Learning French in Paris: Alliance Française vs. La Sorbonne
// September 2nd, 2009 // Comments // General
I began my French classes this week, which partly explains the lack of updates to the blog in the past few days. Aside from work, the primary reasons for coming to France were to live abroad and, obviously, learn French. While there are an array of options for learning French, there are three options that typically come up if you ask around: Alliance Française, La Sorbonne, and private tutoring.
Learning French in Paris...
While private tutoring is probably the best option (if you have a good tutor), it is also going to cost you a lot more than classes. On the other hand, while still pricey, both Alliance Française and La Sorbonne will cost about the same–roughly €800/month (4 hours/day, 5 days/week). While I have heard good things about both Alliance Française and La Sobonne, it seems to me that there are some key differences in the teaching style and atmosphere at each school.
La Sorbonne appears to be a much more “traditional” style of teaching French, with lots of notetaking, listening and repeating phrases from headsets, along with brief presentations. I’m also told the class moves very quickly (maybe too quickly?) and can be, at times, somewhat intimidating, especially for a beginner. On the flip-side, Alliance Française is a less-traditional and more free-flowing casual atmosphere. Casual is not to be considered synonymous with easy or unprofessional, however. Alliance Française is known to cater to students from all over the world and it has gained a reputation for being a top-notch school that will suit French-speakers of all levels well, especially beginners.
From my own experience at Alliance Française thus far, its reputation is well-deserved. I’m enrolled in “Intensive General French” classes (4 hours a day, 5 days a week) and the day is broken up well into listening to native french speakers, completing workbook exercises, practicing spoken french (introductions, counting, questions), group activities, etc. Each day ends with a few homework assignments, which I’m told increase in difficulty and length as the course progresses. Currently, my homework assignments take roughly 30 minutes, but that’s because we have so little to work off of in day 3. I’ve been spending additional time at the school’s library (roughly 2 and 1/2 hours) to run through complimentary exercises that are provided in workbooks free-of-charge. The library also includes many other bonuses, including movies (in every format: French w/ French subtitles, English w/ French subtitles, French w/ English subtitles, etc.), computer stations with practice lessons, books from beginner to advanced levels, and so on.
While it’s only my first week, I already feel like I’m starting to pick up a few things, though I know that having any real understanding of the French language is a long way off. I’ll continue updating my progress as the moth progresses and provide you all with an assessment of the program in the coming weeks.
[Please note, these reviews are only from the research I've done and what I've heard. If you have had a different experience with either school, please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section.]
