LEWISTON — The Franco Center will conduct the spring session of its French Reacquisition classes beginning on April 23. The classes run one night a week for six weeks and will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday evenings.

These classes will be for “false beginners,” who at one time possessed a basic level of French-speaking ability which diminished over the years through lack of practice.

Participants are reacquainted with vocabulary and sentence structure in order to build on what they already know. Participants discuss various forms of French, whether it be the local dialect of French, Canadian French or French from France or other francophone countries. All French accents are welcome when speaking.

Varied topics are used as a guide to help stimulate speaking. Topics range from talking about family, home and work life, nature, hobbies, food, music, the news and Franco heritage. The approach is holistic and includes all aspects of learning a language; reading, writing, listening and speaking activities. The holistic approach perceives language learning as a whole and not in its separate parts.

The pace is relaxed and classes are taught in both French and English.

Teaching the course will be Diane Pelletier-Perron. Born into a large Franco-American family in Lewiston, she lived in France for 18 years, teaching and tutoring both French and English as a second language for 25 years.

“My enthusiasm for this program continues to grow as I see students progress and start conversing, said Pelletier-Perron. “As Franco-Americans, we are reawakening pride in our language, heritage and identity. I have heard many people tell me how unfortunate it is to find themselves struggling to say a few words in French when they remember so well speaking French at home when they were younger.”

Classes will be held in the Heritage Hall at the Franco Center. The cost for the six classes is $75, and registration can be done by calling 783-1585 or by emailing Diane Pelletier-Perron at colibridyster@hotmail.com. To register by mail, send contact information and payment to Franco Center, 46 Cedar St., Lewiston, ME 04240 Attn: Adult French Classes.

A minimum of eight people per class is required; if that threshold is not met, full refunds will be issued to those who have already paid.