Postby whatiftheblog » Fri Jul 21, 2017 5:44 am
Granted, this was 12 years ago, but I quite enjoyed my French language school and thought it well worth the money (I think the whole thing was around $3k). I had 32 hours of class a week in a group of about 6-10, depending on the class, all of whom were at the same level, so it was well-calibrated, and 8 of those hours were "thematic" based on electives we could pick. I think I took current affairs (duh), literature, business, and art or something like that, the classes were actually really well-organized, I was pleasantly surprised. I stayed in the dorm, though, not with a family, which turned out to have probably been a good thing, since all of my friends who stayed with families had variously awful experiences, and the one girl who didn't ended up just having the hosts' apartment to herself. I definitely made the B2-C1 jump that summer, though I let it stagnate and recede a bit over the years before getting myself together (don't make this mistake!).
Separately, in your case, OP, when you say you're exhausted from 4 hours a day, I wonder if it isn't a matter of the materials you're using. Where would you say you are with your French right now? There are other ways to incorporate the language into your life without wearing yourself out, and they're fairly low-impact - a word or conjugation game / online quiz, short funny vlogs, Twitter, blogs on topics that actually interest you. So long as it's engaging and can hold your attention, it'll do. Even just the news, and even if on in the background, can help. Try to switch things up and see what happens.
ETA: I'll also add, for what you can expect if you continue towards the advanced levels, that I credit a combination of gripping campaign coverage (6 months by that point) and my trip to Paris (5 days) with the C1->C2 jump I apparently made (so I am told). The conference I attended in Paris lasted 3 of those 5 days, and by day 2 I was flying, but this is also largely because I was living my actual dream, talking about my favorite thing in the whole world with people I usually watch on TV on my laptop in Washington, so there were definitely points where I was so fully absorbed by the conversation I'd entirely forget I was speaking French. This is despite being repeatedly interrupted in Russian (yes, we are truly everywhere), English (obviously), and Spanish (heh, buena suerte with that); still managed to dive right back in. These weren't classes, obviously, but I really can't say enough good things about approaching a language through material that stimulates you thematically.
ETA 2: There are also MOOCs in French, including on Coursera, edX, funmooc and a few others. You can do them at your own pace so long as you sign up for the class before it closes; you don't have to follow their schedule unless you want a certificate. The main benefit is that, at least with Coursera, you have the full package: video you can slow down, a full transcript for each lecture, and interaction in group discussions, if you so wish.
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