Alliance Française de Portland — Local services in Portland

The Alliance Français de Portland does a very good job teaching basic grammar, usage, and verb conjugation for proper French, I assume as directed by AF headquarters in Paris. I was very pleased with the quality of the instruction and the warmth of the community.

However, my experience was less positive when it came to conversational French, which for anyone visiting or living in France is actually the most important. Perhaps things have changed in the past few years, but when I took classes little effort was made by instructors to teach the informal French essentially everyone in France uses.

In some ways, French is bifurcated: formal, written, proper French is one thing, and fairly static -- one can pick up a French text from the 1800s and find that it reads very similarly to today's written French. By contrast, spoken, informal French is constantly evolving, contains many shortcuts compared to formal French, and is full of jargon (argot) all-but unintelligible to those instructed only in formal French.

In my view, and assuming such a step would not run counter to directions issued by AF headquarters in Paris, I think the Alliance in Portland could improve its already good offerings by emphasizing modern, spoken French. And do it from the start -- not just at some high-level class taken by only a select...

I took the beginner class several years ago so this might not apply today or maybe my experience wasn't the norm but the beginner class was filled with students who had already either taken the class before or were already able to speak some French. I was literally the only student in the beginner class who was actually a beginner and the teacher taught to the knowledge of French that the other students already had leaving me to struggle in the shadow of the other students. I did not learn a single thing in that class and I'm usually an excellent learner (for example I taught myself Wolof). The class was essentially the teacher asking what a word or phrase meant and everyone answering correctly right off the bat and then immediately moving on to the next thing without actually teaching anything. It was like a club I wasn't a part of and I eventually just stopped going because I was being treated like I should have already known the stuff I was...

Recently I signed up for a class with Alliance Française de Portland and my experience is very good. Reasonable price, quality class, friendly and efficient communication. In particular, I had a little problem with getting the textbook and the executive director Sherry made it so easy for me to get the help I need. I have been enjoying the...