L'Alliance New York — Attraction in New York

Absolutely horrible experience with Alliance New York. I saw another person leave a review recommending Babbel instead and I think you should highly consider other options before taking a class here.

I was very excited to start speaking French again and signed up for a B1 Thursday class. I was never informed that my class was cancelled since not enough students signed up. The day before the class was supposed to start, I had to call the Alliance multiple times to let them know that I never received a Zoom link to attend the class only to find out it was cancelled.

They offered to move me to the Wednesday class but since the class already begun, I would have to attend in week 2. I agreed and the woman I was speaking to emailed the teacher letting her know that I was joining and asked her to send me the introductory info. One week goes by and I still hadn't heard back from the teacher so I had to call THREE times before I managed to get someone on the phone who could help me get in touch with the teacher, Mme Rousseau. Only then did she respond the morning of the class.

She sent me the Zoom link but I never received the link to create an account with Opolearn, which is the platform they use to submit weekly homework. I emailed my teacher twice and never heard back. I emailed her again a week later to ask her to record the class that week since I was unable to attend and....never heard back. I emailed her AGAIN the morning of the class reminding her to record it and guess what? Never heard back!

I'm writing this review almost three weeks later and still have never heard back from the teacher. I ended up calling the Alliance another four times to request a refund and was finally put in contact with the director. Even after all of this, he only issued a partial refund since I attended two classes. Mind you though, I attended two classes but was never able to submit my homework for either of them since I never had access to the platform.

This organization has been extremely disappointing. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Save your money and use a platform like...

My “cadet beginner” grandson and I were eager for him to study French with a native speaker and in a group setting. I signed him up 7 weeks before his session was to begin—and I duly ordered the two expensive books required. We rearranged, and even cancelled one of his other, conflicting Saturday commitments (cancelled dress rehearsal for upcoming piano recital), in order to be available for French class. I was told at sign-up time that his teacher “would be contacting me” before class. I waited a few weeks, until well after the holidays, then, not having heard from anyone at FIAC, I called a few times to unanswered phones, leaving a message for someone to call me, as I had a few questions re the class. I got no call-back. Then, FIVE DAYS before class was to begin, I received an email saying the class had cancelled, due to low enrollment. The same day, I finally got someone in the registration department to connect me with the supervisor (who had sent the “class cancelled” email that day). She agreed to refund my fee right away. Apparently, though, I am stuck with the two expensive books. As Administration must have known, as time progressed, that the class had only ONE student (my grandson), and that it was very unlikely that a flood of students would enroll at the last minute—I feel that they should have given me warning much earlier, that the class would likely cancel. Instead, it was I who had to persistently call them—which finally prompted their contacting me, and then, it was only five days before class was to start. (I wonder if anyone at FIAF would EVER have notified us of the cancellation, had I not tried to contact them several times during the scheduled starting week?) Bad...

“A petit pas” … Not impressed.

I must agree with the review below associated with the “A petit pas” children program. Our son is French -American and I was looking for a program in French to strengthen his exposure to the language and culture. Being given the program is designed by Alliance Francaise, I expected high quality and did not even think of researching before signing up.

I should have.

Both the teacher and the program were uninspired. While the program is advertised as lasting 1.5 hour, the first painful 30 minutes are spent doing nothing, children just rummage through two plastic bins filled with mismatched toys with some French music in the background. The only interaction they get in French at this stage is when the teacher tapes on the wall some paper shapes with the kid’s name on it. When the “class” starts finally, it is painfully boring. Children are not enticed to communicate with each other (whether it’s in French or in English). They just obey the teacher’s directions. The “A petit pas” class is more about learning to follow orders than learning to enjoy French. No room for imagination, but lots of do’s and don’t. It’s so comic that the reviewer below commented on unsanitary food being served to children, as I had the same reaction: the placemats look wiped but not cleaned, the plastic bag was from mysterious origin and also, the teacher will peel fruits and serve them without washing her hands first (and the food is served at the end of the class, after 1.5 hour of touching all kind of surfaces). We will not renew and we are impatient to be done with our prepaid package of...