French Alliance Paris Ile-De-France — Attraction in Paris

Awful experience. They just don’t care. I’ ve been trying to pay for a course online for weeks now, I started the registration online, and then I had to wait days for an answer. They simply stop answering you, I’m gonna miss the next start date because of this, what complicates my plan for the year. Better go with other schools that are willing to help you, there are plenty of them. You can see in the comments many people have the same problems, so they know it and they don’t do anything about it.

I was told to contact the enterprises email what I did months ago and I did again this last week, they never answer to me, like ever, I don’t have one email from them.

DON’T LOSE YOUR TIME

Really? That’s your answer? Does how you are trying ro justifie the lack of communication? You are not really reading why I’m complaining for and What you are saying doesn’t have any sense either, since I wrote the review before being informed about the Adminitration times and after waiting days for an answer as simple as if you received my registration or not, i wrote the review out of frustration for the lack of interest the school showed. Paying with credit card or the CPF is not the issue here, because I was frustrated with this school even before you answer me something about the CPF, the problem is the lack of compromise and communication, but I guess you cannot see that, since many people are complaining for the same and the school doesn’t do anything to change it.

if from the begging the school was honest about the process and answered my emails with concrete information instead making me wait days for an answer or telling me I could start mi- mars when it wasn’t like that, I will stay with the school, but you were not honest and serious. On Mars 3rd I was informed that it wasn’t possible anymore to start mi-mars because the classes were full, just that, and OMG I tried it, I tried so many times to contact the school so we had everything ready on time. I started the process mid February.

The worth part of this is seeing how you treat people depending on how they are paying, it’s enough with reading the answer I got. When I choose the CPF option it took around 5 days to received an answer but when I choose the credit card option I got an answer on the same day, and the link to pay two days later, that’s how much you care about your students. I don’t even understand how as a company you dare to answer that to someone that is trying to enroll in your school. You’re just gonna lose clients with those kind of answers, just recognize you don’t treat people equally.

At the end, Paying with a credit card or CPF it doesn’t matter, the school is getting the money any way, I’m not asking for any free thing, I just wanted to use what I earned trough my work and I have the right to use, you are basically telling me to stop complaining because I’m using the CPF, well I think we should all be treat equally. I cannot even imagine how someone that doesn’t have any other option could feel when it’s ashamed by an organization because they don’t have the money to pay and use the CPF for their education. I’m disgusted by your answer.

The main problem here is that nobody was answering my emails or my phonecalls and the information I was getting wasn’t clear either, again I was told with the admin process time and everything I could start mi-mars what after a week wasn’t possible anymore, I was so ready to start to only be frustrated a few days later.

I even went to the Alliance to talk with someone but it was closed when in googlemaps says open, I also called them, I waited 50 minutes and nobody answered, I was just losing my time, at least let people now in your website that you are closed so we don’t go till there, pregnant in my case, and you won’t answer the phone, so we stop trying and losing time, because basically what you are doing is lying...

I took the level B1.4 class in May 2024 and decided to try the “French through theatre techniques” class this year. Not knowing what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised by how our teacher Sylvaine HINGLAIS delivered this French language course. It was quite refreshing and unique in my 30+ years of French learning.

At my age and language level, and with the technological advancements nowadays, I can pretty much self-study most of the things taught in conventional in-person French courses like the one I took last year with books and online resources. However, Sylvaine’s class is not replaceable by remote, online, or self studying.

Sylvaine gave us one excerpt of a theatre piece each week to learn and recite / role play in class. Everyone gets the same role-playing / practice time. We didn’t need to improvise anything. If we deviated from the texts and made mistakes in our delivery of the language, she would be quick to provide honest, discerning and individualized feedback in phonetics (pronunciation, French “liaisons”, etc.), accentuation, grammar (tense/mode for verb conjugations, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, etc.) and vocabulary. I learned so much from her and from listening to her feedback to other students.

Even better was how she prepared us for the role-playing exercise each week. She taught us how to recite the texts without looking at the written paper and how to focus on the sounds, rhythms and tones of the language. She also worked a lot on conjugation practices with students using fun and effective techniques of body gestures and movements to achieve fluidity of speech. We had loads of fun practicing oral French and effectively gaining confidence in speaking.

I also liked how Sylvaine recorded the excerpts live in class for us to hear and listen to at home. Her perfect modeling / performance of the scripts made me realize how spoken French sounds just like music. I would make out melodies from her audio recordings while trying to memorize the excerpts at home. I was often amused by the musicality and rhythms of the language. What an inspiration for my ongoing learning and speaking of this beautiful language!

I think it’d be a nice addition for this course if the teacher can suggest two optional theatre shows of different genres for students to watch (together or separately) in Paris, and allow them to discuss the experience in class. These activities could quickly build rapport between students/role-playing partners and encourage them to pay attention to how the language rules learned in class may be applied...

Disappointing and Unprofessional Experience

I had a deeply disappointing and frustrating experience with Alliance Française, and I would not recommend it to others. Several serious issues stood out during my time there: • Extremely poor communication: It is nearly impossible to reach staff by phone. For even the simplest inquiries, students are expected to go in person, which is highly inconvenient and inefficient. • Unprofessional and inappropriate teaching: One instructor asked the class, “What do you think about French people?”—a sensitive and confusing question with no educational value. Students felt uncomfortable answering, unsure whether they should be honest or say something more polite. One student who responded with a light criticism was met with visible anger from the teacher, which created a tense and intimidating atmosphere. • Lack of explanations: When students gave incorrect answers, the teacher would simply respond with “Impossible” and move on—offering no explanation or constructive feedback. • Aggressive behavior: Some teachers reacted defensively or even rudely when students asked for clarification or made honest mistakes. • Ignored communication: Emails from students went unanswered, showing a clear lack of respect and responsibility from the staff. • Favoritism in class: A few students received all the teacher’s attention while others were routinely ignored, leaving most feeling excluded and unsupported. • Disorganized sessions: Classes lacked structure, breaks ran longer than scheduled, and too much time was spent focusing on just one or two students, at the expense of the rest of the class. • No proper complaints process: Management appeared unwilling to take student concerns seriously. Problems were dismissed instead of being properly addressed.

Overall, Alliance Française was unprofessional, disorganized, and a poor learning environment. It felt like a waste of both time and money. I hope they start taking student feedback seriously and make real improvements to their communication, teaching quality, and...