For four weeks this past summer, seven Hendrix students embarked on an immersive French program in Tours, France—capital of the Loire Valley. Dr. Cathy Jellenik, French professor and annual coordinator of the trip, chose Tours as the location because of its optimal language-learning environment.
“The language spoken in Tours is considered the most ‘pure’ form of French available in that it utterly lacks a regional accent,” Dr. Jellenik said. “Locals of Tours do not respond to students in English, so students experience full immersion: they live with French host families, attend language classes and experience several engaged learning activities, visiting chateaux, attending regional cooking classes, and more.”
Leaving their host families’ homes and heading out to the cobbled streets flanked by half-timbered French houses, juniors Emma Callahan, Joelle Fahoum, Isaiah Jellenik, Sofia Perez, Jackson Reno, Elaine Schomburg, and Shermar Simmons attended Tours Langues intensive language institute for 20 hours of language study each week.
“The immersion of learning French only in French from a French person is unbeatable,” Murphy Scholar Isaiah Jellenik said. “At school, we also met people from all over the world, so it was a meaningful social experience as well.”
Outside the classroom, students went on a variety of cultural excursions. “We had the opportunity to visit Paris, Mont Saint-Michel, and Saint-Malo—all of which are beautiful places with such rich cultures and histories,” Murphy Scholar Sofia Perez said. “My host mom also took my host sister and me to visit châteaus in the French countryside, which belonged to Leonardo da Vinci and Auguste Rodin.”
On one excursion, the group hopped on bicycles for a tour of Château de Villandry. “The bike ride was my absolute favorite experience,” Elaine Schomburg said. “It was 24 miles to the Château de Villandry garden. Being able to bike alongside my friends through the French countryside was magical and a lot easier than I anticipated. We biked through small towns, parks, the forest, and through a sunflower field."