French Student Spotlight: Miles Gilbert's Fluency Goal

“Lessons with Anne have given me the confidence that I can learn a new language. Unlike when I studied languages in school, I now concentrate on how to express my thoughts, not memorizing vocabulary lists. I’ve learned to think in French.”

— Miles Gilbert

Miles Gilbert enjoyed his French classes at The Center so much that he decided to commit to a more intensive program of language learning with us at Speak! He quickly finished his first package of 10 hours in 2 weeks, then moved on to another bundle of 25 hours, which he completed in about 2 months. Now he’s working on another batch of more than 40 hours. Needless to say, we get to see a lot of Miles and Anne, and it’s such a delight to overhear their laughter, smiles and conversation from the light-filled lounge that has become Anne’s favorite teaching space at Vault Virginia/Speak!.

We applaud Miles’ commitment to becoming fluent in a language he so loves, now that, being retired, he has the time to devote to this learning goal, one that obviously also makes him happy! So many adult learners share that they feel it’s too late to learn or improve their speaking skills in a language - NEVER!!! At Speak!, we specialize in fostering a lifelong love of languages, cultures and travel. Let’s all be inspired by Miles' Story!

Miles is all smiles with French Instructor, Anne, at one of his daily one-on-one French lessons

You already speak such beautiful French (according to your teacher). How and when did you first connect with the language and culture? 

Anne is too kind; my French is not that good. In the 1960’s I was a student traveling through Europe. I enjoyed visiting many cities, but I felt a special connecting with Paris. Many years later, I attended Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, then I fell in love with the city.

You're really committed to becoming fluent in French and are having lessons almost every day - very impressive! What sparked your desire to rekindle your French language learning with Speak! this year? 

During Covid, I decided that one way to combat cabin fever was to exercise my mind. I decided to study both Spanish and French at the same time. I bought Rosetta Stone as an experiment to see if I was too old to learn a new language. I was pleasantly surprised to learn I wasn’t too old. But Rosetta Stone isn’t enough to learn a language.

After my lessons with Anne, I have been very pleased with my progress in French, much better than I would have expected.