FREEPORT – The private L’Ecole Franc?aise du Maine is typical of most elementary schools, with kids busy in their classrooms and then clamoring in the hallways to get their coats on to go outside for recess.

But there is one big difference. Instead of English, almost all of the classes at the Freeport school are taught exclusively in French (the exceptions are English language, U.S. history and music). The immersion starts right at the preschool level and continues through sixth grade, after which the students then move on to middle school.

The concept is a popular one. The school, which has about 80 students paying between $9,000 and $12,000, has just completed work on an expansion to add new classroom space and a new entrance.

“We need the space, we’re growing,” said Elizabeth LeBihan, who co-founded the school in 2002 with her husband, Willy.

The school will officially open the expansion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, Jan. 31, as Fabien Fieschi, the consul general of France, will be on hand to officiate at the event, which begins at 2:30 p.m. and is open to the public.

The school, which is part of a network of around 40 similar French schools in the United States and Canada, has been accredited by both the state of Maine and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. It will also be receiving its certificate of full accreditation from the French Ministry of Education at the Jan. 31 event.

LeBihan said the idea for opening a French school came from personal experience. She is originally from Maine and her husband is from France, so naturally, their kids were being raised in a bilingual home.

“We noticed with our kids how easily they were learning two languages,” she said.

As both she and her husband had backgrounds in education, LeBihan said they began researching the possibility of starting a French immersion school in Maine. After a process that included visiting similar schools in the United States and Canada, the LeBihans opened up L’Ecole Franc?aise du Maine in Winthrop.

But soon after opening the school, the student demographics made a move necessary. “The demand was really calling us south,” LeBihan said.

The LeBihans knew they had found a new home for their school when they saw the long-vacant Soule School on South Freeport Road. They lease the facility from the town, but raised the money for the expansion privately.

“The building really caught our eye,” LeBihan said. “It really felt right. We just knew right away that this was it.”

Students at L’Ecole Franc?aise du Maine are immediately immersed in French, LeBihan said, with the education beginning with the preschool program. She said the preschoolers actually have the easiest time picking up the new language, even if neither one of their parents speaks French at home. She said that kids of that age are developmentally picking up around 200 words per day.

“For them, it’s very natural to be acquiring language,” she said, adding that in the first week, the youngsters begin to understand simple words and phrases.

Most of the students at L’Ecole Franc?aise du Maine don’t come from French-speaking backgrounds, LeBihan said. About one-third of the students come from families where French is not spoken at home, roughly another third come from families who speak English and another foreign language at home and then the rest of the students come from families where one or both parents speak French.

No matter what language is spoken at home, students quickly become proficient in French, and when they move on from L’Ecole Franc?aise du Maine, they have advanced skills.

“They’re beyond even AP French,” LeBihan said. “They are already bilingual and bicultural by the time they graduate from here.”

“They speak French like little French kids,” said Elodie Le Nazet, a teacher at the school.

Le Nazet, who is from France, has taught at L’Ecole Franc?aise du Maine for eight years. She said she came to the school right out of university in France.

“I was finishing my studies and I wanted to teach French in a foreign country,” she said. “I thought it was a nice adventure.”

Le Nazet is also in charge of the school’s DELF (Diplo?me d’E?tudes en Langue Franc?aise) program, where students who have graduated from the school come back and continue their studies to earn an advanced diploma from the French Ministry of Education to certify their proficiency in French.

“It enables them to continue learning French and keep their French strong,” she said.

LeBihan said the DELF diploma is accepted by many colleges and universities as a substitute for a foreign language requirement for incoming students.

One of the things that impresses Le Nazet about her students is their ability to seamlessly switch between speaking French and English.

“Seeing them function perfectly in each system just amazes me,” she said. “I wish I had this sort of (foreign language immersion) program when I was younger.”

For parents worried about sending their young kids to a school where they don’t speak the language, LeBihan said she quickly eases their fears, saying that teachers will use gestures to help get their point across, and will revert to English if necessary to help the little ones.

“No matter what language they speak, they will be understood,” she said.

L’Ecole Française du Maine students, from left, Angelique Labelle, Amélie Bowden, Roxanne Sassé and Mamie Whittier, work during a recent class at the French immersion school in South Freeport. The school has just completed work on an expansion and will be celebrating with a public ribbon-cutting event on Jan. 31.  
Elodie Le Nazet has taught at L’Ecole Française du Maine in Freeport for eight years. Le Nazet, a native of France, said she is constantly amazed at the ability of the students at the French immersion school to seamlessly switch between speaking French and English.