Choosing a French Course

Alliance Française d’Oxford offers a range of courses for adults, adolescents, children and toddlers.
All courses are tailored according to competence in the language and, in the case of non-adult courses, to age level as well as competence in the language.

We offer two main options: group classes or private tuition.

Group Classes take place once a week and the number of participants is limited to six.

• Adult Classes
• Toddlers’ Clubs
• Children’s Classes
• Common Entrance, GCSE, A/S Level & A Level Classes
• Business French

Adult Classes

Those of you who wish to attend on a regular basis and learn at an unpressured pace should opt for a daytime class (three hours with a break); those of you who work will prefer to attend an evening class (two hours - no break!). Please take a look at the class video and see that, though you come to learn, you can also have fun while learning

Children's Clubs & Classes

We aim at making our children find French great fun - the test is: do they run to their class? Generally, we are delighted to say that, after the first initial sessions, they do!

There is a reward system in place, a parent-tutor communication book, a project to work towards ( for instance Christmas saynètes and French carols ).
There is homework - parents beware!
There are termly reports and termly prizes.

Children Clubs - for children aged 4 - 6 years
Once a week, after school, usually 4 - 5 p.m. One hour.

Children Classes - for children aged 7 - 13 years
Once a week, after school. One hour.

Common Entrance ~ GCSE ~ A/S & A Level
Once a week, after school. One and a half hour

We work with stars in mind, and with tutors who have specialised in the various syllabuses relating to all of the above examinations in French.
We use past papers, AQA & Edexcel and sail close to learning by rote, demystifying declensions and syntax. Students learn idiomatic turns of phrases, practise essay writing, oral & written comprehension and sit mock exams.
They get the stars if they produce the work!

Toddlers’ Clubs - for children aged 2 - 4 years New !

Though we have been teaching children aged three onwards for some time, our Toddlers Club is an entirely new creation insofar as it addresses little ones from the age of two who cannot yet read and write.
Alliance Française d’Oxford Toddlers' Club uses a teaching technique which has just been devised by specialised Alliance Française d’Oxford tutors and postgraduate language researchers.
Once a week, for 45 minutes.
Alliance Française d’Oxford tutors are all CRB checked.

Private tuition ~ Intensive Courses ~ F.S.P (French for Specific Purposes) F.O.S

Private tuition

If you are determined, or obliged to learn very quickly, and if you need a flexible schedule, this option will be the best.
We think that one hour one-to-one equals probably two to two and a half hours in a small class.
One-to-one tuition allows no escape route: you are kept on your toes, on French territory, and you have not simply to survive and make yourself heard and understood, you must end up commanding the situation and “defeating the opponent” by engaging your interlocutor into a dialogue.

If you start from scratch, allow about sixty to seventy hours to reach ease and confidence in expressing yourself.

If you dream to dream in French, you will need to add some forty hours to the previous lot.

If you want nuances and sophistication of expression - the level of true linguistic mastery -, if you want to clinch business deals or charm the in-laws, add another thirty to forty hours.

This format is favoured by those who want to fit their learning French around other commitments and by parents who feel their children are worried about an exam: private tuition targets the particular problems that an individual may have in French and eradicates it. This process often changes the student’s outlook on French as a subject: we have seen a number of “hard cases” where the student “hated” French and was going to drop it after GCSE who in fact went on to take it as an A Level subject.
It’s similar to falling in love!

Intensive courses / Specialised Courses: business, literature, history, science etc…

Alliance Française d’Oxford believes that intensive courses must be truly “intensive” - which is why they are structured on a one-to-one or two-to-one basis.

Intensive courses are ideal for those about to sit exams or tests, or those of you going abroad on a mission, having to give a paper, to attend a conference, to participate in a debate or to negotiate a business deal.

The intensive programmes also answer the need to learn in a specific period of time and act as a crash helmet against awkward situations abroad where French speaking is not just a pleasure or an art form.