Summer 2024 semester dates for group classes: Our group classes are unfortunately full. Please excuse the inconvenience.
We are continuing to offer private classes on Zoom
Welcome to French Community of Portland!
Learning French is the adventure of a lifetime.
To learn a language is to become a child again. It is relearning how to talk, think, feel, and reflect from a new point of view. It is a cultural, intellectual, and emotional journey through which we rediscover ourselves and gain a new perspective on the world around us–a French perspective.
A stimulating and fun challenge: yoga for the mouth and for the mind.
We have all learned our mother tongue effortlessly. It is this simplicity and pleasure that we strive to reproduce through our pedagogy focused on the practice and stimulation of oral memory and encouraging exchanges between students. We offer a real collective experience in which we share the joys and difficulties of learning with constant energy and good humor. We never give in to frustration or discouragement because, at the end of the day, it is only French.
A real community: arrive alone, leave as friends.
Connecting with others by learning a language is one of the most beautiful human experiences. Nobody can learn a language alone. Language exists only to communicate with others. Relationships between the students are as essential and important as those between the students and their teacher. It is by opening up to others, offering them and receiving their help and support, that we learn the best.
Our Philosophy
The Pedagogy: Our Method Is You.
All students are different. We adapt to your needs, aspirations, and personality while creating a unity and group dynamic that allows you to identify and overcome your limitations.
Constant support: the French Community of Portland goes home with you.
Unless exceptionally and unusually talented, no one can learn French in one or two hours a week. For this reason, we offer a constant line of communication using e-mail to answer all your questions and help you in your learning.
A French cultural space: a place of free expression that isn’t politically correct.
I do not agree with what you have to say, but I shall defend
to the death your right to say it.
- Voltaire’s apocryphal quote.
To learn French is to learn to become French and to discover the cultural values of France. The French speak without restraint and without taboos of politics, religion, and sexuality as easily as if speaking about the weather or the grocery list. All thoughts should be spoken,
especially those we only think to ourselves.
The French Community of Portland guarantees freedom of expression where all thoughts are respectfully welcome.
