French Classes

Commited to pedagogical excellence, the Alliance Française de Washington participates in the AF Frames project.          

Classes Overview

At the Alliance Francaise, there is more than one way to learn French. Depending on your level, you can decide to enroll in formal language acquisition classes, in language workshops, literature groups or why not?... have your children learn the language for you! At the Alliance Francaise de Washington, you learn not only French but also how to do things in French through practical use of the language.

Class size: 5 to 10 students. All our instructors are native French speakers emphasizing conversation and contextual approach of language learning.

Our curriculum targets systematic acquisition of grammar skills as a way to ensure long term profit from language learning. While following this step-by-step approach, our skilled teachers make a point of encouraging communication in the target language as well as creating a lively atmosphere in the classroom. While seriously tackling basics that will last, our students at beginner’s level also find themselves exchanging in French with the teacher from day 1.

• Formal Language Acquisition Classes: These are the perfect fit for the Basic User or the student aiming at becoming an Independent User. Three formulas for these classes: twice a week or once a week for 8 weeks, 30 hours intensive classes on 10 days, or semi-intensive classes: three times a week three hours for 4 weeks.
• Language workshops:  For the students in need of a brush-up or for the students who want to learn French with specific objectives as to business, written skills, and so on.
• Literature and Conversation groups: For the adventurous students, an exploration of French Literature can be quite revealing. Conversation groups are also very popular and returning students get to know each other in and out of the Alliance!
• Children’s Corner: Classes for Francophone children, story time for little ones, mini-camps and under project classes for French as a Foreign Language for children age 8 to 12.

Personalized Solutions

About the Language Curriculum

Language classes at the Alliance cover 4 levels: Beginners, Intermediate, Intermediate Advanced and Advanced. These 4 levels follow the CEF Global Scale (Common European Framework for the Learning of Foreign Languages): Basic User Levels A1 and A2; Independent User Levels B1 and B2 and Proficient User Levels C1 and C2.

Each level is divided into 4 steps, each of them being taught for one session (twice a week for 8 weeks, or a total of 32 hours). It then takes four sessions or one year to cover each level and to evolve, for instance, from 101 (as a complete beginner) to 104. Please note that the letters used in our course catalog (eg. 101 A, 304 D, 202 C) only refer to time slots, and not to level information).

- Classes 101 and 102 cover Basic User Level A1

- Classes 103 to 201 cover Basic User Level A2 (with the addition of conversational class Parlez 1 and/or Review 100)

- Classes 202 to 301 cover Independent User Level B1 (with the addition of conversational class Parlez 2 and/or Review 200)

- Classes 302 to 304 cover Independent User Level B2 (with the addition of conversational class Parlez 3, and Intermediate-Advanced Conversation and Grammar workshop and/or Review 200)

Our placement test allows us to accommodate new students with prior knowledge of French. Although the progression of the curriculum is very systematic, we sometimes recommend skipping steps when the student obviously progresses at a higher speed than expected. More about the placement test

Our curriculum targets systematic acquisition of grammar skills as a way to ensure long term profit from language learning. While following this step-by-step approach, our skilled teachers make a point of encouraging communication in the target language as well as creating a lively atmosphere in the classroom. While seriously tackling basics that will last, our students at beginners level also find themselves exchanging in French with the teacher from day 1.  

More about our Curriculum