For over thirty years, Accord has taught the art of the French language to many students, both local and foreign. Nestled in the heart of Paris, it's practically easy to get via whatever public transport system you're on. And its popularity stems from its diverse selection of courses for all sorts of willing participants. Whether you're a professional who's here on business and would like to improve your French or even a new resident who wants to have an easier time living in the city, you can still enroll and study here. Even tourists can get daily classes for about a week here too!
Accredited by eduQua, Ecole Suisse International is a quality institution that helps people to better familiarize themselves switch the French language. Here, their approach to teaching the language is more proactive than in other schools. More often than not, they will group you to small groups and have you speak to each other in French. It's a nice and relatively effective way of getting a better hold of the language than simply learning from the blackboard or textbooks. At least, with the school's approach, you get to experience how to apply it both formally and conversationally.
Quite similarly, Eurocentres will have you applying the French language in your day-to-day conversations as you learn more about it. But their approach is a lot more local. Instead of talking to your fellow students, the school will assign you to a Parisian family, an elderly couple, or even a single tenant. During your stay with them, you get to integrate what you've learned in your everyday conversations. And apart from that, the school will also take you to museum tours, wine tasting, and the like. How's that for local learning?
With two locations, both of which are near Paris' most famous areas—one is by Notre Dame and the other is near Champs-Elysées—you can't get any more Parisian than at France Langue Paris. Offering a variety of courses training from a 20-week beginner standard to a 48-week advance course, they'll not only teach you the French language, but also the Parisian way of speaking French. A certain sophisticated twang that comes with living in the French capital, perhaps of the most important and most influential French-speaking city in the world. In fact, getting one of the advanced courses may even land you a job at an important Parisian company!
What has made French à la Carte a go-to school, particularly with visitors and ex-pats, is that it not only teaches you the French language, but it also helps you learn of the French lifestyle. Not to mention that their tutors can also go to your place rather than you going to their headquarters at Rue Saint-Honoré. Here, learning the language is accorded to your convenience, especially if you're in the city for work or studying in any of its best schools and you won't have time to attend the more standard classes. And even when you've mastered French already, your tutors can also become your guides in better navigating the city and the country as a whole.
Out of all the schools on this list, L’atelier 9 is probably the most fashionable. It helps that it's actually set in a chic apartment within one of Paris' most fashionable areas: Rue de Trévise. But even beyond that, the variety of their courses and their dedication to really teaching their students how to speak and absorb the language is admirable. They even offer short one-week courses for visitors. And for those who are staying in Paris for a bit longer, they also teach other extra-curricular courses such as ballet dancing, cooking, and more. Overall, the school is about instilling the Parisian lifestyle into interested students.
Staying true to its name, Language Appart is all about breaking down the French language to the benefit of foreign students. It's not as simple as the teacher saying the words and the students repeating them over and over. It's really dissecting the language for the students to really absorb it and understand it as if it's part of their vernacular. Though locals can enroll here, the school is more focused on teaching foreign visitors. It's through their intensive approach that non-French-speaking students might just end up being the most eloquent at the language after a few weeks in the course.
You can say that out of all the language schools on this list, Language Studies International, or LSI, is the most complete. Though it's not exactly a university, it does have many facilities of one. The campus has a library, a computer laboratory, a cafeteria, a lounge, and even their own movie room. But what, you might ask, does all of these have anything to do with learning the language? Well, such facilities often work as valuable resources to better familiarize yourself and absorb the language better. It's why ordinary schools have them too!
Perhaps what's most effective about learning French at Sprachcaffe is that it's very much within the heart of Paris. Not in the city center, per se, but it's prime location surrounded by lively bars, warm cafes, and other hotspots for socializing. Inside, it's your standard French language school that offers various intensive and extensive courses. But once a session ends, you're encouraged to test out what you've learned in the surrounding establishments. From ordering a drink at the bar to meeting a new friend in a cafe, you get to apply what you've learned after every class almost instantaneously.
When you're already in the capital city of France, don't forego the opportunity to improve your French! The "city of lights" has a lot of great institutions where you won't just learn the language, you'll actually be able to use it in your everyday life here too!
While many schools on this list have their own accommodations, some do not. Or, perhaps, you'd rather stay at a place you're more comfortable with. Luckily, there are a lot of Paris luxury apartments that can easily host you during your stay here!