The CIREFE each year hosts an annual end of year gala. It’s the culmination of time spent together taking French-language classes as well as artistic workshops with professionals from Rennes. It also is a great way for CIREFE students, who come from all over the globe and who speak varying levels of French, to showcase their language and artistic skills in front of an audience of friends and family. A few students gave us their impressions of their time spent at the CIREFE and in their workshops.
"I arrived here after having taken 6 months of French courses in China and I was really nervous at first when trying to speak with other people. I find French to be a difficult language. But the courses here have helped me to gain some confidence so that now I’m not so afraid to be misunderstood. In particular, I found the classes of oral practice of French really helpful. Writing has always been a little easier because when you write you have time to think, which is not the case when you’re talking with someone. But of course the grammar classes were really helpful as well."
Yan
“I started at level 1 when I arrived, so I couldn’t speak even a word of French. I'm from Iran and wasn't sure how it would work out with my language skills here in the beginning, but now after being at the CIREFE for 4 months, I can say that it was definitely an advantage for me to be here. Now I can communicate with people and do lots of things. The teachers are so nice, kind and professional, despite there having been some difficulty in dealing with the student movement happening at Rennes 2 and almost everywhere in France. But they really tried to help and make things run as smoothly as possible regardless.”
Vahed
"I’m a Rennes 2 student taking some linguistic courses at the CIREFE. I was very interested in integrating into some of the creative workshop classes at the CIREFE. Every time I’m in a new country or even if I’m at home I always take theatre classes. The teachers here have really helped me to understand some of the finer points of the language, expressions and the contexts in which they’re used, without making mistakes. They also helped me with the phonetics of words that I had a harder time with. These things are really important for theatre and being able to be confident onstage."
Vola
