L'Alliance New York

Edited in September 2024: I paid Alliance Francaise about $600 per course, and four courses in a level (e.g., B1.1, B1.2, B1.3, and B1.4) cost $2,400 annually (I did this for 3 years). Since then, I've discovered Babbel Live!, which charges a flat annual rate (around $450-$650) for unlimited online group classes for all of their languages. Babbel Live! has grammar handouts for the online lessons, which are offered at all times of the day (with teachers/students around the world); you rate your teacher each time. This has been a gamechanger. == 2023: I took classes from Alliance Francaise (FIAF) because I wanted to learn to speak French correctly. I completed three years of FIAF classes, starting from A1.4 through B1.3. I became concerned because at B1.3, I noticed the instructor, Isabelle Klehr, was not correcting mistakes... until they were brought up repeatedly over several days/classes with proof from external textbooks; when I asked questions, they were not answered... until repeated inquiries and external proof were shown. When I expressed my concerns to the instructor and to Guilliaume Lefèvre, I found the responses that I received pretty shocking. I stopped attending class. Five months later, I registered for French classes at the nearby university, which required me to take a mandatory placement exam; my scores placed me at the French CEFR level C1 (Advanced), which is two levels higher than the FIAF class B1. In hindsight, I'm really sad that FIAF did not support me in my journey to learn French; Why did FIAF not move me to a more advanced class? Good luck to everyone else.

Beautiful, quiet space with very friendly and helpful staff. The Institute is very proactive, there is always something happening which they inform you on email (if this is your preference) about. Also membership includes free tickets for French movies. Since NY Public Library branches don`t have many books in French, I strongly suggest to everyone who appreciates the language and culture to become a member.

Very good teachers, the library is also full of great resources. My main problem is the all gender bathroom . Seniors ladies have to share bathroom with males which is unacceptable. I was not comfortable going to the bathroom at all. Women need their personal space for using restrooms.

I enjoyed my French classes there. The other students were Francophiles and also enjoyed learning, which made the experience even better. The institute is in a great location and holds many cultural events, such as movie screening and wine tastings. It also has an extensive library with French literature.

We had mixed feelings about our experience with the French Alliance. We signed up for an adult class this year, and our class was canceled twice, both times less than a week before the start date. While we understand that a class can sometimes be canceled due to low attendance or other reasons, this is not something that happens suddenly and could have been communicated in advance. Since we had to rearrange our schedules to attend these classes, we would have appreciated a heads-up or at least better communication. We decided not to continue trying to attend their classes and requested a reimbursement, which unfortunately could not be processed directly back to our card. The online material could be interesting, but the website is far from user-friendly. You cannot search for a specific book or newspaper, there are no real filters to help you find something, and overall navigation is frustrating. It’s a shame because the selection is extremely diverse and up-to-date but it is very hard to get to something you want. On top of that, it did not work on my wife’s iPhone, and she was the most interested in listening to audiobooks and other materials. It’s disappointing because the content selection is great, but the experience could be much better. At least for now, I would not recommend trying to attend their classes.

Great institute, I really enjoyed the experience and the classes!

I had a terrible experience with an Intro to French teacher, who was verbally and physically intimidating to me at the first class. This person was incredibly unprofessional and unhinged in their behavior. I give two stars because the staff at L'Alliance followed up with me immediately, addressed my concerns, and were apologetic and supportive. I appreciate that very much. It's a shame and dangerous that this teacher felt emboldened to treat a student like this and it has soured my entire experience and I won't be going back.

Absolutely horrible experience with Alliance New York. I saw another person leave a review recommending Babbel instead and I think you should highly consider other options before taking a class here. I was very excited to start speaking French again and signed up for a B1 Thursday class. I was never informed that my class was cancelled since not enough students signed up. The day before the class was supposed to start, I had to call the Alliance multiple times to let them know that I never received a Zoom link to attend the class only to find out it was cancelled. They offered to move me to the Wednesday class but since the class already begun, I would have to attend in week 2. I agreed and the woman I was speaking to emailed the teacher letting her know that I was joining and asked her to send me the introductory info. One week goes by and I still hadn't heard back from the teacher so I had to call THREE times before I managed to get someone on the phone who could help me get in touch with the teacher, Mme Rousseau. Only then did she respond the morning of the class. She sent me the Zoom link but I never received the link to create an account with Opolearn, which is the platform they use to submit weekly homework. I emailed my teacher twice and never heard back. I emailed her again a week later to ask her to record the class that week since I was unable to attend and....never heard back. I emailed her AGAIN the morning of the class reminding her to record it and guess what? Never heard back! I'm writing this review almost three weeks later and still have never heard back from the teacher. I ended up calling the Alliance another four times to request a refund and was finally put in contact with the director. Even after all of this, he only issued a partial refund since I attended two classes. Mind you though, I attended two classes but was never able to submit my homework for either of them since I never had access to the platform. This organization has been extremely disappointing. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Save your money and use a platform like Babbel or iTalki.