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Pierre J. Capretz was the creator of the popular French language instruction program "French In Action", that continues to be shown on many public television stations.
Born in 1925 in Mazamet, France, Capretz attended the University of Paris. He arrived in the United States, specifically in Gainesville, Florida in 1949, on an army boat. The morning after his arrival, he began teaching Latin at the University of Florida, eventually moving on to teach French. In 1956, Capretz went on to become a professor at Yale University until his retirement in 2003, after which he moved back to France. During his tenure at Yale, he developed the "French In Action" method, where rather than have students learn the standard way of simply studying from textbooks, they would be immersed with visual and audio context of the courses by using pictures of France and recordings.
In 1985, filming began on the "French In Action" series (later airing on most PBS stations in 1987). The 52-episode lighthearted series tells the story of a young couple falling in love while traveling throughout France while dealing with everyday life, family and friends. When the storyline ends in each episode, Capretz becomes a guide and mentor by instructing grammar lessons through recaps of the previously shown scenes. The entire course (sans the orientation episode) is spoken only in French. After his retirement, he continued working on a third edition of "French in Action" as well as other projects. In 2012, he attended a reunion for the 25th anniversary of the "FIA" series, featuring those involved in the PBS production.
Professor Capretz passed away on April 2, 2014 at the age of 89, in Aix-en-Provence, France. He is survived by his longtime companion, Sylvie Mathé, their son Pierre Olivier Mathé, and also three sons (Michel, Yves, and Alain) from his previous marriage, and one grandson.
