French professor Julie Pomerleau leads a ‘Café francophone’ event by guiding attendees through a French conversation in Trevor Colbourn Hall on Wednesday.
Rachel Jones
The back-and-forth of French chatter could be heard throughout Room 358B in Trevor Colbourn Hall as students attended “Café francophone” on Wednesday.
French Coordinator and Senior Instructor Julie Pomerleau has hosted Café francophone for over 10 years, she said.
Pomerleau said she realized the need for out-of-class conversational French when her students expressed their ability to have hypertechnical conversations in French but lacked day-to-day vocabulary.
Pomerleau’s solution to this issue was to create an informal environment where students could talk about things like books and music, she said.
“There’s no pressure,” Pomerleau said. “Then, maybe it’ll help to actually make them more fluent.”
Sierra Nichols, senior political science major, works her way through a French game during the ‘Café francophone’ event at Trevor Colbourn Hall on Wednesday.
Rachel Jones
Sierra Nichols, senior political science major with a minor in environmental studies, has a Francophone Studies Certificate. Nichols said she pursues learning French to be closer to her Haitian family.
“I speak [French] with my grandma,” Nichols said. “My aunt owns a French school, so they help me a lot to learn the language. But I am hoping to learn a lot more Creole, since it’s my grandma’s first language.”
Nichols said she has benefited from the casual nature of Café francophone in further developing her French.
“This is a good way to learn more and not feel the pressure of quizzes or homework,” Nichols said. “I’ve met a lot of new people that I can communicate with outside of class. I feel like the biggest part of learning French is to have someone to talk to.”
Nichols’ confidence in her French-speaking abilities has grown, she said, continuing that her confidence in traveling or living abroad will be bolstered by her experience at the in-person, conversational gathering. Nichols said she recommends attending Café francophone to those looking to improve their French language skills.
“Don’t be nervous,” Nichols said. “Everyone here is at different learning levels.”