Program Details
French Private Tuition: Definition
Private French classes are when you have a French teacher for yourself, or for you and a friend or family member. With French private lessons, you can play a greater role in steering the content of the course (if you want to), while leaving your instructor to provide lessons at the right level for you.
Program Info
Online
Taking classes online means receiving live lessons with your ILI teacher via a video call at a pre-scheduled time.
In-person
In-person lessons take place at our campus in downtown Northampton, MA and require your physical attendance.
Group Size
Course Timings
Your Private French Schedule
You are in charge with our private French lessons! You choose when your lessons take place (Monday through Friday as long as the teacher is available), how long they last, and how frequently you meet with your instructor. Simply book a total number of hours and we work with you to figure out the best schedule. The length of your course is determined by how many hours you purchase.
TIP: We believe that booking a bundle of hours and establishing a consistent lesson routine is the ideal approach.
Benefits of Private French
One-on-one French classes with your own private tutor gives you the best opportunity to:
- Learn at your own pace with an experienced French teacher
- Get undivided attention from your teacher and more speaking time
- Focus on the areas of French where you need the most help
- Increase your fluency if you already have good French speaking skills
- Learn at times and days to suit you and your busy schedule
- Lessons can be online or in-person at our school in Northampton
Our teachers
ILI’s French instructors are skilled in creating engaging and student-centered lessons, drawing inspiration from student input and objectives as well as their many years of experience.
Feedback
“8 weeks of instruction with Sabine (in preparation for a trip to Paris) really advanced my confidence and command of French, which was based on long ago high school & college classes. “
Jayme Hannay
Program Info
Online
Taking classes online means receiving live lessons with your ILI teacher via a video call at a pre-scheduled time.
In-person
In-person lessons take place at our campus in downtown Northampton, MA and require your physical attendance.
Group Size
Course Timings
Formats
In-person, or Online?
As well as managing your own schedule and helping us shape the content of your private French lessons at ILI, you also get to choose whether you attend classes with us, face-to-face, or if you prefer to stay online.
In-person, private French tuition in Northampton, Massachusetts
Come to our school in downtown Northampton for your French class, and you’ll soon be a part of our friendly community of language learners and teachers.
We’re just a few minutes’ walk from the Roundhouse parking lot and the Peter Pan Bus Terminal (Peter Pan line, R42, R44).
In-person classes may be more representative of the kinds of real-life situations you might find yourself in when you’re speaking French in the future. Plus you get to encounter our lovely team and meet other students. Maybe you’ll bump into other native French speakers that you can practice with!
Online private French tutorial with ILI
Our online classes will also be with a real human, in real time. The lessons will be created just for you in the same way as with the in-person option, and we’ll make sure you progress just the same too.
One big benefit of online classes is that it saves you the logistical hassle of getting to and from the school each lesson. If you’re a very busy person, you also save time by just logging in and out for your lesson.
Northampton, Massachusetts is in the Eastern Time Zone (ET) and observes daylight saving time (DST). You can arrange lessons from anywhere in the world, so long as they fit into ILI’s working day. You can check out the compatibility of your time zone here.
If you’re not sure which option is best for you, please contact us and we can discuss this with you.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
We’re certain that you’ll have some questions ahead of launching into a private French tutorial, and that’s why we’re here to help.
Here are some of the questions we get asked the most. Please use the form below to get in touch, and we’ll be right back to you.
Selected FAQs
The benefit of having the luxury of a teacher to yourself, or your small mini group is that the teacher can respond to you personally to a higher degree than in a larger group. It also means you’re almost always in the spotlight – you’ll speak a lot more, and everything will be aimed at you! That makes learning this way very efficient, and intensive. To make the most of these classes, you’ll need to spend plenty of time between classes refreshing and reviewing what you covered last time, and learning vocabulary so you’re ready to move on next lesson.
The first thing to remember when you’re taking private language lessons is that you get to go at your own pace. That’s because you’re in the driver’s seat!
Since there is no one else in the class, you get to set targets to match your specific goals.
There are no requirements however, we recommend that you follow up after lessons to keep refreshing what you’ve learned.
But the harder you work between lessons (including things like watching TV in the language you’re learning, and all the other great free ways of practicing the language), the faster you’ll get there.
We don’t expect you to do this perfectly, but a lot of language learning is about repetition, so the more times you see, say and hear the language through the week, the more it will sink in and become part of your own vocabulary, ready to expand in the next lesson to impress your teacher!
The easy answer is, it depends. The more complicated answer is that many factors go into determining how long it takes to learn a new language: your learning methods, background, mindset, time put into study among other things. Here’s an in depth article on the topic.
For example: If you’re preparing for fast-paced negotiations with a Spanish supplier, and you’re currently an intermediate level of Spanish, you might need 40 or 50 hours focused on the particular area of Business Spanish for negotiations.
If you want to polish up your rusty school Spanish and become fairly fluent ahead of a new life or extended travels in a Spanish-speaking country, then that might take you 120-150 hours of private individual Spanish lessons.
Flexibility is one of the many benefits of a private tutorial. As long as a teacher is available, you can set up your tutorial to meet their scheduling needs. Most students purchase a block of hours and meet with their teacher once per week for one hour. However, if you want to learn at a faster pace, scheduling lessons more than once per week will help get you to your goal faster. The length of your course is determined by how many hours you purchase and how frequently you are able to meet with your teacher.
Yes you can. We recommend a minimum of 10 hours of private language lessons because as that allows your teacher to plan your learning trajectory and help you achieve the best progress.
Taking private language lessons is the most flexible way to learn with us. If you have one or two friends or colleagues, we will assess them to determine if they are at the same (or a very similar) language level to you. If yes, and you’re available at the same times, we can set up semi-private tutorial classes for you.
Flexibility is one of the many benefits of a private tutorial. As long as the teacher is available, you can set up your tutorial to meet your scheduling needs.
It’s normal to purchase a block of hours and schedule regular lessons with your teacher each week. The length of your private course is then determined by how many hours you purchase.
A semi-private tutorial is two or more students with one teacher. Semi-private tutorials are a good option when you want to learn in a group of two or more of your own friends or classmates of your choice. If you choose this option, you are responsible for finding your own tutorial partner(s). Cancellation protocols apply to this type of tutorial. The cost of a semi-private tutorial is $45 per hour per person.
For cancellations we ask that you give your instructor 24 hours notice. There is no charge the first time you do not attend a confirmed session. After that, any time you do not join a confirmed session, regular charges will apply — even if you send late notification. Refunds are calculated based on the number of hours used and which price tier was reached. For instance: if you purchased 10 hours (10 x $70 = $700, the Tier 2 rate) but only use 7 hours (7 x $75= $525, the Tier 1 rate) your refund will be $175 ($700 – $525)
A private tutorial means one student with one teacher.
1 hour only: $85
Tier 1: 1 to 9 hours of class time at $75.00 per hour
Tier 2: 10 to 19 hours: $70.00 per hour
Tier 3: 20 or more hours: $65.00 per hour
You can purchase any number of tutorial hours. We honor the discounted rate once you accumulate over 9 and again over 19 hours.
In other words, you purchase 5 hours to start at 5 x $75 = $375 then decide to add 5 more which would bring you to 10 accumulated hours. You would then pay the $70 rate ($350)
View all our Frequently Asked Questions >
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Costs
Course fees
You can book any amount of hours. Here are some popular choices:
Private, individual 1:1 French lessons
These are the prices if it’s just you taking French lessons with your teacher. The price is the same whether you study French online or face-to-face in our language school at ILI Northampton, Massachusetts.
- 1-hour, one-off French lesson$85Ideal for a taster lesson
- 5 hours of Private French$375
- 10-hour Private French course$700Ideal as a refresher or to get some basics
- 20-hour Private French course$1,400Good for moving up a level
Private, two-person, 2:1 French lessons
These are the prices if you are going to take French lessons with your teacher and a friend, colleague or family member (online or face-to-face at ILI Northampton):
- 1-hour, one-off French lesson for two$50 eachGreat to find out how you get on with each other!
- 5 hours of 2:1 Private French$225 each
- 10 hours of 2:1 Private French$450 each
- 20-hour 2:1 Private French course$900 each
If you require a different course duration or a different class time to usual, please get in touch and we’ll tell you what’s possible and provide you with a quote.
Cancelation & Refund
Cancelation protocol for tutorials:
- Please be on time.
- If you know you will be late, please let your tutor know right away by email.
- If you need to miss a session, please let your tutor know 24 hours in advance. If a 24-hour notice is not possible, regular charges will apply.
- If you do not attend a confirmed session, regular charges will apply — even if you send late notification.
- If your tutor has to cancel a session, you will not be charged.
- Please remember to confirm your next meeting with your tutor at the end of each session.
- Questions? Send Heather an email message (heather@ili.edu)
Tutorial Refund Policy
Refunds are calculated based on the number of hours used and which price tier was reached. For instance: if you purchased 10 hours (10 x $70 = $700, the Tier 2 rate) but only use 7 hours (7 x $75= $525, the Tier 1 rate) your refund will be $175 ($700 – $525 )
Complaint Procedure
Students are encouraged to voice their opinions during feedback in class and directly to the instructor. If a student has further concerns about the class or program, World Language students should contact the World Language Coordinator, Heather Hall, by email. Further concerns should be brought to the attention of the Executive Director, Caroline Gear. Contact information is below. Students will receive a confirmation of receipt of complaint within 7 days. The final step in resolving a complaint is to contact ACCET, the agency that accredits the school. You can find the ACCET complaint procedure here.
Heather Hall: heather@ili.edu
Caroline Gear: caroline@ili.edu
ILI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, gender, gender identity, age, marital status, national origin, mental or physical handicap, political belief or affiliation, membership or non-membership in any organization, or veteran status in any aspect of the administration or treatment of students or in employment. ILI is committed to ensure that all of its services are accessible to qualified persons with disabilities in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
ILI is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training and the International Association of Language Centres and a member of the American Association on Intensive English Programs
Ready to get started with Private French Lessons?
Registering for French Lessons with ILI couldn’t be easier! Simply follow the steps below to get started:
- Complete our registration form.
- We’ll be in touch to discuss your availability.
- We’ll pair you with your ILI teacher
- We’ll confirm your start date and get you started!
Still not sure?
Not a problem! If you are searching for more information you can:
- Look at the different formats available
- View our frequently asked questions
- Get in touch and ask us a question
- Look at the costs involved.
Other ways to learn French
Group French lessons in Northampton, USA or online
Our Group French lessons take place in our lovely school in downtown Northampton, Massachusetts. The days and times depend on your level.
Study French Abroad
For the ultimate French language learning experience, head to a French-speaking country! We can assist in finding a program and location to fit your needs.
The ILI Promise
At ILI, we believe that all our actions should stem from grace and loving kindness.
- We operate as an equal opportunity organization.
- We nurture relationships beyond the classroom.
- We are committed to providing the highest quality language instruction and teacher training.
- We promote intercultural understanding and celebrate the diversity in our local communities.
- We work collaboratively to build and sustain the communities we serve.
- We believe in life-changing teaching and learning.