Our Approach : Personalized French lessons tailored to your needs
A specific learning program build around you
Our approach starts with you — your pace, your voice, your goals.
We design a tailored French course and match you with the right tutor — in Paris or online.
Each learning path begins with a conversation.
Every student starts with a one-on-one meeting with Violaine, founder and director of Bespoke French Lessons. This first exchange happens online and lasts around twenty minutes. It offers a quiet space for listening. Violaine asks questions, observes your pace, and senses how French could take root in your way of thinking.
She listens for more than level. She listens for rhythm, tone, temperament — and for the kind of French tutor who will work best with your learning style.
This meeting lays the foundation. It initiates a tailored French course designed specifically for you.
A structure that follows you
Your first session begins where you are. You speak. The tutor listens with full attention. They take notes on how your French moves: the words you choose, the phrases you build, the moments where structure softens or stalls.
After the session, your tutor writes you a custom course — a concise, precise document based entirely on what you said. It includes vocabulary, grammar adjustments, phrasing suggestions, and expressive alternatives drawn from your own language.
This written feedback becomes the base for your next lesson. Over time, this system builds depth, fluency, and clarity.
A distinctive method
We don’t follow pre-built programs or fixed textbooks. Each lesson is created after the session. The material comes from your language — not from templates.
We offer private French lessons in Paris and online French classes, both rooted in the same approach. The method adapts to your rhythm, your style, and your capacity for progression.
The same structure supports students of every level, from beginners to advanced French learners. Everyone receives a course that belongs to them alone.
Advanced learners find presence and precision
Many of our students arrive with strong foundations. They speak with ease, read fluently, and understand French in daily life. Still, they seek more. They want to feel connected to what they say. They want to sound like themselves.
Our teachers help students refine their tone, broaden idiomatic range, and strengthen the relationship between thought and speech. Sessions often include literary or philosophical texts, moments of writing, and focused oral expression.
The goal stays simple: to make room for your ideas in the French language, and to give them the structure they require.
Learning online — and entering another space
Our online French lessons offer more than convenience. They create a setting — intimate, attentive, precise — where the language becomes a place in itself.
For many students based in New York, London, Sydney, Berlin, Los Angeles, Singapore, or Toronto, studying with us means more than improving fluency. It means stepping, for an hour, into something that feels like a quiet café in Paris — where the conversation deepens, where your words begin to take shape in another register, and where a new part of you begins to emerge.
Some students speak better French online than they do in person. The focus is stronger. The silence helps. The sessions create a space where French becomes part of your thinking, not just your skill set.
Over time, the distance fades. The language feels closer. You begin to think, joke, explain, and reflect — not in translation, but in French.
For many, this shift leads not just to fluency, but to a new kind of presence — in speech, in writing, in identity.
You begin to sound more like yourself. In another language.
French immersion in Paris
We offer French immersion courses in the city for students based in Paris or passing through.
These sessions take place in cafés, bookstores, galleries, quiet streets, historic corners — always led by a tutor with deep knowledge of the city. Many are writers, historians, or guides with a sense of detail and atmosphere.
You walk. You speak. You observe. The French emerges in movement, connected to experience and place.
After the session, your tutor writes a follow-up lesson — just as for classroom or online work. The learning continues with the same rhythm and structure.
Cultural learning through language
Some students choose to centre their course on French culture. We offer tailored programs in literature, philosophy, film, society, and art history — always adapted to your level and interests.
You might work on a novel, discuss contemporary journalism, study an architectural style, or compare translations. The tutor brings materials that resonate with your intellectual life, and helps you build the language to engage with them in depth.
These courses combine language and culture in a way that deepens expression and invites conversation.
Our structure
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The first meeting takes place with Violaine, who listens carefully and matches you with the right tutor.
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Your course begins with speech, not grammar. Each lesson grows from your words.
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After every session, your tutor sends a written course document built entirely from your own language.
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Lessons follow your rhythm. They evolve organically — not through chapters, but through attention.
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You can choose between private French classes in Paris, online sessions, or a mix of both.
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We also offer French immersion experiences and culture-based programs, depending on your goals.
This approach respects your learning instinct and builds a space where French becomes precise, expressive, and personal.
FAQ — Our Approach: How Learning French Becomes Personal
How is your approach different from traditional language schools?
We don’t follow fixed curricula or hand you a textbook on day one. Each lesson begins with you — your rhythm, your voice, your goals. Grammar and vocabulary are introduced naturally through conversation and writing that come from your own words. The structure follows your progress, not a program.
Do you still teach grammar?
Yes — but never in isolation. We use a grammar base (for beginners, a clear manual of reference) only as a framework to clarify what you already say. Grammar comes after meaning, not before it. It supports thought instead of interrupting it.
How do you choose the right tutor for each student?
After a short conversation with Violaine, our founder, you’re matched with the tutor who fits your learning style — calm or energetic, literary or practical, detail-oriented or free-flowing. The goal is not just linguistic compatibility, but human harmony.
What happens after the first lesson?
After each session, your tutor writes a short, personal course based on what you said — vocabulary, grammar, idiomatic turns, expressive alternatives. The next lesson starts there. Progress becomes circular, not linear: you return, refine, and move forward.
Can beginners follow this method?
Absolutely. For beginners, we start with solid foundations — essential grammar, pronunciation, and daily language structures — but in real contexts. You learn to order coffee, write a message, introduce yourself, while gradually entering the deeper structure of French.
What if I already speak French but feel “stuck”?
That’s where we work best. Many advanced learners plateau between fluency and authenticity. Together, we refine tone, rhythm, idiom — the invisible architecture of language. You begin to sound not perfect, but real.
What kind of materials do you use in lessons?
We work from life, not textbooks — but also from literature, journalism, and art. Depending on your interests, your tutor may bring a poem, a short story, a cultural article, a video clip, or a scene from a film. Everything you read or hear becomes part of your French.
How immersive are online lessons compared to being in Paris?
Online sessions are surprisingly immersive. Many students describe them as a “quiet Paris hour” — focused, intimate, free of distraction. The distance helps: you hear your own rhythm more clearly, and the language settles into your mind as something internal, not performed.
Can I combine online and in-person lessons?
Yes. Many of our students begin online and continue in Paris, or the reverse. The same structure follows you wherever you are — your notes, your rhythm, your tutor’s attention. It’s one continuous conversation.
What is a French immersion lesson in Paris like?
It can take place in a café, a bookstore, a museum, or a garden. You walk, observe, describe, and speak. The tutor listens, guides, and notes. Afterwards, you receive a written course built from that experience. The city becomes your classroom.
Do you use technology in your lessons?
We use it only when it enhances learning — to share texts, audio, or cultural content, never to replace human interaction. What matters is presence: attention, conversation, and the quiet precision that no tool can imitate.
Why is listening so central to your method?
Because every language begins with listening.
It’s how a tutor understands not only what you say, but how you say it — your tone, pauses, hesitations, and thought process. Listening is the foundation of trust, and trust is what makes learning possible.
How do I start?
Simply contact us. We’ll schedule your first conversation with Violaine and design your program from there. Every story begins with one word — yours.