French Alliance Bordeaux Nouvelle-Aquitaine — Local services in Bordeaux

Wanting to improve my French, I joined AF after moving to Bordeaux. I have had great past experiences with AF abroad, hence I signed up with good expectations. Unfortunately, I wished I had read the reviews for the French locations with a bit more caution.

Based on my experience: the skill level of the instructors differ highly: from personalized and engaging, and making an enormous effort to accommodate to the different students; to another who didn't know how to operate a computer or slideshow presentation. (and that in a day and age of a pandemic and 50% of the students being online).

instructors change throughout one ajointed course block and instructors do not follow the same teaching style/curriculum/level. (For me this was not ideal and not consistent with my learning expectations.)

despite an entry "exam", the language level of the students within my class fluctuated greatly. For me personally this was not beneficial for my own learning/improvement as there are a lot of class assignments/in-class paired conversations.

the registration is very flexible, students in a class/course changed completely from the 1st to the last week, in my experience taking away from the consistency and flow of the course.

as mentioned in various other review: the administration is very messy, unprofessional, incoherent and doesn't speak English; I needed a minimum of B2 level French to communicate with most of the admin/enrollment department effectively. I recommend you double confirm any registrations/payments etc. to assure you have a spot in a course.

All in All - outside of France I’ve had great experiences with AF and hence am disappointed with having the unprofessional experience at AF in France itself. Great if you are looking for a short-term language crash course and it's a cool occassion to meet other internationals in Bordeaux for sure.

Depending on your budget and personal learning requirements in a longer-term French language course however, I would personally recommend looking for other institutions that are more professional. I'm still giving it two stars because of the first instructor I had, he made a world...

I enrolled for two weeks but stopped going after the first. It just wasn’t for me. A key problem for me was the large variation in ability in my class. There is a lot of talking in pairs or groups and this was often very difficult. I felt I was just having all my mistakes reinforced. There is a test to assess a student’s level but it does not address speaking or listening - which are both critical given the AF format. I spent around a year at the AF in Sydney and I noticed there that long term students were allowed to progress through the levels even if they had not improved much. I thought AF in France might be more rigourous. I think it might suit students who are looking for a convivial, cross-cultural experience without too much stress. The teachers put in a huge effort to keep the classes entertaining and there are a number of cultural activities on offer. Along the way, you will pick up some French. If, on the other hand, you want structure and a sense of progression, this is maybe...

The Alliance Française in Bordeaux was pleasure to have attended, these past few weeks. With very competitive pricing, there is an very good level of teaching which allows for concrete progression of one's level of French. As well as this, the school is very well organised in general, particularly with the Culture and communication department.

The Culture departments stands out for its commendable organisation of weekly activities, activities which are varied enough to ensure there is something for everyone and all generally very affordable (some being free). These also allow for getting to know the other students, which is also a pleasure of being a student at the school.

The Alliance benefits from a wonderful staff, who are ultimately responsible for the school being such a pleasant environment to learn French at. Special mention to Pauline and Flora, vous êtes...