NaperFrench focuses on individual progress
By Jane Donahue For The Sun February 21, 2013 4:56PM
Anne Cottez-Jones back home in Paris at the metro Boulogne-Jaurès
On the web
NaperFrench offers individual and customized French language tutoring. Anne Cottez-Jones offers full immersion instruction for children, teens and adults. To learn more, contact Anne at naperfrench.com.
Updated: March 25, 2013 6:27AM
When the company Vickie Rinn worked for was acquired by a French company, she decided to acquire something of her own. The Naperville resident turned to Anne Cottez-Jones, a native of France and founder of NaperFrench, in hopes of learning the foreign language.
“My new boss and several of my new employees were French,” said Rinn, 46. “I started out wanting to pronounce their names properly and then be able to visit Paris and read menus and signs; I have continued because I enjoy it.”
NaperFrench is a one-on-one French tutoring school in Naperville, founded in 2006 by Cottez-Jones, of Naperville. Cottez-Jones said after teaching French in a school, she saw the challenges of group instruction, and decided to venture out on her own.
“When it comes to languages, I believe individual instruction is the best,” said the teacher, 45, who has lived in the U.S. since 1993. “Each person learns differently and moves at their own pace. I always tell my students, ‘This is your class. We can move as fast as you want or we can review.’ This is the beauty of the one-on-one (instruction).”
Today, more than 40 students are learning to “parlez-vous français” at the school, at 362 Meadow Green Drive in Naperville.
“French can be difficult to speak, and students are often intimidated to try in class for fear of making a mistake,” she said. “Groups just don’t give you much of an opportunity to practice what has been taught in class. At NaperFrench, students learn how to build their own sentences, are eager to speak and try what they have learned in the previous lessons.”
Students range in age from 3 to 75, and whether they are learning another language for fun or to further their career, Cottez-Jones can help.
“This is so rewarding,” she said. “Seeing everyone’s progress is what makes it worth it at the end of the day; what better than (when) a person who did not speak a word of French finally gets to converse pretty fluently.”
Rinn, a student for five years, said it has been “critical” in her profession.
“I went from knowing no French to being able to carry on conversations with my French colleagues,” Rinn said. “I read and write emails in French and read French articles. I have had conversations with French taxi drivers, and we were able to understand each other well.”
So pleased with her NaperFrench success, Rinn enrolled her son, Tyler, when he was 8.
“Anne plays games with children in the beginning to build vocabulary and confidence,” the mom said. “She is an excellent teacher, cares about her students and how they progress. Now he takes French in middle school and is way ahead of his class.”
