A foreign language school has found a new home.

Founder of La Maison Francaise des Bermudes and La Casa Espanola de Bermuda, Riquette Bonne-Smith told The Royal Gazette she will be moving the school from her Pitt's Bay home to Canal Road in Pembroke, just opposite the Bull's Head parking lot.

Next month's move will see the start of the Spanish programme and the continuation of the French programme which has been open since late October when Mrs. Bonne-Smith and her husband, lawyer Orlando Smith, were given permission to hold classes in their home.

The couple opened the school -- for four-year-olds to adults -- after realising the difficulties many locals had with speaking a foreign language, especially while travelling.

Mrs. Bonne-Smith said although many people took a foreign language at school they were often prepared to succeed in exams, rather then actually learning the language.

"With language immersion classes, students hear the language all around them and learn to feel confident about the language although they are not in the country,'' she added.

Mrs. Bonne-Smith, a teacher for the last 17 years, has taught students from elementary to college level in Jamaica, US and Bermuda.

She said her knowledge of both French and Spanish, and her experience in presenting them to students allowed her to understand the need to design a programme that would be beneficial to students and businesses.

The school will have strong business-oriented programmes in both French and Spanish, Mrs. Bonne-Smith noted.

"We introduce the students the customs and culture of the nation's language they are studying,'' she explained. "We teach business people the do's and don't's of the cultures so they don't make blunders when they travel.'' Both the French and Spanish schools will be equipped with two qualified immersion instructors.

And starting in January each child in the French school will have their own textbooks and workbooks, published by the top French publisher Hachette.

Mrs. Bonne-Smith said she will also open a small bookstore at the new location to allow the public to buy and rent foreign language materials.

"Bermuda is an international platform and the school will provide a place where community will have access to French and Spanish language materials,'' she said.

Mrs. Bonne-Smith, a French national, deemed the first term of classes a success and said she felt both children and adult students "appreciated the quality of teaching provided in the total immersion classes.'' More than 100 students registered for French classes last quarter, she said.

And she explained that all activities in the hour-long classes, including singing, plays, and films, were to be conducted solely in French or Spanish.

"The students will be surrounded by the language at their level of comprehension as the aim is to acquire fluency after a year of the programme,'' Mrs. Bonne-Smith added.

The Bermudian French school's name will appear in the 1997 list of the world languages distributor, Hachette. This list includes schools in Africa, Europe, North and South America.

Mrs. Bonne-Smith also said there were future plans to send students on study trips to France and French-speaking Caribbean islands.

RIQUETTE BONNE-SMITH -- More than 100 students were registered in most recent French classes.