(Translated) Very good experience :
- Very good value for money
- small groups
- Many different and very good teachers
- very helpful secretary
- friendly, family atmosphere
- weekly cultural excursions
- Support for my Master's assessment (help with covering letter, CV, etc.)
From September last year until March, I went to the Ecole Suisse to learn French. My aim was to reach a B2 level so that I could start a Masters in Paris from September this year. I heard about various language schools on Facebook and decided to write to them one by one. The secretariat at the Ecole Suisse answered my questions quickly and in detail and I was able to spend the same week looking around the school. During this appointment I was also able to take a written test and have a longer conversation with Thierry to determine my current level.
During the six months I was allowed to attend the school, I was never in a class with more than eight people. We were generally between four and six per class. The teachers changed every day. As a student, I benefited from the many different teaching approaches of the teachers, all of whom had their own style and were very good. On the whole, the Swiss School places great emphasis on the applicability of what has been learnt, the necessary grammar is applied directly in oral exercises and, on the whole, people are encouraged to talk a lot in class. So you've learned the most by talking a lot and asking your teachers to point out your mistakes. As well as grammar, you also learn thematic vocabulary through exercises, you read and discuss French texts together, you listen to radio reports together and answer comprehension questions, and you are given writing tasks. The Swiss School offers appropriate and useful work materials for each language level. I was amazed at how quickly we could read complete texts together in class.
Classmates came from all over and of all ages, and during the many discussions and conversations in and outside the classroom, we got to know each other very well. A special feature of the Swiss School is the large common room. All the students and teachers meet here during the morning coffee break.
You talk as if you were at a party. The shyness that everyone feels about speaking French usually disappears on the first day. You can quickly speak French to each other and improve your skills outside the classroom. I particularly enjoyed the school lunch. Everyone brings something to eat, then we sit together at the big table and have various conversations with teachers and classmates. You'll be surprised to discover what you can already speak in French and what you suddenly understand. This friendly, family atmosphere is also enhanced by the joint cultural outings every Wednesday. Here, of course, we don't go to the Eiffel Tower or any other very touristy place, but to the real Paris, if you please. When the weather's fine, you'll explore the city together and discover places like the covered passages or the coulée verte. When the weather's bad, we go together to exhibitions and different studios...
At the Ecole Suisse, I also received a great deal of support in my application for the Master's degree. Right from the start, I was able to talk to the teachers about the different universities and they made them aware of the very early application deadlines. When I finally started writing my application, I met Véronique almost every day, with whom I wrote my first cover letter and translated my CV. (April 2023)