HOME | Contact

Language courses

Conversation Exchange Programme

Take advantage of Geneva's cultural diversity and the presence of numerous nationalities in order to improve your knowledge of any language in exchange for your own mothertongue.

It is open to all residents of Geneva and the neighbouring region and currently has 800 participants. It provides an opportunity to practise most languages and dialects, in addition to the six official languages of the UN. The programme is free and open to all (except children).

 

French courses for migrants in the canton of Geneva

Knowledge of French is important to make yourself understood in everyday situations. Whether at school, at the post office or for leisure, anywhere you need to communicate with others.
In this perspective, a leaflet (in French only) of  the Bureau de l'intégration des étrangers presents French courses at affordable prices, held at different times in various districts and communes in the canton of Geneva.

Graduate School of French Language and Civilization

A school part of the Faculté des lettres

The Ecole de langue et de civilisation françaises (ELCF), which is part of the Faculté des lettres, leads teaching and research activities and offers services in the field of French as a second language (FLE), applied linguistics and plurilingualism. Its first vocation is to teach French, in its various linguistic and cultural forms, to non-native speakers of French.

The ELCF prepares its students to a FLE Diploma, takes part in the Bachelor program of the Faculté des lettres through the discipline ‘Français langue étrangère’ and also offers a one-year program of didactic training for FLE teachers-to-be.

A service school in the University

The Ecole de langue et de civilisation françaises also fulfils missions for the whole academic community, notably the following :

  • it administrates the French exams for the admission of foreign non-French-speaking students to the University of Geneva ;
  • it offers a one-year intensive course to bring non-French-speaking students up to the required level of French (Année propédeutique);
  • it provides remedial French courses to non-French-speaking students of the various Faculties, Institutes and Schools in the University who encounter difficulties in oral or written comprehension or expression and who wish to broaden their cultural horizon or develop the specialized language of their field of study. (source: UNIGE)

 

Language exchanges for young people

Le Département de l'instruction publique (DIP) organizes language exchanges for young people. Students are encouraged to develop their knowledge of German, English and Italian by participating in language exchanges individual short or long term organized - by age - with  Ticino, Germany, Australia and Canada.

Private Language Schools

The cantonal associations of private schools publish a list of their members :

Private Schools Association in Geneva
Private Schools Association in canton de Vaud