I recently completed a French course with the Alliance Française language school in Lyon in the 3rd arrondisement. They have loads of different courses to choose from (here’s a link to their course timetable) including lunchtime and evening classes and the intensive month course that I did. I was in class from 9-12 every morning (they also run them in the afternoon depending on which level you are) for 4 weeks and for me, it was the best way to focus on my French for a month. I was in the C level advanced class, but I found that within my class of 14, all of us had different strengths and weaknesses, so it was a great learning curve. By being able to compare your level to your classmates, it also gives you confidence that you’re doing ok!
One of the biggest advantages that I found was the opportunity to learn alongside international students. Because we were from all over the world and everyone’s common language was French and not English for a change, we spoke French at all times, including coffee breaks and lunches after class. I found this really beneficial and didn’t feel at all judged because everyone was in the same boat and reminded me how challenging being fluent in another language actually is! For me it was one of the rare occasions that I felt completely comfortable and natural chatting and joking around in French. Plus it was really funny to hear different ‘French’ accents from Mexicans, Germans, Americans, Saudi Arabians and Chinese students – and my attempt of course!!
Teaching style
The intensive course focused on comprehension, writing, speaking and grammar around three main topics; Education, France and French speaking countries and Health. I was told by other students in the school that the Alliance tend to use similar topics for all class levels but vary the difficulty of the content. Our class didn’t use a textbook, but they provided all the materials. Sometimes learning a language in a classroom can get a bit dry, but I was lucky enough to have an excellent teacher, Frederic, who taught in a very dynamic way and made the course content really interesting.
The other benefit was that the whole course is taught in only French (even for complete beginners). What a huge difference this makes!! I just wish our French classes at school had been taught in this way rather than explained in English with the occasional French word thrown in. I honestly think it would make learning a language a lot less embarrassing to students if they were used to hearing and speaking French. I also think for me that being fully immersed in learning French for a month was the best way to overcome any shyness about speaking in front of a group and answering questions that I may have had.
How to sign up
If you want to subscribe for a French course, visit the Alliance Française Lyon website here. You will need to create your account, select your course and then pay the course fee up-front including an administration fee. I’ll warn you – its not cheap (my month course cost around €500 with a €50 admin fee) but I saw it as a one-off investment and found it to be worth it, plus they have much cheaper evening and lunchtime courses. The school will then send you a French test by email a few days later to determine the right level. The test took me about 45 minutes to complete, so give yourself plenty of time so that you get the best chance of being in the right class for you. I would recommend if you’re thinking about taking a class, try and sign up a couple of weeks before to make sure there will be enough space for you.
And most of all – enjoy the language learning process! I’ve realised now there’s always things I’m going to struggle with, particularly as French is a hard language to perfect, but as long as I’m enjoying the journey, I’m more likely to stick with it!
If you’d like any more information about the Alliance, just drop me a line.
Sarah x
Faking it in France 