olala ! French courses in Chamonix

Reflections and news...

Olala ! French Courses in Chamonix was born in 2008… it was in another world ! 

Not only because our glaciers were still looking like glaciers, not only because there were only 2 races in the UTMB event, not only because there were no cycle lines, and that la Folie Douce was the Club Med.

At this time, there were already a lot of people from ‘abroad’ living in the Valley but the main language in the shops, the bars, the streets was still French…

Chamonix is now a « global village », an amazing place that attracts people from everywhere in the world, in a search for new experiences, quality of life, beauty of the mountains... a playground for all kinds of outdoor activities where you can also find all the infrastructure of a city (international airport links with permanent shuttle services, a huge library, an olympic size swimming pool, cinema with films in the original language version, music schools, etc.)

Olala ! French courses are like an observatory of the situation… 

during 2018/19, in each small group classes, it was very frequent that students came from 5 different countries…

really fantastic!  

What a luck to live together in a village that offers such a diversity with inspiring exhanges between cultures and enthusiastic people!

"Le revers de la médaille » (means ...back side) is that we don’t hear much French in town.

The international community’s langage is now English. 

Let’s face it …Despite great motivation, it’s not easy to pratice the langage your’re learning, except if you ask your French-speaking neighbours  (French, Swiss, Belgium…) to speak "French only" during shared "apéros and raclettes", for example! 

Facing such a situation, for a French teacher it can be very frustrating. 

What result  can we expect (teacher and student) with a single weekly class for a few months, if the student has no chance to practice between classes, if the student doesn’t do any personal work, if he/she misses one or two sessions for some reason etc. 

You pay to learn… you want to learn and I want you to learn and progress while enjoying the experience.  

It's why, for the interest of Olala ! students, I  have decided to be more selective and demanding this year. 

Learning is a process.  Nothing is magical. It’s takes time, it requies regularity and envolment is the base …

It’s why you pay in avance for a minimum amount of hours. 

 But… how long will it take to learn French? 

Well, it depends on 

Your previous language learning experiences;

How you are learning

The time you dedicate to learning;

Your attitude;

Your motivation.

Considering all this, 

the group classes will be run that way 

a combination of:

In person 

the joy to meet other people in a group, to learn and exchange together, to practice conversation;

Online

which will be individualised teaching at your own rythme and schedule; according to your own needs.

Small events

 movies, meetings and outings.