From grammar, composition, and conversation courses to courses on history, culture, literature, and teaching, the French curriculum prepares students to grasp the French language and culture.
View the Requirements needed to complete a French major or minor.
See the Course Catalog for a list of all French courses and their descriptions.
We asked some of our alumni and current students what their favorite class was...
Elizabeth Wilhoit '09
"One of my favorite memories of the French program is thinking about the classroom in Wyngarden Hall where all of the French classes met. Our classes tended to be small and intimate and the classroom had a very cozy and personal feel. I really connected to my French professors because of the small classes and the amount of attention they gave us.
My favorite class was French and Canadian Film class. The movies we watched were memorable and the class gave me a framework for enjoying French films now."
Angélique Salib '11
"My favorite French class was French Literature. I remember we had many opportunities to use creative methods for projects. The professor also spent time helping each student figure out their learning styles."
Brian Rowe '12
"I loved the French Lit 1800-1945 course, followed closely by the quite rigorous French Composition class, which I took my freshman year. Both stretched me in different and similar ways."
Dan Dresser '12
"My favorite class was an independent study I did on French phonetics. We would listen to speaking exercises on these old tapes in her office, and I would have to practice making the interesting sounds of the French language over and over till I got it right. It was fun to hear the improvement in my pronunciation over time."
Amy Early '16
"I think my favorite classes so far have been Advanced Conversation. My favorite memory so far is of the last day of French 439 (Devenir Soi). In groups of two, we performed short satires of the novels we had read throughout the quad. It was really fun to see what the other students had come up with, and to laugh together about the somewhat dramatic nature of the characters we had studied. Then, my class went to Sam’s with our professor and sat outside together, drinking coffee and chatting in French. It was a great last day of class!"
Parker Nelson '11
"My favorite class was the optional Impressionist Art History class I took while on Wheaton in France where we got to see the very pieces in the museums that we were studying and learning about."
Isaac Kawate '15
"My favorite class that I took at Wheaton was my Senior Seminar in French. I loved this class because it illustrated to myself that I had achieved a level of French that I once thought completely impossible! We also extensively studied the occupation of France by Germany during WWII, which I thought was extremely interesting!"