FSL Intensive

Upper Madison College

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Course description

There are 6 two-month levels in the language program going from a A1-C1 (Beginner to Advanced). There are 3 morning classes dedicated to grammar, reading, writing, listening, pronunciation, and intonation. There is one class in the afternoon focused on speaking and conversation, oral fluency.

Integrated Study - Grammar

- This class will continue using the same textbook as the first class but will be focused on grammar. However, again the context of the class would be integrated. Therefore, grammar skills will be developed through readings and listening to produce grammatically correct writing and speech.

Integrated Study

- This class focuses on all four skills: reading, writing, speaking, listening in an integrated manner.
- The focus of this class is two-folds. First is to teach the individual skills so that students develop fluency in the skill. The second goal is to help students develop confidence to use the skills in combination of with others such as a real world situation dictate.

Listening and Speaking

- UMC’s FSL program’s main goal is to help students in the end to speak French. Therefore, this class is first of 2 classes dedicated to speaking. This class is focused on oral accuracy using the context that only if you can hear it, can you say it. Also this class will work on pronunciation and intonation.

Conversation

- This is UMC’s second speaking class and is focused on oral fluency. While the first class is more analytical, this class will emphasize amount. The ability to link words and sentences to create extended speech and the quantity of spoken language will be the main goal of this class.

Advantages of Language Program

1. Integrated Study
a) Different class structure to core FSL classes, which provide variety.
b) Several classes with same teacher for beginner students to feel comfortable
c) Opportunity for advanced students to practice learnt skills.

2. Oral Accuracy
a) Focused lesson on the fundamental aspects of oral communication such as pronunciation.
b) Plenty of teacher feedback and voice recording.
c) Activity, practice and task-based lessons to ensure exciting and active learning.

3. Reading and Writing
a) New concepts are presented in each level.
b) Focus on practical application and usage rather than only theory.
c) Importance on comprehension and understanding rather than the right answer.

4. Oral Fluency
a) Structured classes that are objective-centred with tangible goals.
b) Clear levels which give students a sense of progression.
c) Connection to Effective communication classes to develop fluency alongside accuracy.

Study materials are NOT included in the price. Textbook Fee : 50 - 100 CAD depending on student level.

Course topics

Listening, Speaking, Pronunciation, Reading, Writing, Vocabulary, Grammar and Activities

Class schedule

Course duration
2-52 weeks
Start dates
22 Apr 2024, 21 May 2024, 17 Jun 2024, 15 Jul 2024, 12 Aug 2024, 09 Sep 2024, 07 Oct 2024, 04 Nov 2024 and 02 Dec 2024
Classes per week
28 lessons per week (each lesson lasts 45 min)
Class days
Monday - Friday
School holidays
29 Mar 2024, 20 May 2024, 24 Jun 2024, 01 Jul 2024, 02 Sep 2024, 14 Oct 2024, 23 Dec 2024 - 03 Jan 2025

Upper Madison College does not hold classes on the holiday dates above. The school does not compensate for these holidays, so make sure to choose your start date accordingly.

Class times

Morning session
09:00 AM - 12:15 PM
Afternoon session
01:00 PM - 02:30 PM

Class schedule may change depending on availability and season.

Class level

All levels, beginner to advanced
You will take a placement test on your first day to determine your class level. You may also take this test before your arrival in Montreal.

Class size

Average 10 students
Maximum 13 students

Student age

Age range 13 - 99 years old
Average 25 years old
(22 in the summer)

Certificate

A certificate of completion will be issued at the end of the course.
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Photos

  • Common room at Upper Madison College 1/14
  • Building of Upper Madison College 2/14
  • Classroom at Upper Madison College 3/14
  • Reception of Upper Madison College 4/14
  • Corridor inside Upper Madison College 5/14
  • Classroom at Upper Madison College 6/14
  • Activities offered at Upper Madison College 7/14
  • Activities offered at Upper Madison College 8/14
  • Students of Upper Madison College 9/14
  • Activities offered at Upper Madison College 10/14
  • Students of Upper Madison College 11/14
  • Students of Upper Madison College 12/14
  • Activities offered at Upper Madison College 13/14
  • Activities offered at Upper Madison College 14/14
reviews

Reviews

87% recommend

based on 15 reviews
5 stars
9
4 stars
3
3 stars
3
2 stars
0
1 star
0
Quality of teaching
School facilities
Social activities
School location
Housing

"Untitled"

John Blanton, student from USA

The website was well done, which is why I enrolled. The class size of 10, should have been split because it was too large with a wide range of levels. My teacher, Albana (sp?), always had a smile, did her best, and encouraged her students. The classroom had uncomfortable chairs, was cramped, and there was no air conditioning. The break room was also cramped. The only men's room always had a large puddle under the urinal, not sure if it was a plumbing problem but it was gross. Overall, I worked hard to concentrate and made the best of the experience. Not sure I would recommend the school, unless someone already had a history of learning another language to draw from.

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My ratings for this school

Quality of teaching
School facilities
Social activities
School location
Duration of study
2 weeks
Date of study
5 Sep 2023 - 22 Sep 2023
Would you recommend this school?
No
This is a verified review. This student has booked a course at this school through Language International.

"Excellent, from the teachers to the classmates and the ciudad itself."

Carlos Berganza, student from Spain

Really nice school! I took the FSL Débutant A2 course for 2 weeks and I have no complaints! Ideal location, very good facilities and amazing staff and classmates. They take everything very seriously, and everyone is very kind!! Thank you for such an amazing 2 weeks! I think I learned a lot.

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My ratings for this school

Quality of teaching
School facilities
Social activities
School location
Duration of study
1 week
Date of study
8 Aug 2022 - 19 Aug 2022
Would you recommend this school?
Yes
This is a verified review. This student has booked a course at this school through Language International.
Lama Rahman, Regional marketing Manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa at at Upper Madison College responded to this review.
25 August 2022

On behalf of Upper Madison College I want to thank you for taking the time and effort to leave us the review.
It was a pleasure having you as student at Montreal campus and we are glad you enjoyed your experience there.
Good luck and hope to have you again in the near future.

"This experience was beautiful"

Mary REVEL, student from France

All is very good, classes, teachers, the level is great

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My ratings for this school

Quality of teaching
School facilities
Social activities
School location
Duration of study
2 weeks
Date of study
19 Oct 2015 - 6 Nov 2015
Would you recommend this school?
Yes
This is a verified review. This student has booked a course at this school through Language International.

"I did not complete the course. I studied 4 week instead of 8 weeks."

Majed Nawaf T Aloraier, student from Saudi Arabia

The student in class is not close to my age, big deferent which we did not know this before this is not fair and not comfortable.
The teachers are very nice I like them.
Location very good.
Facilities and activities and housing are normal.
I did not improve my English enough that why I decided to not complete the course.
We spent lots of money which is not equal the benefit.

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My ratings for this school

Quality of teaching
School facilities
Social activities
School location
Housing
Duration of study
7 weeks
Date of study
8 Jul 2019 - 30 Aug 2019
Would you recommend this school?
No
This is a verified review. This student has booked a course at this school through Language International.

"Unexpectedly beautiful"

Tiffany Yazmin Wences Chirino, student from Mexico

I was in Upper Madison College for three weeks in a French course. The first examination is great because you are placed in your French level with other students who are your same level. Even though I would've liked to stay longer, I really loved the sense of family between the students and the teachers, the level is very good and you really practice all aspects of the language. The location is great, just a block away from all the fun in summer and walking distance from the metro. The facilities are clean and organized and the teachers are very good. Also, there are extra activities on weekends sometimes, I really enjoyed the soccer match. The visit to the evolution museum was not perfectly planned but the teachers managed to make a great day out of it. Definitely going back!

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My ratings for this school

Quality of teaching
School facilities
Social activities
School location
Duration of study
2 weeks
Date of study
1 Jul 2019 - 19 Jul 2019
Would you recommend this school?
Yes
This is a verified review. This student has booked a course at this school through Language International.
Lama Rahman, Marketing manager at Upper Madison College responded to this review.
31 July 2019

We are so happy that you were satisfied with your learning experience at UMC.
Thank you Tiffany for taking the time and effort to leave us this appreciated review.
Looking forward to have you again in the near future.

"Chaotic and unorganized school/teachers but good learning experience"

Anna Hubatsch, student from Germany

The Classes are always really small. I was in a group with 5 other students. Each classes every day are divided in 4 different parts, unfortunately they were all given by the same teacher. I learned a lot and had fun in/ with my class, yet my teacher wasn’t really a professional teacher which showed form time to time. We learned by the book and did a weekly test and a daily dictat. The school organization itself was a bit chaotic and unorganized but the staff is very friendly.

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My ratings for this school

Quality of teaching
School facilities
Social activities
School location
Duration of study
3 weeks
Date of study
13 May 2019 - 7 Jun 2019
Would you recommend this school?
Yes
This is a verified review. This student has booked a course at this school through Language International.
Lama Rahman, Marketing Manage at Upper Madison College responded to this review.
26 June 2019

Hi Anna

I appreciate what you wrote. Your review will push us to do our best to make things better.
I would be happy if you email me with more details or examples from your experience about school being chaotic and disorganized. That would help us a lot fixing the issue.
My best regards
Lama
[email protected]

"It allowed me to accomplish what I wanted to do regarding my objective with the language. Basicallly a review of grammar, reading, writing. I gained more vocabulary and have to continue working on my listening and oral expression."

Llui Montero, student from USA

The school is well located and easily accessible by metro. The administration is welcoming and helpful. They have much experience with foreign students who speak a variety of languages and have a variety of accents and levels of understanding of the French language. They are open, listen attentively and motivate the student to express himself/herself in French. The first day you go through a placement test that involves oral comprehension, reading and writing as well as a face to face interview with the program director. This is how they determine your proficiency level and which class to place you in.

I am not sure how clear this is when signing up but books are required for the courses at a cost. They offer used books for less money, which is what I did since I was only going to spend a few weeks there and not an entire semester.

The teachers are of different backgrounds. All native French speakers but of different origins. France, Belgium, Morocco, Vietnam, Quebec. Therefore, they themselves have different accents. Some a bit more difficult to understand than others, although the idea is that they speak standard French. Except for one, all made the effort to modulate and articulate well enough for the students to understand their instructions and lectures. All of them were willing to answers questions and repeat what was not understood by the students, All in all, it appears to be an institution dedicated to advance and support the student's individual goals.

The classrooms in the school are accommodating and well distributed for the most part. Bathrooms were generally well equipped although, I imagine because of the high traffic of people they often ran out of toilette paper or paper towels and one had to ask for it. This was generally taken care of quickly. On about three occasions I noticed that the place had not been cleaned up the day before and garbage not disposed of.

Every 10 days or so they had difficulty with the internet, you had to take time to go to the administration and report it, and they had to reset it. A bit annoying.

The administration was also helpful with items unrelated to the school such as helping with location of places in Montreal or ways to go about accomplishing a certain task or finding something specific within the city.

I rented an Airbnb so I have no comments regarding housing. I understand that staying with a local family would be better in acquiring and practicing the language but I have allergies and cannot stay in just any place. Too bad for me.

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My ratings for this school

Quality of teaching
School facilities
Social activities
School location
Duration of study
2 weeks
Date of study
10 Sep 2018 - 28 Sep 2018
Would you recommend this school?
Yes
This is a verified review. This student has booked a course at this school through Language International.

"I would back to this school after"

Joyce Contreras , student from Costa Rica

I liked the experience, there are differents nationalities, this was so good for me, because I improved my listening.
The teachers, location are so good. The classroom have good size; however, the school needs to be better about cleanning and other sevices like wifi and the audiovisual classroom.

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My ratings for this school

Quality of teaching
School facilities
Social activities
School location
Duration of study
8 weeks
Date of study
23 Apr 2018 - 22 Jun 2018
Would you recommend this school?
Yes
This is a verified review. This student has booked a course at this school through Language International.

"My son and I had a wonderful experience. We learned a lot of French. We had an excellent professor , Mr. Vang. The classes were very interesting . Definitely we will take advantage and will take more classes when ever we have a break . The teacher made us more eager to learn and study at home. Keep up the good job. Thank you Professon Vang from Clara and Daniel"

Clara Osorio-Dussan, student from USA

Excellent. We came home eager to learn more and be ready to go back to study French soon.

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My ratings for this school

Quality of teaching
School facilities
Social activities
School location
Date of study
23 Apr 2018 - 27 Apr 2018
Would you recommend this school?
Yes
This is a verified review. This student has booked a course at this school through Language International.

"Awesome!"

Seïf Bellatti Ceccoli, student from France

I really liked the teachers and the way they teach and also the mixture of all these cultures from around the world. It was pretty enjoyable and makes you expand your view of the world.

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My ratings for this school

Quality of teaching
School facilities
Social activities
School location
Duration of study
5 weeks
Date of study
30 May 2016 - 8 Jul 2016
Would you recommend this school?
Yes
This is a verified review. This student has booked a course at this school through Language International.

"Good job!"

Gaia Tornone, student from Italy

Great location, excellent teachers, good classes (maybe should be a little bigger room), great activities. I didn't use the housing provided, so I can't comment about that.

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My ratings for this school

Quality of teaching
School facilities
Social activities
School location
Duration of study
5 weeks
Date of study
6 Jun 2016 - 15 Jul 2016
Would you recommend this school?
Yes
This is a verified review. This student has booked a course at this school through Language International.

"A great opportunity"

domenico privitera, student from Canada

It has been a nice experience, not only because of the English class, but also for the friendships I created in only two weeks! The teachers have a lot of passion and it is a good environment. I suggest that you attend this college!

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My ratings for this school

Quality of teaching
School facilities
Social activities
School location
Duration of study
1 week
Date of study
14 Sep 2015 - 25 Sep 2015
Would you recommend this school?
Yes
This is a verified review. This student has booked a course at this school through Language International.

"Awesome"

Akiko Otake, student from Japan

Because the teachers, students and staff were very friendly and kind, I enjoyed learning English. In the class, I was surprised at the students' active participation and high motivation. That gave me good influences. In addition, its location was very convenient. I offten went sightseeing after school with friends, which was very nice.

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My ratings for this school

Quality of teaching
School facilities
Social activities
School location
Housing
Date of study
10 Aug 2015 - 14 Aug 2015
Would you recommend this school?
Yes
This is a verified review. This student has booked a course at this school through Language International.

"Excellent school"

Helena Braga, student from Brazil

The teachers are wonderful, patient, happy, and they explain the subject very well. The location the school has a lot of stores, restaurants, and the metro is next to the school. The classes are great, and we have classes with 3 different teachers

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My ratings for this school

Quality of teaching
School facilities
Social activities
School location
Duration of study
2 weeks
Date of study
6 Jul 2015 - 24 Jul 2015
Would you recommend this school?
Yes
This is a verified review. This student has booked a course at this school through Language International.

"Very good!"

Zhihuan Wan, student from Canada

I loved the classes and would go back again if I have time.

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My ratings for this school

Quality of teaching
School facilities
Social activities
School location
Housing
Duration of study
1 week
Date of study
8 Dec 2014 - 19 Dec 2014
Would you recommend this school?
Yes
This is a verified review. This student has booked a course at this school through Language International.
visa

Visa support

We cannot apply for visas on behalf of students. However, the school can supply you with all the documentation you need to support your visa application.

Your letter of acceptance will be sent to your home address by regular mail at no charge to you. If you wish to receive your paperwork by express mail, you will be charged C$ 75 when you register.

Flights and airport transfer

Please note that we do not book flights for our students. If you are researching airfare costs, we recommend using Kayak.com, a search engine that lets you compare flight options from your home country to Montreal based on your budget, schedule and preferences.

Travel insurance

Study abroad worry-free with Language International's health and personal effects insurance coverage. When you book a course with us, you can opt to purchase an international insurance plan that covers not only your health care cost but also loss of your personal belongings. You must book your insurance in advance when you register.

Learn more about our insurance plan »

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Questions and answers

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