Language school in Avignon (CEILA) or elsewhere

[tallyho]

Hello

I'm interested in taking a two-week course in France, to improve my French.

I've found the "Cercle d'Echanges Interculturels et Linguistiques" (CEILA) in Avignon which according to its website seems to offer what I want.  However I wouldn't normally go on a holiday/enrol in something without checking up on other people's experiences.

I've tried googling this language school with various keywords, but I can find very little about it. Usually these days you can find reviews on such things in holiday forums / blogs to get an impression of people's experiences. 

Can anyone offer comments on this language school, recommend others, or suggest any forums which focus on language schools?

Many thanks

[Lori]

tallyho - there is a forum member here (laine) who runs an English language school in Avignon. I realise you are looking for a reference on the French School you found or perhaps another suggestion.  She is pretty up on the all round subject.  She was traveling, so I'm not sure if she is back yet.  If you do a search on her name, perhaps you can PM her.

Just a thought.

Good luck.

[Laine]

    Hi,

I am the person Lori is refering to (hi Lori!), but I can't help you very much from actual personal experience.  However, I have never heard bad reports about CEILA (it used to be CELA) and I often gave the name to people who phoned me for French (as opposed to English) lessons.  So, on balance I think they must be good and they have existed for at least 15 years.  Hope this is helpful and good luck.

[tallyho]

Thanks very much Lori and Laine.

Have now booked with CEILA and will let you know how it goes.

There are so many French language schools in France, it was difficult to know which to choose.  Most of them seem to charge about 250 euros per week for about 20 hours group tuition, for short courses.

The CEILA was the only one I found which said it was "Association à but non lucratif " (non profit), which can't be a bad thing.

I did find one language school in Lyon which was charging 280 euros for 4 weeks! which seems very low.  I wonder if that one was more about non-EU citizens finding a way into Europe for other purposes, like those that exist in London (where the number of people registered is much greater than the number of people in the classes).

 

[Kiras_Back]

I've got a number of friends who work for the EU commission in Africa etc ... they all use this school and come out a lot more fluent (& exhausted!)

Kira