Modern French school

While the Academy has maintained relations with other countries since the 16th century, the creation of the Lausanne university in 1890 stimulated exchanges and gave Vaud's higher education system a greater place in the international academic network. The rector of the university, Alexandre Maurer, is keen to promote access to the French language for foreign students. It was he who instituted the first holiday courses in 1895.

In 1892, the Faculté des lettres de l’Université rethought its teaching in line with this new craze; it provided special teaching in French for étrants who étudient en vue d’obtention d’une licence ès lettres modernes[1]. In 1890 Auguste André, a lecturer at the Faculté des lettres[2], gave a course in diction, theory and readings, and then, from the beginning of the semester, a course in modern literature;In the summer of 1892, a special course was introduced for foreign students in the form of exercises in diction, grammar and rhetoric. The initial four hours a week were doubled in 1896, rising to ten hours a week by 1900. At the start of the 1901 academic year, the general programme indicated the existence of a special school for the teaching of modern French, including practical courses for non-French speakers. Attached to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lausanne, the Ecole de français moderne was created and received its definitive and simplified name in 1923.

Initially reserved for students enrolled at the Faculté des Lettres, the ever-increasing influx of foreign students to all the Faculté;This led to the opening of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes in 1906. From then on, the EFM offered preparatory courses geared more towards translation and dialogue[3]. These include translation exercises from German, Italian, English and Russian into French. However, this opening-up has not proved very fruitful. The school had to contend with organisational problems, so it closed its doors and the teaching of French as a foreign language remained the preserve of the Faculty of Arts until further notice. This unsuccessful experiment nevertheless conditioned the characteristics of the teaching of French to foreigners at the University. The useful aspect of mastering the language is mainly done through literary texts. The EFM imposes its literary orientation and is characterised by intensive, purely practical teaching. At the end of the course, the Ecole dédelivers students a Certificat d’Etudes françaises, which is likely to be highly rated abroad, given the ever-increasing number of candidates.

In 1926, Auguste André retired and the School underwent its first major reorganisation. Small, homogeneous classes replaced the large one, which had been run entirely by lecturer André. The project was financially viable, and the Faculty entrusted the teaching to professors who did not hold a doctorate: René Rapin and Pierre Gilliard. For these two professors, their appointment as teaching assistants marked the beginning of a brilliant career at the university. Pierre Gilliard, a former ambassador to Tsar Nicholas II who returned to Switzerland in 1920, was head of the school, first informally and then in a recognised capacity, until 1949. He was succeeded by Professor Gilbert Guisan until 1956. During these years, a number of events disrupted the School of Modern French to a greater or lesser extent. At the beginning of the 1930s, the number of students flocked to the school, no doubt due to the economic difficulties of the period. Advertising abroad was stepped up and produced satisfactory results. Leaflets, course programmes and advertisements were sent en masse to countries that usually supplied large numbers of students (Germany, England, Holland, Italy, Scandinavia and the United States). The Second World War also brought its share of disruption. There was a reduction in the number of students and, by the same token, a reduction in the number of teaching hours.

The school was founded in the late 19th century.

In 1956, Principal Ernest Giddey took up his post and embarked on a second reorganisation of the school. He instituted independent classes in which students were divided according to their level. He also set up a special course for students from other faculties and restored the place where the EFM had begun in 1906. The School opened up to the entire university public.

In 1969, Robert Marclay succeeded him as director and continued to develop the school. In 1977, the EFM moved into the building of the Facult&eacacute;s des sciences humaines à Dorigny, leaving behind the pasté too small attic office and improvised classrooms.

In 1986, the arrival of director René Richterich from the University of Bern broke with the family atmosphere of the Lausanne school and gave the EFM a more serious character. A specialist in current methods of language teaching, it introduces major changes to teaching and its methods. In particular, he set up three fields of study: the propédeutique (a preparatory year), the Certificat (knowledge of the French language, literature and civilisation) and the Certificat dère (knowledge of the French language, literature and civilisation);rature et de la civilisation française) and the Diploma course (aptitude for teaching French as a foreign language). The new regulations came into force on 1 September 1994. But in 1996 René Richterich disappeared. He will never be found. The more time passed, the more it was assumed that he had died; but until his death was officially recognised, it was difficult to replace him. So it was left to a reader, Raymond Capré, to take over ad intérim management of the School. In 2001, the EFLE set up the Tandem programme, a language partnership in which two people with different mother tongues communicate regularly, face-to-face or at a distance. The use of the multi-media centre in recent years has also boosted the teaching of EFM and its methods.

This is a major step forward in the development of EFM.

In 2004, associate professor Thérèse Jeanneret took over as head of the school, which changed its name to the Ecole de français langue étrangère (EFLE). In 2012, the EFLE had 1,154 students enrolled in its study programmes, from 78 different countries. In 2014, the School of French as a Foreign Language at the University of Lausanne was one of Switzerland's specialist centres for teaching French to non-French speakers.

Carine Desponds - UNIRIS 2014

[1] It is customary to refer to modern French as français, the French language from the sixteenth century onwards, to distinguish it from old French (middle period). The reference to contemporary français is also appropriate to denote the language of the time.

[2] The function of lecturer, which is specific to the Ecole de français moderne, designates, according to the 1916 law, a teacher of foreign languages. He was appointed by the Conseil d’Etat for a period of two years. His teaching load is greater than that of a teacher. Until 1916 there was only one, Auguste Andr. After that, their numbers continued to grow.

[3] Project for a French language preparatory school.