The French Department offers a wide range of courses in French and francophone language and literature, contemporary France, cinema, and more. All courses are taught entirely in French. Le Château houses French Department classrooms and faculty offices.
The department sponsors concerts, plays, films, and lectures, open to the campus and the wider community. Students also have many other opportunities to use French outside class.
- French tables bring together faculty and students for lunch in Atwater dining hall every weekday.
- The Maison Française houses 11 students and a French assistant, and with the Cercle Français, it organizes a variety of activities, including parties, the weekly café français, a cinéclub, and trips to Montréal.
Study abroad: Middlebury College has its own School in France, with sites in Paris, Poitiers, and Bordeaux. A large number of students—by no means limited to French or International Studies majors—study in France or another francophone country every year. It is possible to begin French at Middlebury and study abroad in the junior year, sometimes in combination with a summer at the French School.
We also encourage students to pursue internships abroad during winter term and to take advantage of the intensive program at the Ecole Française in the summer.