Intensive French (short term 1-19 weeks)

Really enjoyed it - a nice balance of speaking, listening and grammar. Peggy - the tutor was great. Very tolerant. And my fellow students were lovely. I had expected everyone to be early twenties but they were not. It was a good spread of age. I would have liked longer each day - it was just the morning.

Housing - it was OK - surprisingly they don't provide washing up liquid or pan scrubbers and the hob was baffling. The bedding was pretty basic too

The experience was a great opportunity to expose myself to my target language. The classes are small (not more than 10 students) allowing enough time for all the students to participate. The teacher are really patience and use the French language throughout the entire lesson.

The host family and the house were great, the host family always keep the conversation going during meal times and never spoke in English, the food was good and the house was big and only 20 min walking from the school.

What I didn't like:
there wasn't an oral test once we arrived to the school to properly asset the level.
there aren't any facilities for the students to get drinking water/hot water (I spent in the school over 7 hours daily)

The staff was very welcoming and flexible despite my last minute registration. I especially enjoyed the standard course, which was well structured with a complete grammar, vocabulary, speaking, reading and listening program. I had a very energetic teacher who really managed to motivate all the students and who perfectly adapted herself to everyone's needs.

The intensive course was not as structured, and therefore also a lot less effective in my opinion. Also during the first week (of 2 in total) half of the intensive classes were canceled (without refund) because there weren't enough students.

They offer a great range of extra activities every week (free or for a small fee). I recommend checking these out to learn more about Montpellier and French culture.


Homestay was great, well connected to the school by public transport. My host was very friendly and spoke only, very patiently, in French with me, which was very helpful.

I had a wonderful experience at the facilities of ILA, the classes were enjoyable, and we were no more than 10 persons in our classroom which I like because we had enough time to all practice orally and ask every question we had, our professor Julien was super attentive and up to clarify any doubt we had. I did some of the excursions and enjoyed them too, highly encourage people to do them because they are in French so you get to practice more hearing and also know more of this beautiful region. I can't wait to come back and do my next level of French at ILA.

I think the classes have a great mix of students from many countries, ages, and cultures, and this diversity enriches the experience. I had an experienced teacher -Beatrice- and that showed up in her class management as well as in her knowledge. I think the facilities are good. As for housing, I stayed at an apartment at Frederic Bazille. The shared spaces are good and the room was excellent in size and furniture. However, I did miss a fan. I inquired about getting one and was informed that I'd be charged 10E a day for it. I believe that fans should be included.

I took the standard course, only 20 units per week. It was perfect for me, because I just wanted to learn the basics. I could learn until 12.15 and then explore the city , museums, surroundings, activities, etc. I lived close to the library “médiathèque” and the piscine olympique, so I could also learn or do dome sport after the course. The Activities of the school were very good. I tried to participate in all I could. I enjoyed it very much.