Penobscot School

Penobscot School

A Center for Language Learning and International Cultural Exchange

*** Download 2007 Course Schedule in PDF Format ***
Registration information and form (print and mail or fax)

Founded in 1986 as a non-profit language school and center for international exchange, Penobscot School is a unique community international school. Over the years, hundreds of people from the U.S. and from around the world have advanced their foreign language skills at Penobscot School and have learned more about the world in the process. You are invited to be a part of this experiment in language learning in the context of the exchange of ideas and knowledge.

Penobscot School’s primary mission is to offer effective courses of language study for adults. Courses are designed to allow you, the student, to learn in your own way and at your own pace and to enjoy yourself while learning. The goal is maximum language acquisition for meaningful, real-life communication.

More than a language school, Penobscot School is a center for exchange between people of different cultures. One of the most popular languages at Penobscot School is English. Over 500 adults have come to Rockland from 48 different countries. Foreign visitors and American students of foreign languages creates a synergy — a true university of learners.

Most courses are for adults, and there are also classes for children. Penobscot School students and teachers are also active in introducing area children to an international perspective and to the pleasure of language learning.

To be able to communicate in another language and with people from other lands is a basic and almost universal human desire. Penobscot School is an innovative attempt to create for ourselves, and our guests from around the world, the means to achieve this desire. Penobscot School is entirely locally grown and governed. It is recognized as a tax-exempt school, but receives no government funding. It relies entirely on the energy, intelligence, and generosity of the students and teachers, of the local hosts and our international visitors, and of the friends and supporters who contribute their ideas, labor, and money.

You are invited to:

Sign up for a Penobscot School course in order to learn a new language or build the second language skills you already have.
Be a homestay host or conversation partner for a visiting adult English student.
Participate in and help organize language lunches and other events in your second language.
Volunteer your office and administrative skills to help Penobscot School function with style on its modest budget.
Contribute financially to help Penobscot School grow and prosper.

Our courses and the different course levels are designed to help you make the most of what you know now and progress in time to where you want to be with your language skills. The weekly class is one part of the total learning process which also includes work at home (for example, reading, writing, grammar exercises, watching films, singing, listening to cassettes, or experimenting on your home computer with an interactive CD-ROM program); conversation practice outside of class (at School "language lunches," for instance); and total immersion for a few hours or even a whole weekend, to quickly boost your listening comprehension, fluency, and, above all, self-confidence. Students who wish to challenge their abilities may place themselves in higher levels, knowing they will need to do more work on their own outside of class.

For more detail about language placement, please consult the Curriculum Guidelines available in the office or speak with one of our staff or your instructor.

Penobscot School
Did you know . . .

We currently offer weekly courses and immersions in ten languages.
Our 20-member faculty includes native speakers of Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Spanish.
Our weekend language immersion programs are open to both adults and high school students from September to June.
We also have classes in English for native and non-native speakers.
During the school year you can join a weekly language lunch with our foreign teachers or participate in monthly pot luck suppers, fiestas and soirees.
We offer a lending library with CD's, DVD's, language books, magazines, videos and audio tapes available for all students to use.
We have children’s language courses with transportation provided from the MacDougal School. Scholarships are available thanks to the generosity of United Mid-Coast Charities of Camden.
We have collaborated on French programs outside of Rockland: with Colby College in Guadeloupe, French West Indies; with the Vues d’Afrique Film Festival in Montréal, Québec; and with Railroad Square Cinema for the Franco-American Film Festival in Waterville, Maine.
Over 400 foreign adult students from more than 48 countries have participated in our summer English immersion program.
Our Carl Coash Library houses an excellent collection of fiction and non-fiction works in English, with a strong emphasis on biography, world history and philosophy.
Penobscot School's WRFR-LP (93.3 FM in Rockland and 99.3 FM in Camden) started broadcasting in February of 2002. This is a low-power FM station designed to offer true community radio for Rockland, Rockport, Camden, and the surrounding area. On the web at http://www.wrfr.org

And check here
for links about our area.

New Languages

Most of the courses listed in this catalogue are being offered because people came to us and said, ‘How about offering...?’ If you would like to study a language that you do not see listed in the catalogue, please tell us!

Private Lessons

If you would like to arrange private lessons with one of our instructors, please contact us. Fee for private lessons: $35/hour or $300 for 10 hours of one-on-one instruction, including free initial 1/2-hour consultation with the instructor. Students will be charged for any appointment not canceled with at least 24 hours’ notice. Pre-paid lessons are not refundable and must be used within one year of purchase.

Translation/Interpreting Referrals

Penobscot School is not a translation or interpreting agency. Some of our instructors, however, are willing to take on small projects for a modest fee. If your project does not require the services of a professional translation or interpreting agency and it involves a foreign language represented on our referral roster, we will be happy to make the referral for you. Penobscot School charges no fee for the referral and assumes no responsibility for the quality or timeliness of the translation or interpreting project. Fees and all other arrangements are entirely between the parties involved and not the responsibility of Penobscot School.