CAVILAM - Alliance Française

The teachers and staff were warm and welcoming. At the same time, we communicated only in French, which was challenging and instructive for me, Even as an older student not enrolled in the senior program, I felt right at home. The facilities were very basic and could use a facelift, but that is my only complaint.

Overall i had an excellent experience. Vichy is a wonderful city, easy to walk everywhere, many great restaurants, parks, etc.

The housing was great, perfect location, clean, all I needed. However an email listing what is provided and what is not would have been helpful (buy your own toilet paper, laundry soap, trash bags, cleaning supplies, etc). The housekeeping was not done early enough; i arrived on a Sunday and the room was not cleaned until the following Wednesday — a long time without clean towels. No extra trash bag was provided. Small things like this would make a big difference.

My morning instructor Claire was wonderful. Though it was near impossible to hear what other students said, and she did not often repeat it, so that time was of no value to anyone but the one person speaking. Room was noisy from the street but if we shut the windows it was too hot.

My afternoon instructor had a style that I could not adapt to. He had us playing games or speaking to each other, and I cannot learn good french from speaking with others who also don’t speak correctly. He did not teach. So, I changed, and my second teacher was terrific. Pasquale led more vibrant, listening/speaking lessons and stressed vocabulary, which was great.

I had no idea that 90% of the students would be so young, so unfortunately there were no socializing opportunities for me. Other than that, i loved my time in Vichy at Cavilam.

Classes were nice, small groups, we talked a lot and did various exercises. The other students were really anti-social. They did not talk to many other students and were not very welcoming. I felt a lot alone. Luckily there were more activities organized by CAVILAM. That was nice. Overall; learned a lot, mostly because of the family that I slept, a bit pricy, but it was a good experience

I attended CAVILAM in Vichy, France during September/October 2022. The school is quite centrally located in the small town and the facilities are quite good. My only complaint was the cleanliness of the bathrooms. Especially in light of COVID-19, the facility needs more cleaners on site. There is often no soap in the bathrooms etc.

The teachers were all excellent. I have three main teachers in the course of the month I was there. Class each morning (grammar, vocabulary, ready and writing), workshop in the afternoon (speaking, listening, responding to questions etc) and then a one-on-one session three times a week for 90 minutes. This offered an intensive immersion program and really helped accelerate my learning. I know that I experienced a rapid increase in my ability to comprehend french spoken at normal speeds. My vocabulary improved a lot as well but I need more time to become fluent in speaking.

I stayed in the Vichy Residences near the river. I really enjoyed that experience. Each evening I went for a walk around the lake which was the perfect way to relax after a long day. The laundry facilities and lounge areas were also excellent.

In conclusion, I will be looking to return to CAVILAM in Vichy sometime in the Spring. I hope to stay for at least eight weeks.

The accommodation arranged by the school in Vichy was excellent.
Both of my teachers were very good and put in a lot of effort.
The classroom facilities were average but cramped.

The class was large up to 14 people of mixed abilities and so quite slow moving. Most students were in the school for long periods of time and so had a different focus.

The exam at the start to find one’s level was terrible. It was not explained properly what was wanted/needed & it was difficult to understand what was appropriate in terms of an answer. Perhaps it was easier for young people used of doing these sort of exams using multi choice questions but I felt I was put at a lower level than I was able for. I asked to move up a level but was not allowed / accommodated.

I think that Cavilam is a professional, very well run institution with excellent teachers and very good resources for the students. It is friendly, inclusive with a wonderful cultural and social programme run by enthusiastic staff. I had some excellent and dedicated teachers, especially Tatiana (class lessons), and Julie Rousseau and Frédérique (for my private lessons).

Accommodation-wise, i very much liked Residence Vichy which is clean, modern and secure with great facilities, including a laundry. I felt that, for me, the first accommodation that I was allocated at Residence Lutetia was not of the standard that I would expect - although i think that a younger person would find it comfortable.

I learnt a great deal of French conversation, grammar and useful vocabulary in my private lessons with which I was very happy - Julie and Frédérique are excellent teachers. I found, however, that - other than with Tatiana - the group classes did not place enough emphasis on the learning of grammar and on correct pronunciation. It may be the accepted technique to teach through an emphasis on conversation but, in my classes, the students would have benefited more from a different approach. In summary, I did not find many of the group classes as helpful as they could have been.

Overall, however, I would return to Cavilam which, as I say, is an excellent educational institution - but, for me, I would prefer - and would benefit more - just to enroll in private lessons and perhaps the afternoon ateliers - not the morning group classes. I think that this option should be available for prospective students.

The least helpful course was my atelier, but this may be because I was not in the proper level and it was a bit disorganized. Housing, activities, location, and teachers were on par. Although, courses seemed to be very focused on DELF, which took away a bit from the overall learning experience.

The educational program is absolutely fantastic in every way. The teachers were excellent, the staff friendly and helpful, and the facilities were great. This is a big program especially in the summer and they are good at evaluating and placing students in their appropriate level. There is flexibility depending on what the student wants or needs to learn and the amount of time they have to spend there. One of the key factors that sets this program apart from most other language immersion experiences is the town of Vichy - it is a relatively small typical French town and when you go to the boulangerie and ask for pain au chocolat in a bad accent, the boulanger is unlikely to answer you back in english as always happens in Paris and larger cities. There are not a ton of distractions there but everything you need to have an enjoyable cultural experience is available. The parks and river are beautiful and there are great places to go walking, running and get outdoor exercise. My home stay experience was phenomenal. Every meal was spent talking with my "famile de coeur" and this helped my French as much or more than being in class all day. My only regret is not understanding better the organization of the morning classes, afternoon workshops and private instruction for the "immersion program". I wanted an intense program and experience with speaking and comprehension thus was placed in an afternoon "atelier" for speaking and comprehension. The 3 hr morning class was also mostly speech and comprehension and overall I had very little grammar review. The 14 private classes were great, but given the intensity of the other classes and the homestay I did not have enough time alone to study and take full advantage of the private instruction. In the future I would sign up for "intense" or the "super intense" choices.

My language teacher was very enthusiastic, funny and very knowledgeable about other languages and cultures which was good because there was a lot of different cultures and nationalities in the class. The building was nice.

I did not like the cuisine sold in the canteen. I went once and never went back.

Apart from that, everything was great. The excursion I went on was very enjoyable.

As I wrote before, the class was very diversified, and so the teacher had to attend to all students' difficulties. The teacher I had every morning was very good (Sophie Gouby), but in the afternoons there were good and not so good teachers. The problem was not about their knowledge about the French language, but their little knowledge about History and Social Sciences. As we had in the afternoon ateliers on different subjects, it requires a good general knowledge that was not always enough.

I can say the same thing about the activities promoted every Wednesdays and Saturdays. The first guide I had (going to Moulins) does not have enough knowledge about what he was explaining. But he second one was very good.

The ambiance is very good, the distributed material also. Toilet's are not enough, and there is not enough indication about their location.
The food we had at the canteen was awful, and everyone complained about it. Even the family where I have stayed at during those three weeks said the same. Nevertheless, the fact that I had delicious dinners at their home compensated the horrible lunch.
The comradeship among the students was very agreeable, and I could form good friendships there.

In conclusion, I must say that the family that received me was very, very friendly, their meals were wonderful and the best thing, they invited me to a ballet, a theater play and took me several times to cafés and local pastry shops. Their house is very comfortable and I had a nice time with them.

I only stayed a week, but it was amazing meeting new people of different cultures. This made the lessons particularly enjoyable and interesting. The teachers were engaging and I progressed a lot in my five days at Cavilam due to everything being in French (even when you didn't understand a word- they would explain it to you in French!). The facilities were well equipped.

The activities organized by the school were interesting and allowed me to engage fully with French culture: tasting sessions, movie nights and trips to nearby attractions such as Clémant Ferrand.

There are plenty of cafes around the school where you can eat lunch (food in the canteen was not good!), which was lovely.

I also thoroughly enjoyed staying with a host family, who helped me settle in quickly and plunge myself into the French culture!

Vichy is a lovely spot, with parks, a cinema and plenty of shops and cafes. It is a historic and architecturally interesting town. I loved it!

Everything at Cavilam is nice and ... moderate :) Nice though small classes, nice teachers, constant activities (from dancing to excursions, some sports, free and payable) - you can always choose what you want. If you really plan to study french - the place is very good. The city is so small and everything is so calm here and boring that you have nothing to do but to study language. Some teachers are very slow, but if you progress you can change the group every week - I did it 3 times for the period. But for that you have to study at home as well - not just in classes, and you have to be pro-active. Your teacher will not push you to learn. My apartment was very small (8-10 sq.m in total) and moderate but clean and within 4 min walk to the Cavilam - I really loved it.