I'm looking to do some intensive french lessons to get me from B1 level to C1.
The Swiss French School programme sounds good but is quite expensive. I wondered if anyone had any experience with them, good or bad? Thanks
Hi,
Hi, I signed up at that School and all that I got on my first day was a Grammar-Book with an "Answer Book" and access to the online learning tool "TellMeMorePro" from Rosetta Stone.
The Method is to do the online units and the book units alone at home and then you book an "Echange-Lesson" with a Teacher and he will check if you passed the unit and repeat the online unit by questioning you. Then you are on your own again! So, no real teaching there! And if you ask to late for this "Echange" you may have to wait 2-3 weeks because the teachers are already fully booked...
Then they have workshops with different topics. This could be something like "Landscapes" and you learn what is a Rock, a Hill, a River and so on. They mix all A-Levels (1-3) and then there are workshops for all B-Levels (1-3). If you are already advanced this is maybe no problem but it is frustrating if you are a 1-Level and all others are a 3-Level...
I don't think this is worth the money. You can get a Rosetta Stone Program and the books yourself for less and for the money you can take private lessons somewhere else or book a class somewhere else for much less of the price.
But it depends what is better for you. I prefer the more classical way of teaching and will not continue at the SwissFrenchSchool! I dont want to be my own teacher at home and paying them a lot of money for not really teaching me...
Oh! And when I booked the course I ask for an intense french course. It turns out that I got the normal french course. I ask a few weeks later what the difference is and they could not answer the question!
Thanks New Girl, that's really helpful. The flexibility sounds really good but I was worried about the availability of classes.
hi everybody,
i just recently did the dalf c2, starting from scratch. no other diploma that is, no delfs whatsoever.
the books that helped me a immensly were "dalf c1 c2 activities with booklet and mp3", and "reĢussir le dalf niveaux c1 c2".
also i can highly recommend the app "flashcards", it's free.
every now and then i took classes with a private teacher.
it tokk me in all a year.
salut
Just saw this thread on Google and although it comes from 2014 I would like to answer it since I am the owner of Swiss French School in Switzerland.
First of all thanks so much for the feedback.
Second,y I would like to think we have improved a lot since 2014 based on our experience with hundreds of students. While we have had some amazing results we are not perfect and the fact is that there WERE sometimes challenges in booking lessons fast with students.
We have several new solutions of this including teacher lessons which can be done on-line.
Anyway, I would really appreciate it if the lady who tried out course would contact me so that I can make amends for her experience and try to find a better solution for her.
For any other questions please feel free to contact me via the forum or directly.
I don't use an alias because I believe in fixing what doesn't work and taking responsibility. Thanks for your time and interest.
Nick
I do have a friend doing French at Swiss French School at the moment, she's been doing it for about a year after maybe 6 years in Geneva without learning any French and she says she has improved a lot and is really pleased with the courses. I have watched her talking French and yes, I could see that it had had a really good effect.
I see the post is quite old, but still would like to share my experience with this "school" in order to prevent other people to be tricked as I was.
In a nutshell it is the worst school I ever attended (and I have quite different experience in learning/ teaching different languages).
First of all it is very expensive, but it would be ok, if they taught you something.
As mentioned above: for the price of private lesson you get a book, which you do by yourself. If you did not understand something or have a question, it is your problem. You might find answer in google or with your French speaking friends (if you have any).
Teachers there neither explain, no tutor no correct. They just exist.
Also there is no structure, no program, just random exercises.
There are also group classes (if you are lucky and manage to sign up), where sleeping teacher gives you a text or exercise. The process is the following: you first do exercise by yourself, then discuss/ check it with your neighbor (yes, if you both made the same mistake you will never discover it), and only after (and only if there is any time left) - you check it all together with the teacher. In average during 1 hour class one exercise is done.
And... cherry on the cake - I am finishing B2 level for french and teachers love speaking English at class. (I understand they use this opportunity to practice their English, rather than teach us French)
L'UniversiteĢ Populaire is good for language lessons, some professors come from the Gymnasium (also useful to help teenage kids keep up with school).