The French program at the University of Maine at Fort Kent (UMFK) envisions an environment that combines the study of the language, culture, and arts of the French-speaking world while celebrating the unique culture, language, and heritage of the St. John Valley.
As an integral part of its parent institution, the French program is committed to a quality liberal arts education serving rural northern Maine, and beyond. Our curriculum emphasizes an appreciation of the Acadian and Franco-American heritage, culture and regional French language of the St. John Valley. Our mission is to provide our French majors with a broad view of the language, cultures, and arts of the French-speaking world.
The prime objective of the French Program at UMFK is to help every student become skilled in using the French language in all types of communication. Over the course of study, students become proficient in the interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational communicative modes of the French language while gaining knowledge of the literature, culture, and arts of the French-speaking world. Students are especially encouraged to take advantage of our unique location, in a bilingual community, bordering French-speaking Canada, where the possibilities for authentic French communication are nearly endless.
Throughout their course of study, students have the opportunity to study French in perhaps the only truly French-English bilingual setting in the United States. They also are encouraged to study abroad for a semester, or a year, and to participate in the many French-language social activities on campus and in the community. Students also may take advantage of our partnership with the Université de Moncton Campus d’Edmundston located in Edmundston, New Brunswick, 20 miles away, where they can take courses in any program of study taught in French while receiving credit here at UMFK. In fulfillment of our mission, the French program will:
