enquête pour mort suspecte est ouverte. Sandra est bientôt inculpée malgré le doute : suicide ou
  homicide ? Un an plus tard, Daniel assiste au procès de sa mère, véritable dissection du couple.
  
  « Une écriture remarquable, des acteurs parfaits, un secret bien gardé et une atmosphère vénéneuse. Oui, tout est là, mais il y a quelque chose en plus dans cette Anatomie d’une chute, qui a valu à sa réalisatrice, Justine Triet, 45 ans, la Palme d’or. Son quatrième long-métrage examine les affres d’un couple d’écrivains, dont l’un
  des deux trouve la mort. Suicide, meurtre ? On ne saura jamais, mais le chemin qui mène à ce mystère est un passionnant précis de cinéma. » (Le Monde)
  

  • ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: A graduate of Sciences Po Paris and ESCP Business School with a master's in political philosophy, Pascale Borenstein co-founded the first professional training course for screenwriters, the Conservatoire Européen d'Ecriture Audiovisuelle (CEEA), which she subsequently directed. From 2004 to 2017, she was Director of International Relations and Continuing Education at France's national film school, La Fémis, where she collaborated with the film departments at NYU, Columbia University, and Calarts. Pascale is the co-author of "Histoire de films français" published by Bordas and a lecturer at l'ICART (École du Management Culturel & Marché de l'Art).

  
  

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• BJ243 American Film Classics

  • Start
    24 Jan 2025
  •  
  • End
    28 Mar 2025
  •  
  • Schedule
    3 sessions
  • Location
    Remote on Zoom
  • Spaces left
    3

  Register

  Course Description

  Discover and discuss masterpieces of American and British cinema in this class for intermediate and advanced English speakers. You’ll watch a film at home on streaming, or borrow the DVD from your local library, before a lively and engaging discussion in class. You’ll be assigned one scene to watch at least three times! Every month you’ll view a film from an influential director so you’ll come to know the stylistic hallmarks of favorite genres and filmmakers.
  

  If you love the movies, this course is an enjoyable way to increase vocabulary, get comfortable with idiomatic expressions, improve your conversational skills, and deepen your understanding of American culture and cinema.

  Winter trimester films:

  Out of the Past (in French “La Griffe du Passé”) by Jacques TOURNEUR (1947) with Robert Mitchum (Jeff Bailey, also Jeff Markham), Jane Greer (Kathie Moffat), and Kirk Douglas (Whit Sterling). Out of the Past is an acclaimed American film noir, with a complex, fatalistic storyline, dark cinematography, and a classic femme fatale.  In 1991, the film was added to the United States National Film Registry of “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” films.

  Five Fingers by Joseph L. MANKIECICZ (1952) (in French “l’affaire Cicéron”), with James Mason (Ulysses Diello / Cicero)and Danielle Darrieux (Countess Anna Staviska), is an American spy film noir. The film is based on the true story of a spy with the code name Cicero who spied for the Nazis during World War II while he was employed as a valet to the British ambassador to Turkey. 

  Fat City by John HUSTON (1972) with Stacy Keach (Billy Tully), Jeff Bridges (Ernie Munger), and Susan Tyrrell (Oma Lee Greer, nominated for an Oscar—Academy Award— for Best Supporting Actress). The film follows a former champion boxer (Keach) who trains Ernie, and begins to develop a rivalry with the young fighter on the rise.

  About the instructor

  Ellen Feldman grew up in Philadelphia and currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She holds a Ph.D. in cinema studies from New York University and has taught film studies at the State University of New York, Geneseo campus, and Brooklyn College.

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