Learn French your way with a TakeLessons expert

By Julie M. - Phoenix French Teacher

My name is Julie M., and I have just moved to Phoenix from Brussels, Belgium, a small country in Europe located just north of France. Before moving to Phoenix, I wanted to make sure I found local resources for French speakers. I browsed Google to try to find ways to meet people, and I came across a site called Meetup.com (http://www.meetup.com/).

I love the idea behind Meetup! There are over 20 million people involved in Meetup groups in about 180 countries around the world - people who love to garden, hike, walk their dogs together…you name it!

The registration process was very straight forward, and in just minutes, I created a profile with my interests (wanting to meet fellow French speakers) and my preferred location (Phoenix). From then on, the site suggested a list of groups I might be interested in joining.

After joining a group, I have met people who are interested in learning French and want to practice what they’ve learned in their French lessons in Phoenix. The activities range from going to happy hour, having a dinner together, joining a wine tasting, watching a French movie at someone’s house…the possibilities are endless. I found out that there is a small community of French speakers in the Valley (either native speakers or people wanting to learn this beautiful language), which is pretty awesome. It’s a good way to not lose your French. You can also help people learn or improve their French practice and make great friends!

I joined The North Phoenix French Speakers Meetup and The Scottsdale French Speakers group. Other than those groups, be sure to check out The Phoenix French Language and Culture Meetup (which accepts younger students) and The Phoenix French Language Meetup group.

From a student’s perspective, I think that these groups are a great, informal type of learning experience. Don’t get me wrong: taking French lessons in Phoenix is important to get the basics right! However, by participating in these groups, you can get a hands-on practice of what you have learned in class with other native speakers, which adds a tremendous value to your learning process.

From a teacher’s viewpoint, I find it very fulfilling to help and encourage students to perfect the foreign language that they desire to speak. It gives a great insight on what newbies are striving to improve, whether it be pronunciation, sentence structuring, meanings of words within a certain context or just getting over the fear of making mistakes and just talk.

I really encourage you to get involved in these groups. You may even want to consider joining a group and making it grow! You can also create your own community in a few easy steps: you just have to commit to create a real, face-to-face community. See you soon in one of the groups in Phoenix, dear students!