Alliance Francaise

Wonderful place to learn French! Very passionate instructors. I have taken several classes with different instructors including a course on Da Vinci in France, improving my accent, and discussing short stories in French. I have also enjoyed the movies, wine tasting and other events put on by the Alliance Francaise d'Albuquerque. It is a very welcoming group of people. Since the classes are small, there's a lot of attention from the instructor and a lot of opportunity to speak. I have found the AFAbq to be very accommodating, and they make a good effort to ensure you are in a course that is challenging to you at your level of French. I believe there is also the possibility of private instruction for those who want more a more individualized path.

I started learning French with Alliance Française d’Albuquerque just before Covid hit, so most of my classes have been on zoom. In spite of the technological challenges, I have been very pleased with the level of commitment from the teachers and the camaraderie of all involved.

I recently enrolled in a beginning French class at l’Alliance Française but was so disappointed by the subpar quality of the instruction and course materials that I quit after two classes. We used a marked up, nearly twenty-years-out-of-date, high-school-level text. The instructor offered no curriculum nor syllabus and didn’t seem to use any sort of daily lesson plan. She digressed frequently and at length. To teach pronunciation of vowels we sang along to a tape of children’s songs. There was never an introductory overview of the day’s lesson and to end the class, in lieu of a review of what we had just covered, we sang the French children’s song Frère Jacques. In frustration, I hired a native-speaking French tutor. By contrast, we are using a curriculum and course materials promulgated by the Ministry of Education in France (part of the DALF certification program). In the first ten minutes we covered more material, and more useful material, than we had in the four hours of classes I’d taken at l’Alliance Française. Over the years I’ve also taken many courses in Spanish at the Instituto Cervantes here in Albuquerque, where the curriculum and course materials are created by the Spanish government (part of the DELE certification program.) The instructors are all native speakers with advanced teaching skills, the educational delivery is highly professional, extremely effective, and clearly designed with adult learners in mind. I had similar expectations from L’Alliance Française but the reality could hardly have been more different.

Just completed an intermediate level french course that was excellent. It was very well organized and good mix of written as well as spoken language practice. Also appreciated the quick transition to video classes during the Co-vid crisis. I will be signing up for future classes for sure.

Alliance Francaise ABQ is Great! I began studying French with them in 2016 and continue to do so! My French has improved so much! Merci Beaucoup AF!

The Alliance has a great variety of courses, and provides a wonderful inviting environment for students of all levels. Plus it's fun!

Teachers are PASSIONATE about there French.You can hear ,the JOY IN THERE VOICES WHEN THEY ARE LEARNING TOGETHER. 😁