Brooke_Herron

Has anyone taken French language courses in Avignon?

I'm looking for courses that you can book by the week, or in packages of 2-3 or 4 weeks. Daily courses, or courses a few days a week. I'm not looking for a school that has lodging and meals, etc as I'll be staying with a friend in Avignon.

Hoping for somewhat affordable option.. many that I've seen are incredibly pricey!

Merci!

Christina

French public universities are generally very reasonablefor foreigners to learn French, they usually have such classes in the summer for a month or so. You cannot book them by the week, you do need a private school for that. You can stay wherever you want if you go to a public university, usually. Avignon isn't really the best place for that, though, due to the festival in the summer. They only have a class the month of July and it focuses on the theatre aspect as that is the same month, so it's a combo program (theatre and French). It's not for beginners, but you don't have to be that advanced. The rest of the year, I think they only have semester-long French courses for foreigners.

That may not be what you had in mind, though, other cities in Provence have better public university options (or private programs) than Avignon, such as Aix or Marseille or Montpellier, or even Nice. Montpellier and Aix have quite a lot from what I've seen. A lot of private schools have fairly reasonable rates, though, so what's your idea of pricey?

Some good private schools are Accord or Eurocentres in France, they are qualified by Souffle (an organization that rates schools teaching French to foreigners). By they don't have any in Avignon. Here's one website that shows accredited schools http://www.fle.fr/

I found Ceran in Avignon, which had astronomical fees I could hardly believe, unless I read wrong (thousands a week). Here's one that has morning classes http://www.lacourdeslangues.fr/

It does seem expensive, looks like 700-995 euro per week! I bet the abbrevation sem. stands for semaine rather than semester, given it is a private school. That isn't really too incredible compared to private lessons when you figure it out, as that's 15 hours of instruction, so about 46 euro per hour. Kind of a lot for group classes, though, I wouldn't pay it. That makes 700 euro a month at the university a real bargain.

This is the only document I could find with fees at U of Avignon, and it's several years old. They want you to write them. http://uneecc.org/userfiles/descript...nseignants.pdf

Brooke_Herron

Hi Christina

Yes universities do look to be a great affordable way to take language courses. Unfortunately I won't be there during summer and won't be there long enough to take those kinds of courses. I can't afford to take months off of work (I wish!).

Interestingly I found very affordable weekly options (approx $300 per week for 3-4 hour semi private lessons per day some including lodging!) places like Normandy and Breton and other places in France, but can't seem to find a good school in Avignon that doesn't charge an arm and a leg (I did contact the one you mentioned, early in my search and was blown away by what they are charging. Unbelievable). Since I have a free apartment in Avignon with my friend, I really do have to take my courses there.

I feel that there must be a school or program I'm just not finding.... !

Christina

no, I just don't think Avignon is the place for that, that's all. As I said, there are plenty of options in other cities, just not Avignon. The problem is what you are seeking is really unusual. If someone wants to learn French, they will go for a regular course length, not a week or two. Places that will even teach someone for only a week or two cater to tourists, and will be really expensive. The exception might be some schools with a lot of expat transplants, perhaps for business who need to study French if they are working there. But that won't be in Avignon, but in major cities like Paris, Nice, Toulouse, Bordeaux or Lyon. And some cities just cater to students, they get a rep for that (ie, Montpellier and Aix). Avignon isn't that big a city, you know, and isn't a major business center, what you want just isn't going to happen, I think, not there.
This place in Aix, for example, has what you want at about 300 euro per week http://www.is-aix.com/is/spip.php?article148

Here's one in Montpellier which is only about 220 euro a week.
http://www.accentfrancais.com/

I don't see how you could find any place to give you classes for $300 a week, including lodging, with 3-4 hrs of classes a day! That's only about 230 euro. Even cheap lodging would have to run at least 40 euro a day, and that would be the entire fee right there. If it were only for 3 hours of classes a day, I could believe it.

I think you should study French elsewhere and just go to Avignon to visit as a vacation. Avignon just isn't a good place for this. The few programs I've heard of in that area other than the university cater to tourists on vacation who want to spend a lot and have housing out in some gite in the country or something. Like this one in Velleron:

http://www.slprovence.com/

That is actually the best I could come up with for you. It does have group classes at 30 euro a class, open enrollment, and you don't have to stay there. If you had a car and were on the right side of Avignon, that isn't that bad a drive. I don't think I'd want to do it every day. There is a bus, also http://www.tcra.fr/ You can get there by bus in less than an hour, which isn't bad. I assume you know where the gare Routiere is, in Avignon? It's near the center rail station. You'd have to find out if there is a bus stop near that school. Price is cheap for the bus, just a lot of time, YOu'd have to really want to do it.

They say bus 31 goes right to the end of their street. But the TCRA map doesn't show any such bus, only bus 12 going to Velleron, which requires one change and takes about 45 min. If you want to pursue that, you'd have to ask them about that bus.

kumbrody

Hello, French language courses are very much popular these days. You can learn them from different schools and institutions. The best school is http://www.inlinguautah.com/ to learn French in more detail. By learning French language you are able to communicate with the people around.
If you visit French cities then it becomes very easy for you to connect with French people and learn more about their country and traditions. You can easily talk to them and understand them and tell them your views about their traditions and cultures.

pariswat

Kumbrody
Thanks for the good laugh... I followed your link and found that you can get two courses for French

'French
French (African)'

Apart from the fact that your post reeks of advertizing and is nit really giving info on a university in Avignon (unless Utha has an Avignon somewhere), can you please explain to me what is French (African) ?

Like
French 'bonjour monsieur, pouvez-vous m'indiquer où est la gare ?'
French (African) 'Bijour, Bwana, toi pouvoiw dire quel côté la gare ?'

J'ai déjà vu pas mal de choses sur les forums, mais je dois te remercier, c'est gratiné !

Kris27mark

Hi there,
Indeed! Thanks for the good laugh!
I stayed in Avignon last year and found a great French teacher. I tried several teachers and she was really the most efficient and nice. I don't know if she is still there. Her name was Francoise. I just kept her email [email protected]
If you have any question, just contact me.
Good luck!
Kris

StCirq

The only thing worse than posting your own email on a public forum is posting someone else's, presumably without their permission.

The original post is from 2014. Presumably the OP has come and gone to Avignon and came up with a better solution than learning "French African."