Institute de Francais

My month at L'Institut Francais was one of the best experiences of my life. The teachers are simply exceptional, their passion for the French language and culture is infectious, and their expertise shows in every lesson and they create a supportive atmosphere where students feel comfortable taking risks and making mistakes. My wonderful teacher Evelyn has to have a special mention, we all loved her and i will never forget her personal care and dedication that we all achieve the results we did. From day one, we were surrounded by French, and the techniques used encourage natural conversation and practical application, so we were actually able to very quickly think and communicate in French. The progress I made in such a short time was remarkable. The 3-course lunches provided were a celebration of delicious French cuisine, prepared with care from the wonderful Anthony and Sarah. Dining together was also an opportunity for immersion and cultural exchange with fellow students and teachers. The location Villefranche-sur-Mer is absolutely stunning, with the Institut set on the hillside with beautiful views that we had to photograph every single day. I cannot recommend L'Institut Français highly enough. If you're serious about learning French while having an incredible experience, this is the place.

It's hard to put into words just how fabulous my experience at the Institut was. Pure joy is the simplest description. I feel incredibly privileged to have spent four weeks there and it ranks among my top 10 experiences of all time. The teaching team - especially Julien - was outstanding - combining passion, humour and energy to create an engaging and highly effective method that completely won me over. The entire Institut team (who are very present as a unit and individually throughout the 4 weeks) create a safe, joyful and supportive environment where you feel you can make mistakes, learn and move on. My French improved incredibly and gave me the building blocks & structure to continue to learn beyond my 4 weeks. On top of the excellent teachers and method, the environment and food are incredible. Sara and Anthony - two renowned chefs - cook delicious and nourishing 3 course meals every lunch and show up with the same passion, energy and enthusiasm as their teaching peers. And then the Institut and Villefranche - an incredibly beautiful haven and part of the world that I totally fell in love with. I cannot recommend it enough - I loved it so much that I'm heading back in 4 weeks. A once in a lifetime experience.

The institute is an incredible experience and if you have the opportunity to study here you will spend your time in bliss. It’s an investment worth every penny. I went for one month in May and enjoyed beautiful weather in this gorgeous villa that houses an extraordinary garden full of flowers and a view of the sea. The food is just above and beyond - each day gorgeous plates for a three course lunch. You eat with other students and different teachers to have casual conversation in French to practice organically. I loved this aspect! The food service team is incredibly kind and thoughtful - always with a smile. Every teacher I met was interesting and completely committed to our language growth. But now onto the most important part - this is clearly the most immersive and impressive language school available, and to study French in the Cote d'Azur is spectacular. My teacher was Edith for Intermediate. She made every day an interesting and fun challenge keeping us completely engaged and enthralled with the language. She will demand your presence and her passion made us all improve! My class was dedicated to only speaking French, even during the coffee breaks in the garden between lessons. I met wonderful people and we had such a special group. Most important to me was the complete immersion aspect as well as it being an oral method. My French improved tremendously, especially my listening comprehension! This is a special experience I will cherish forever.

I had the most wonderful month. My teacher Evelyn was particularly good, but all the staff were terrific. The school was in a great location and I enjoyed meeting and socialising with so many interesting people. My French improved but in addition I really enjoyed the cultural side of life sur la Côte d'Azur!

I had an amazing experience at the institute. Having had virtually zero French knowledge prior, I came away after two weeks feeling much more confident with the language. The school itself is beautifully nested in a large garden and overlooks the gorgeous Villefranche-sur-mer bay. Their method is unorthodox but totally works; the teachers are knowledgeable and funny; the food is delicious; the course-mates are super interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of the course and shall be back for more!

An incredible school! I spent one month at L'Institut from November to December 2024, and it was undoubtedly one of the highlights of my entire year. The teachers are extremely charismatic, talented, and encouraging, and they put their all into the job. The views from L'Institut are spectacular, and the food is superb. The chef even prepared a delicious side-serving of frog legs on our last day, specifically because he found out that I loved them. Before attending L'Institut I hadn't studied French formally for 24 years, and by the end of the month I felt surprisingly at ease having intermediate-level conversations. I still have so much work to do before achieving fluency, but I feel like my time at this school was a crucial step towards that goal. I also loved meeting all my fellow classmates, many of whom were diplomats, governmental officials, academic researchers, and businessmen. As an artist, curator, and designer, I rarely have the opportunity to meet people in these professions, and I am grateful for all the unique connections I made. Highly recommended!

My husband and I just finished the one month session at the Institut de Francais and it was one of the best experiences we've ever had. He came in having studied on his own throughout the lockdown (but having failed college French!), and I entered after having studied at Alliance Francaise pretty consistently for the past many years. We were both placed appropriately in classes that were right for us. Both of our teachers were absolutely wonderful: very experienced, gifted as instructors, and above all funny and engaging. Our fellow classmates were from really diverse backgrounds, from age 21 to 80's, and from all over the world (in my husband's and my classes there were people from China, El Salvador, Mexico, Kuwait, and Sweden). They were working (many from the World Bank, who sends many students every year) and retired. We all had in common a love of travel and intellectual curiosity which makes for a great self-selecting pool of possible new friends and a strong sense of community. The methodology, which includes strict rules about not speaking any other language than French while at the school, was in fact originated in the '60's, but the Institut has over the years modified it and adapted it. It's focused on oral communication rather than written work and "grammar" as it is normally taught in schools--unlike anything I'd ever experienced and very effective. I can't say enough about my teacher, who took bits of our before-class conversations and seamlessly integrated them into her teaching plan for the day, making the lessons seem very natural and showing us that the things we were learning were immediately applicable to everyday language use. My husband, reading this review, seconded me about his instructor. The days never dragged; I was engaged completely and looked forward to class every day. There's even a "seance pratique" daily in which we learned about practical language for dining out, shopping, food, talking about the news, etc. There's a bit of written homework each night to reinforce the items covered that day. Many of us with a little French under our belts remarked that it would have been great if we could have started at the Institut as beginners because it's a great way to learn. On a practical level, the food was terrific--they feed you breakfast and a three course french lunch (which you eat at a table with one of the teachers) every day. We rented our own apartment instead of using the apartments available through the school--from my conversations with classmates, they can vary in quality fairly dramatically. Villefranche is a great town, but be aware that it's totally vertical and involves LOTS of stair-climbing, especially if your apartment is in the lower vielle ville. There are many really good restaurants in town and obviously tons in Nice, which is very convenient to Villefranche. As for COVID precautions, everyone in our cohort was vaccinated but we still had to wear masks when inside the hallways of the building (but not in class). If anyone got at all sick, at the first symptom they got tested (no one contracted COVID). Our temperatures were taken at the beginning of each day. We felt completely safe (and remember that the vaccination rate in France is much higher than that of the US and most other countries). If learning French is on your list, don't hesitate to enrol at the Institut. It greatly exceeded all our expectations in every way.

As a teacher myself I was truly inspired by the pedagogical approach and quality of teaching at the Institute de Francais. If you feel any fear about the vulnerability of being a beginner-adult or lack confidence in your French, the whole approach here is one that fosters safety, playfulness and a genuine commitment to your development. I attended as a beginner in April and not only learned to speak confidently in French, but laughed a lot, felt safe to fail and improve and met a great group of people. I can't recommend it highly enough.

I took the four-week course at the advanced level in November-December 2022, and I highly recommend the Institut de Français for its teaching method - listening, repeating phrases, playing out roles, using visuals and homework drills and review of handouts each evening - and its spirit of fun, ease and respect for all people regardless of background and level of French. My objective was to improve my listening comprehension and to speak French more naturally, which I was able to do after the course and had a roadmap for further improvement (trying to speak naturally might just be my life's work ;). It's not half bad either to do all this in Villefranche-sur-Mer with its easy and affordable bus and rail links to other parts of the Côte d'Azur and beautiful waterfront, which is ideal for an evening run or walk. The autumn/early winter period meant I had few distractions and temptations to speak English in the evenings - many establishments were closed - which suited me. If you want guaranteed sun and a vibrant social life, choose another time of year. As for accommodation, check with the institut on the exact wifi availability if you rent an apartment that's privately owned but acquired through the institut. I splurged on an institut-owned apartment and the wifi was solid; not necessarily so at private rentals. Well done to the professional and thoroughly human teachers and administrators who work there.