Accelerated Beginning French

I can't highlight enough how good this course is. Zsombok does an amazing job cultivating an atmosphere of participation that improves your French whether you like it or not. Essentially all classes are structured so that there's an equal amount of lecture and discussion, where students talk in small groups or with the whole class. The entire class is in French. The class meets five times a week, plus one 30-minute phonetic session and one 45-minute attendance to the language tables each week. The amount of time dedicated to the class each week substantially reduced the amount of time I had to dedicate to other courses. There are homework assignments every night, but usually they take between 20-30 minutes. There's one exam each week and one mini project each week that culminates with a presentation toward the end of the semester. Zsombok is passionate, engaging, and enthusiastic about learning French. He encourages learning and makes the process so much fun.

I can't highlight enough how good this course is. Zsombok does an amazing job cultivating an atmosphere of participation that improves your French whether you like it or not. Essentially all classes are structured so that there's an equal amount of lecture and discussion, where students talk in small groups or with the whole class. T …Read more

Zsombok is hands down one of the best professors at Middlebury. He is kind and a great educator. There are weekly tests, which require rote memorization. As long as you make flashcards and memorize everything you learn -- you'll be fine. There is no final, which also helps. There are a few projects, and then a final group skit. Homework is daily and extremely tedious in my opinion. It's a lot of work each night. But, the class is fun and extremely rewarding. To a complete beginner though, I think this class would be really difficult. Having a couple of years of passive experience with French made this class feel very doable (dare I say "easy"), but I can't imagine how I'd fare without that background. Very fast-paced.

Zsombok is hands down one of the best professors at Middlebury. He is kind and a great educator. There are weekly tests, which require rote memorization. As long as you make flashcards and memorize everything you learn -- you'll be fine. There is no final, which also helps. There are a few projects, and then a final group skit. Homew …Read more

Peter is amazing! He is a great Professor and is very understanding and accommodating. However, the nature of the course is incredibly fast-paced and I took it as someone who had never taken French before... which I don't necessarily recommend. If you have a fairly easy semester and hours to dedicate to weekly language tables, two French events, phonetic sessions (30 minutes a week in addition to class five days a week), studying for weekly exams, and nightly homework assignments—then you will get a lot out of this course! It's also a good class if you have some basic French knowledge—which it felt like everyone else in my class did except myself and like two other people. This class is incredibly useful and I was able to manage an A because Peter is so accommodating, but it is definitely a huge time commitment.

Peter is amazing! He is a great Professor and is very understanding and accommodating. However, the nature of the course is incredibly fast-paced and I took it as someone who had never taken French before... which I don't necessarily recommend. If you have a fairly easy semester and hours to dedicate to weekly language tables, two Fr …Read more