L'Alliance

It has been one of my biggest dreams-learning French. My dream was extremely fuelled by Sir's French poetry and I hoped to write some of my own some day (obviously not as good as Sir!). The dream was materialized on 22nd August when I joined L'Alliance Francaise du Bengale. It has been almost three months since my joining and I have a feeling that I am not wasting my precious time here as many think, firstly because my time is not that precious yet as of those people who are twittering on twitter and secondly, I am loving the French classes immensely (and to talk of the people who tell I am wasting time, if loitering aimlessly in City Centre is a better usage, I drop my case!).

Before getting into the details of my institute and the varied dimensions that it offers, a little about the quirky man who teaches me French! Monsieur Amitava Das is in his early thirtes (although he looks like someone who has just done his graduation). He has a very homely sort of appearance that makes the nervous student attending the first class feel quite at ease!
He works in a multinational company and teaches in Alliance on saturdays and sundays. He is a wonderful teacher to have if you are a beginner. He isn't stringent but still can keep the students from being indisciplined.He has all the important qualities that a good teacher must have to keep his students interested in the subject. He is very lively and vivacious when it comes to teaching. When you are learning a new language its very important to converse in that language. He makes sure that it happens in his class - the students talking in French and only in French. He encourages us not to stick to our course book and read other texts as well (even TitTin and Asterix which were originally written in French.).

Speaking of my classmates, our class has students of all types, starting from school goers to office goers, Chinese to Bengalis! There are students who come all the way from Behrampore to learn French here. I have found some good friends as we share the same interests to a large extent. Most of them are associated to big names like IBM, PWC and yet find the pursuit of a Foreign language worthy to "waste" time on. Most of them are quick and eager learners and some are voracious readers. I feel comfortable in their company and get to learn a lot from them.

The things that separates Alliance Francaise from any other French teaching institute is its intensive exta curricular activities and the fact that it's directly under the supervision of the Ministry of Education, France. Cultural workshops are conducted by teachers and senior students on a regular basis and even new students are encouraged to participate in plays that are staged in front of huge spectators. From the question papers, the evaluation of the answer scripts, to the certificates that you get after completing the course, everything is issued by the French Ministry of education. Students who intend to do their masters in Engineering or in Management in France get special benifits. As this institute is directly under the French Embassy, deserving candidates get scholarships to do their masters abroad.If you are interested in French music, Alliance Francaise is the place where you should be.


I am not a regular class goer. The last time when I did regular classes was back in class ten(my English tuitions). And now I am a common face in the Alliance Francaise for the past three months. It is the place to be for someone who loves the language and wants to learn it.


N.B.- This is for all the students and the ex-students of Alliance Francaise du Bengale. Please be kind enough to share your experiences in the institute through your comments.