IS-DBA École de Français Langue Étrangère

The teachers are very good! In particular, one teacher, Marie, would be great at explaining things and adapting her approach based on the students while keeping the lessons fun and engaging. All of the teachers used good and engaging content, and the different workshops after each class during the week really helped to keep my attention after the break by shifting up the content. The course content was good and seemed well-structured.
The IS-DBA office staff were also helpful if you had a question about anything and tried to help/make adjustments where possible.
The cultural outing (we went to Monnaie de Paris) was a great way to learn, and the questionnaire given made sure that we were actively learning some French.

Moving on to some areas of improvement, they mostly seem to be planning and facility related.
The building itself is very cold in basically all the rooms, especially if you have to be in the terasse. I find it a bit bizarre that it was the norm for 6 weeks to wear our coats indoors, and just being cold while trying to learn is pretty distracting. Aditionally, the toilets were rarely at a satisfactory level of cleanliness/smell, and are often blocked/out of order. The classrooms themselves however, were generally fairly well equipped with enough space for all students.

When first receiving the timetable for the course I thought it all seemed quite well organised. However it would frequently happen that we would get emails notifying us of room changes, often multiple times a week. I didn't really expect to have to check my emails every day, so sometimes I would end up in the wrong room entirely and miss a part of a class. Additionally, and I'm not sure what IS-DBA can do about this, the level of French within the classes can seem quite broad. I was first put in the A2 class, and despite having already taken an A2 test and getting full marks, I thought I would see how the first lesson went. Many people in the A2 class hadn't covered a lot of A1 content, so I asked to move to B1. In the B1 class, it seemed that while some were beginners, others had been living in Paris and working with spoken French; they were mainly in the class to learn how to read and write correctly. Sometimes, I felt this meant that we moved through content quite quickly, while some others and I would still not have grasped it. I was offered the option of returning to A2, but as the majority of the people in A2 weren't capable of many full sentences, I didn't think that would be helpful for my learning either, so I decided to stick to the B1 course.

A final oversight and I think this is more the fault of the advert on Language International rather than IS-DBA, it's advertised as a 20 hour course, but really 5 of those hours each week are for lectures which I feel shouldn't really count as they aren't really teaching hours, and from some conversations with staff it's not really seen as very necessary by them either.

Overall I think the course has some very good teachers and staff, mainly seemingly let down by the key organisers and the facilities themselves.

I would like to thank the school and all the teachers for your hard work and care for the students. I am very satisfied with the program and the teaching methods. The teachers explain the material very professionally and clearly. I didn’t expect to achieve such results in such a short period of time.

Merci beaucoup!

During the 4 weeks at the language school, I was able to expand my vocabulary considerably. I was able to make the most progress orally. The teachers and staff were very competent and friendly, and switching to an easier course was no problem. My only comment would be the timetable, where I had travaux dirigés on Fridays from 2pm to 5pm, which was often empty and used ineffectively.

The location of the school, is fantastic, the lessons were very usufull, the hours per week as accorded and the teachers very helpfull

I attended the Intensive French summer course for 4 weeks. It turned out to be an excellent experience for me. The two main teachers I had created a casual but professional atmosphere where every student was encouraged to speak and participate but never 'put on the spot'. I was very lucky to be in a small, fun class where the conversation flowed freely. My only complaint is that the airconditionning was not working in our main classroom, room 602. We did have a couple of fans but the room was still warm, which made concentrating for 2.5 hours more difficult.

I enrolled for 5 weeks only, and would like to have continued. Classes are small enough to challenge and involve anyone interested in improving their french. Students I met were from Korea, China, South America, Russia, Germany, Italy, and Ukraine - I was one of two Americans I met, and the only American in my class - and clearly the oldest student by far!

The school has a friendly atmosphere and it is in a central part of Paris easily accessible by metro and bus. I rented a friends apartment nearby, so I cannot comment on accommodation. But there are good restaurants everywhere near the school, and a market twice a week just next door. The Museum of the Liberation of Paris, La Fondation Giacometti, La fondation Cartier, Le Cimetière du Montparnasse, Rue Daguerre, Even the Catacombs of Paris are all within walking distance on Blvd Raspail. All fascinating in their own way. You can sample Parisian culture right outside the school doors!

I have taken private classes in the past, I studied french in boarding school decades ago, I’ve taken classes at the ‘heralded’ Alliance Français in NYC, and I can report IS-DBA in Paris is as good if not better than all of those. You will enjoy your time here because the teachers are lovely, the classes small, and the teaching methods are engaging - especially if you are willing to put in the work.

I am a French beginner. Although I have only taken a one-month course, my excellent teachers have made me improve quickly. Thank you very much, IS DBA

The course offered lots of content and moved at a fast pace, which was great. I enjoyed the conversational element a lot. I felt it improved speaking the most, as you get to understand if you are comprehensible. Plus it was good for class dynamic. I think the course needed a bit more of this. Sometimes I felt there was too much long grammar lessons where we are all lost because the teacher would speak very fast in french, and we only A2 level. So, a lot of us were lost here.

I studied at IS-DBA for an entire month and had a great experience. The school is very easy to reach, as it is located at a few minutes walk by the tube. The only thing I didn't quite like was the room allocation - we were allocated a few times a room with no windows which isn't the best choice also for health reasons, especially since covid-19. But for everything else it was great. What I did like especially was the quality of teaching. My teacher was Alexis, and he was always well prepared, made lessons engaging and was always open to students' needs. I can definitely say that, thanks to this experience, my level of written and spoken French has definitely increased.

I enjoyed my intro level class at IS-DBA. The location is great, very central to Paris and easy to get to via Metro. My main teacher, Andres, was easy to understand and encouraging. He made the class super engaging and fun. The class progresses at a pretty fast pace for a complete beginner but as long as you make time to study you'll progress on schedule. The classrooms are a bit small but they changed our schedule to accommodate the number of people in our class, and so there weren't any problems.

The professors were excellent and the staff was friendly and helpful. The institution is very well situated and has a great view on Paris from the classroom.

I had courses from professor François and he was always dedicated, enthusiastic, and fun. In every lesson, he provided us with his own made print-outs which were very compact, unlike FLE textbooks. Besides the knowledge of the french language, he taught me a lot including the overall culture, history of France, and the lifestyles of Parisien. When I was taking the DELF exam, he also provided me with courses focused on DELF.

The ateliers were diverse and comprehensive. I took the pronunciation, business-french, civilization, and art course.

Overall, I highly recommend IS-DBA to those who want to earn french intensively in Paris.