They sit across from each other in 105 Reed Hall. He's a consultant approaching retirement age. She's a young mother caring for her infant. At first glance, they appear to have little in common. The common bond: they are here to learn French.
They are enrolled in a program known as Dartmouth Community Courses, which teaches French to community members and is supported by the French and Italian Department.
French and Italian Department Chair Lynn Higgins said while the courses take place in College buildings, they are not offered as part of the College's curriculum and participants receive no credit. The instructor, Marie-Helene Bradley, is not a member of the College faculty and the department conducts no evaluation of her as an instructor.
Bradley is not new to the teaching field. She taught in France at the Sorbonne and later taught some Dartmouth students at the University of Strasbourg.
Bradley said she was originally asked to teach the class over 15 years ago by some Dartmouth professors who were her friends, and she has not wanted to leave the program since.
The program, which started with just three students, was grown significantly under Bradley's watch.
Now, according to Bradley, anywhere between 30 and 40 people per term take the class. Many continue the course on higher levels while others choose to repeat at the same level.
Flexible French
Bradley offers four sections of the course -- beginner, not-complete beginner, intermediate and advanced -- in order to allow students to continue taking the course at a level with which they are comfortable.
"Basically this is a course they can take in the fall and go on in the winter and go on in the spring," Bradley said. "And it is flexible enough that I can bring new people in at any time."
Flexibility is a central theme of Bradley's teaching method. During the class conversation period, she uses "tools of the moment" -- advertisements, books or posters in which students may have a particular interest -- to initiate conversation.
"I encourage them to speak as often as they can and as much as they can," Bradley said.
She said her goal is to have her students speak and understand French, not just read it.
Because each of her classes has approximately 10 students, Bradley said she can think of each of them as an individual and can focus on the problems each student may have.
Homework is an integral part of the course, though her students are not always receptive.
"I used to have struggles," Bradley said. "People come and think they're going to have a little fun with French, and don't think they're going to have to do much work."
She said she now tells students during an informational session there is a minimum of two hours of homework a week.
Support from the College
Each course is designed to be completed in nine weeks, with each session lasting an hour and a half.
Community members are charged $100 for the course, paid directly to Bradley.
"Dartmouth asked me to teach the course, but it's private in the sense that [the students] pay me directly," Bradley said.
Higgins reaffirmed there is not a financial relationship between Bradley and the French and Italian Department. She said the relationship between the community course and the College is an informal one.
"We support it and we're interested in having it," Higgins said. "We help publicize it and we tell people about it because we like to include community members in whatever activities we can."
She said the department's support comes mainly in the form of moral support and enthusiasm."I've heard from participants over the years that the course is well taught, and so when I meet people in the Upper Valley who want to learn French after work or in their spare time, I refer them to the course," she said.
Higgins said the department sponsors numerous events at the Francophone house and invites community members to attend.
"I personally am very glad that there are opportunities for community members to learn and speak French," Higgins said. "Participants in the courses have sometimes then attended our events ... and students have benefited from the varied experiences and backgrounds represented."
She added that the courses, which have been around for at least 20 years, do generate good publicity and good feeling for the College.
A popular endeavor
Ray Martell, an accountant at Split Ball Bearing who has taken one class before with Bradley, said she is terrific.
"She gives homework assignments and comments on them in detail, and there's an oral part as well," Martell said. "It's really well structured."
Some students learn about the courses from others who have had positive experiences with them before.
Niklaus and Mary Wolff, for example, heard about the program from an acquaintance whose husband had taken the course and enjoyed it.
The Wolffs plan to use the French they learn on an April trip investigating places where Impressionist painters lived and worked.
Others, like Martell, are taking the course for business reasons. His company has European affiliates, and one of their French representatives does not speak any English.
Many, like Mindy Goodling and Ken Rower, take the course to refresh the French they learned in high school or college.
Goodling, who completed a French major at the University of Colorado in Boulder, is refreshing her French with the hopes to complete the Upper Valley Teacher Training Program, which provides certification in teaching.
Rower, a woodworker from Newbury, enjoys speaking the French he already knows.
He said he learned some French "a long time ago," when he lived in France for a year. When he returned to France for a few weeks last summer, his interest in the language was rekindled.
"I'd like to make [speaking] easier and make it easier to read French," Rower said.
Still others are learning French for personal enjoyment.
"I'd like to speak French fluently sometime," Peggy Adams, a resident of White River Junction, said. "And my independent study in the language has been going on for years."
Adams said it has been hard to motivate herself to study French on her own, and hopes the course will serve as a stimulus.
According to Bradley, one of the biggest perks of the class is the wide variety of people she gets to know.
"I was not going to quit this job," Bradley said. "It's very, very interesting getting to know the people."
