I can't say enough about working with Christelle. She is simply great. I have studied French for many years, in many settings, and my experience with Christelle has by far been the best. She has a number of qualities that I really appreciate: -- She is a a professional teacher, with a clear understanding of how people learn languages and common pitfalls that occur. She also has excellent knowledge of both French *and* English grammar, and can explain the French language in a way that makes sense for English speakers. -- She does a good job of balancing grammar studies with free conversation. To speak a language well, I am a firm believer you just have to spend many, many hours speaking it. A solid understanding of grammar, though, is essential to accelerating this process. In our lessons, we would spend a good fraction just chatting. She would then identify rough spots where we could review grammar points and add vocabulary. I really liked this adaptive approach, and felt like the session was finely tuned to my needs. -- She comes prepared with a huge array of content: radio interviews, videos, newspaper clippings, grammar summaries, vocab sheets, etc. She tries to identify subjects her students are interested in (cooking, traveling, hobbies, etc.) and then tunes the content to those areas. Christelle is the best language teacher I have ever had. I just can't recommend her highly enough. read more

Finding a tutor through BAFT was very easy, I just emailed their website describing my background and needs as a French learner and they connected me to a tutor quickly. I ended up taking lessons with Christelle and had an amazing experience. Christelle is a wonderful teacher and when I take lessons with her I feel as if all of the struggle and headache that usually comes with learning a new language goes away entirely. The process is fun and accessible and it is always a pleasure to work with Christelle, and each week I feel as if I have gained noticeable progress. She is very understanding with student's unique needs and backgrounds and as someone who had come to her with zero experience with French I felt that she gave me a fantastic level of support in starting from the ground up. read more

I would highly recommend Christelle for French tutoring. She was very available, knowledgeable, and willing to customize our session to meet my objectives. Trying to learn a new language is difficult and can produce great anxiousness. Christelle was excellent at helping me relax. She was also kind and supportive. read more

I studied French for 10 years, but always in a scholastic format. And then I didn't speak, read, or write it for ~20 years. Cut to a couple of years ago: I was interested in rehabbing this area of my brain for an upcoming trip, and started working with Pascale. Initially, she had me re-study some of the tricky stuff (goddamn subjunctive!) But in our meetings she's also helped tremendously to improve my conversation in French, which was always my weakest point. Highly recommended! read more

I have been working with Christelle for a while now and feel that I have learnt so much! I never really took any interest in learning French whilst at school so I would say that I was a complete beginner when I started and now I feel I can have a conversation, very basic I might add but nonetheless, a conversation! I would recommend Christelle for her patience and great teaching. read more

Christelle is exceptional and I look forward each week to working with her. She is empathetic, understanding, encouraging and so very patient. She quickly corrects mistakes without judgment which is so helpful with conversation and comprehension. I feel so lucky to have found her some years ago and I highly recommend her. There is no better instructor. read more

Christelle was my French Tutor for over 2 years and it was such an amazing experience. Christelle has such a great attitude when it comes to teaching the French language. She is always patient, engaging, and comes up with methods & strategies that progressed the French language learning process for me. She was able to create a customized learning plan, tailored to my needs which helped me significantly to attain a solid foundation of the French language. I highly recommend to anyone looking to learn French to work with Christelle, you won't be disappointed! THANK YOU Christelle for being such a great instructor and coach! Merci beaucoup! read more

My husband and I have been working with Christelle for the past several months and recommend her highly. We had spent time in Paris last year for a few weeks and were each working with online programs after lackadaisical school classes long ago. For our upcoming longer visit, we wanted to understand and speak more--we felt we had words and phrases here and there, but none of the linking material. From our first meeting, Christelle tailored her lessons to our level and our particular interests and got us talking. Her style is warm, encouraging, and fun, which is exactly what we needed to gain confidence. We look forward to putting all she has taught us into practice ...starting tomorrow in Paris! read more

I started ambitiously learning French 4 years ago, when I met this charming Frenchman who later became my husband (the French lessons definitely helped me seal the deal :) I started with beginner classes at the Alliance Francaise SF, then The French Class, then an intensive class in Paris. But NOTHING prepared me better for real-life French speaking than my private tutoring sessions with Pascale. I became so confident, quick on my toes, and was speaking fluidly in French on a variety of topics that Pascale and I would cover. Private lessons with Pascale are great because you get 100% of her attention (vs a class, where you are only speaking for part of the time, when it's your turn). She is a mobile tutor, so will meet you wherever is convenient. We met 1x per week for about 3 months, in preparation for my engagement party in France (where, I was able to give a speech in French, and mingle with all the French friends & family). Our sessions were focused on conversation, and learning vocabulary and grammar that was most useful to me & the way I speak. No point in learning stock phrases you'll never use! With Pascale, she took notes at each of our sessions, jotting down all the words I was learning, and sent me the vocabulary list after each session, so I could study further. If you want to be conversational in REAL French, you need to invest in private lessons, which will force you to speak constantly, and have someone to correct your mistakes. Pascale is a real pro, and will whip you into shape! Her prices are VERY reasonable, too (I compared to many other tutors). Bonne chance, mes amis! read more

Sophie was my daughter's high school French tutor for French 3. Sophie took her from a frustrated student who had fallen behind to a motivated A-student. We are now done with French 3 and couldn't be happier with the results. Our daughter needed more help with French than she was getting from her school. We interviewed 3 possible tutors from 3 different sources. One of them was Sophie from Bay Area French Tutor. Sophie stood out because she was confident, results-oriented and gave us a realistic estimate on what it would take to reach our goals. She clearly knew her stuff and was not a pushover. But she was also friendly and flexible in her approach. Still, we had moderate expectations given that we were starting from behind. But we were delighted to find that Sophie and our daughter connected very well. Sophie was non-judgmental and patient when our daughter did not know something which meant she could ask questions freely and with confidence. Sophie also helped bring French to life by explaining things from her personal experience of living in France. I think that really helped take it from a just a mandatory course to an interesting opportunity to learn about another culture. Sophie was always professional and always punctual. She kept our daughter motivated and on track. We didn't consider this at the beginning but Sophie is also a family therapist and I think that gives her an advantage. This gives her the ability to adapt her approach based on the learning style and personality of the student she is tutoring and that helps contribute to a successful outcome. Of course our daughter had a huge role in all this as well. Once she had the help of Sophie, she was extremely responsible in preparing for her tutoring sessions and doing the pre-work. Thank you Sophie for giving us a great result and also turning French into a positive and enjoyable subject! read more

Christelle is an excellent teacher. She has worked with my son for about a year now to maintain -- and improve -- his level. She is patient, her materials are on-point and helpful. Our son says that he would recommend her to anyone who is serious about improving their French. read more

I just wanted to write an update on my review from over a year ago. I've now been Christelle Durandy's student for 1.5 years, and we meet 3x a week for 1 hour each. I still have nothing but positive words for her teaching. I have two relevant experiences to share: 1. After about a year of taking classes with her, I decided I wanted to enroll in classes at the Alliance Française at Berkeley so I could gain more exposure to the language and feel more comfortable speaking French in a group setting. With 1 year of her lessons, I was able to jump into classes at level B1/B2 and excel. I noticed that among my peers at the Alliance who started their training there or elsewhere, I had finer control over my grammar and syntax because Christelle and I had drilled grammar in conversation so much. I was making less basic mistakes than the other students because of the sheer amount of 1-on-1 time I had with my tutor and her excellent insight to spend time focusing and working on these points. 2. I still have that francophone boyfriend, except now he's my fiancé! Last month, my French future mother-in-law told me that her brother and his wife were visiting SF and that they wanted to meet me since they wouldn't be able to make my wedding the following year. I ended up spending over three hours with my French relatives-to-be, and we were able to hold a real conversation, discussing things like our plans for the future, the history of Chinatown, what dimsum is and how it's consumed, etc. That's been my greatest joy and success so far with these lessons -- the ability to talk to real French people in their native language with ease. I have one other experience with language tutoring, and that was when I tried to learn Chinese in a similar manner (with a private tutor, but only 1x per week). When I compare my experience with Christelle to that of my short-lived Chinese lessons, there is definitely a huge difference in quality. Whereas my previous tutor would just show up and put me through her standard program for students, Christelle is constantly crafting and adapting a pedagogical program for you that she thinks will best suit your needs in French. She puts so much of herself into her work, and she is clearly very passionate about it. Of course, while it took me a lot of work to get to where I am now, I think it's easy to work hard without getting as far as quickly -- e.g., if you were to rely on DuoLingo or other free resources or group French classes. Therein lies the value, in my opinion, of tutoring sessions like those offered by Bay Area French Tutor. With someone as capable as Christelle and with the direct attention you get from having a 1-on-1 tutor, you can go much farther than you otherwise would have on your own. Highly recommend. I especially recommend Christelle. Any student that gets on her schedule should consider themselves extremely lucky; she is a true gem. read more

Highly recommend Christelle, who has been my tutor for two years. I am speaking intermediate French now! Although I've had to take some time away from my French, I will be back because I found the format of one on one with Christelle was really helpful for my learning and growth. read more

I have studied French for number of years, and I needed someone to identify errors I still make and to help me correct them before my next trip to France. Christelle understood exactly what I need at my level, and thought of various ways to help. During our conversations about a variety of subjects she listens for my errors and sometimes gives me written exercises for practice, but always explains the logic behind the French grammar that is sometimes so different from the logic of English. She has also introduced me to French radio and TV, to give me a better sense of the sounds and rhythms of today's spoken French. The hours I spend with Christelle are invaluable, and they are interesting and entertaining as well. read more

Christelle is fantastic. She helped me prep for a job interview that required some French. She's has a very grounding, non-judgemental style, which helped me not get flustered when I couldn't remember the right word or tense. She's also great at telling you where to focus your energies when studying. I would definitely recommend her to anyone who wants to learn or improve their French, and I'll be booking more time with her in the future. read more

When I retired, I decided to get serious about learning to communicate in French. That is when I found Christelle. My wife is French and most of her family still lives in France. We visit often. While I was working, I took some French classes but was unable to learn much. I can't say enough about what a pleasure it has been to study with Christelle. She is an excellent teacher. She understood from the start that my primary goal was speaking French - reading or writing not so much. So, she geared our sessions together to that end. She also inquired into my interests and wove those into our studies. But equally important, she is a wonderful person. She has put up with and redirected my frustrations in learning the language with a mix of caring and humor. And because of all of that I continue to grow in my ability to communicate in French. read more

Without reservation, I can say that I learned more French and gained the confidence to actually speak it while working with Christelle. For many years, I went back and forth between class and self instruction but didn't gain a satisfactory level of fluency. However, Christelle's method of teaching French was different in that it is patient, approachable and most importantly...fun! There are ways of learning from a native speaker that cannot be over appreciated. It was also my first time working with a tutor and I couldn't have been more pleased. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to continue my studies (hello, life), but I would not hesitate to work with Christelle again. So, if you're looking for an awesome French tutor, look no further! read more

Christelle is a fantastic French teacher. I enjoy her classes immensely. She is a patient teacher and really helps with French pronunciation. I am new to French and I feel like I have learned a lot over the last year with Christelle. read more

I'd like to commend Christelle on her diligence and passion. I've been taking private French lessons with Christelle for more than 5 years and I can truly see a tremendous improvement in my speaking skills. She tailors every lesson to areas where my language skills are weaker and creates precise exercises to strengthen those skills. At my current language level when most the grammar was already introduced, she finds ways to reintroduce specific grammar scenarios into our conversation so that they are not forgotten. I always look forward to my lesson with Christelle! read more

I've been impressed by the professionalism and responsiveness of my French teacher Christelle. I took French classes from two different schools before turning to Bay Area French Tutor. After more than a year of those lessons, I decided that I could make more progress in a one-to-one tutorial. Christelle is experienced, knowledgeable, and patient. She adjusts our lessons according to my needs, and she has introduced me to many foreign language resources that I can now access online. I've learned a lot from working with her, and I can see a definite improvement in my French. read more

Pascale and her team are patient, understanding, and adaptive to your learning style and needs. They focus on what motivates you, mixes what you do know with new material, and moves you systematically on a faster path to your goals than language books, other tutors, courses, or online tools do. (I've tried them all, trust me.) They go beyond the textbooks regularly, and work for you beyond your tutoring session by providing extra materials, answering questions, researching, and sending you follow up materials that they feel will help you between your sessions. She also hosts activities and groups that reinforce your French skills and provides that pay-off of being to actually communicate instead of just learning words and grammar. They make it fun while keeping you challenged. Personally, Pascale is one of the most patient people I have ever met in my life. You will have no fear with Pascale or Verónica, very sweet people who actually care about you and your desire to learn the French language. read more

Pascale is a VERY RARE gem. Having grown up in the UK where learning French is taken seriously, I was surprised by how hard it is here, in the supposedly Europhile Bay Area, to find a genuinely competent, straightforward, systematic and qualified teacher for my daughter. At last, after several years of trying, we found Pascale. My daughter (age 8) has been working with her for a year and is already competent and able to write and speak well, with an almost flawless accent and enough confidence to hold her own in basic exchanges when we visit France. Pascale's commitment is to TEACH. Not babysit, bribe or entertain. And my daughter LOVES her. She is respectful, joyful, and encouraging based on actual learning and progress rather than empty praise. A true Teacher. read more

I started working with Pascale about 7 months ago when I decided to refresh my French conversation. I was in advanced french classes in High School and College, but as you know - American schools don't have you speaking much French, just understanding and writing the language. Pascale has helped me tremendously to work through my fear of speaking. We meet at a coffee shop and we mostly talk like girlfriends do, catching up on the week, telling stories from my past, etc. She also gives me homework which includes reading stories, grammar exercises, and writing. If I don't have a chance to do the homework we just talk and sometimes read out loud. Pascale is just the right amount of forceful yet forgiving - couldn't recommend her more:) read more

I have been working with Christelle for about 6 months now and take lessons with her once per week. I had no previous exposure to French before meeting her. During our sessions, we review what she taught me last session or she teaches something new and we practice it through listening, speaking, or writing. She corrects my pronunciation, which I really appreciate, because it allows me to form good habits that don't need to be fixed later on. In between sessions, she assigns homework which helps me make progress on my own. She's super patient when I don't know something and explains things very clearly. She's intuitive and knows how to focus the session on what I'm struggling with the most. I feel safe to make mistakes or not know something but also challenged to learn and improve. I tend to be impatient with my own process and she's been assuring, which helps me a lot too. Having a strong grasp on the language still feels like a far away goal, but I certainly have learned A LOT in a short period of time. After my first 2 sessions, I was able to conjugate verbs and form basic sentences. Before our lessons, listening to French radio sounded like a blur of words that ran together and I understood almost none of it. My listening skills have improved tremendously and can get a general understanding of the news when I listen to French radio. Speaking and reading aloud feels a lot more comfortable too. When I tell French speakers I have studied the language for 6 months, they are super impressed, even if I'm nowhere near fluent. Christelle has both the technical skills of a strong teacher as well as the intangible/soft skills of understanding students' needs and making adjustments based on them. I'm very thankful to be working with her and higher recommend her. read more

Christelle gave French lessons to my daughter (7th grade) and she was great! My daughter really enjoyed the lessons and learned a lot. We highly recommend Christelle. read more

My spouse and I took lessons from Christelle for 6 months in our home because scheduling was tight and inconsistent. We were also getting ready to move and our attention span was greatly impaired. Christelle was patient, funny and thorough. She brought focus when we had none. She put up with our variety in meeting times. She gave us a tremendous trajectory in learning. Her attention to detail and grammar, in our lessons, was absolutely top notch. The only complaint was on us. We wish we'd had more time, done more and most of all, taken her with us when we moved. read more

I am a 50-something year old who, a year and a half ago, decided I wanted to learn French. I have been to France for two intensive month-long language courses and plan to do a third, but in-between, I've been continuing my studies in Berkeley by taking weekly French classes through Bay Area French Tutor. My teacher is Christelle, a native of France and a lovely, positive person to boot. She has been nothing but encouraging and patient with me! Christelle makes learning fun and she tailors the lessons around my language goals using methods that take into consideration the way I, personally, learn best. read more

I have had the pleasure of working with Beatrice, a Bay Area French tutor, for the past nine months. I had next to no prior knowledge of the language and wanted to develop proficiency for travel and family communication. She has helped me learn in a way that is responsive to my priorities, and balances listening and speaking with reading and writing. As a native French speaker from France, she also intertwines cultural knowledge and history into my learning of the language, which is invaluable and impossible to learn from a book or online program, in my opinion. She is funny, flexible, and has become a friend as well as a teacher. I would highly recommend working with her! read more

Pascale was my French teacher during this spring and I loved her very much. She organized this amazing dinner/French conversation party, and she organized conversation meet-ups too, which were great for a beginner like me, because she always corrected our mistakes but kept the conversation flowing. As my private tutor she was always super prepared, and at the same time also very flexible about what I wanted. She gave me lots of helpful links and ideas that made learning French more fun. She is a super nice person! We still keep in touch although I had to move away. I can only say good things about her, I absolutely loved her and I highly recommend her as a tutor! read more

My daughter needed to finish her French 3 in 8 weeks during this crazy summer. She made it and got A-score with the great help from Christelle! Christelle is very knowledgeable and skillful on setup the teaching path based on my daughter's situation, schedule, and needs. She explained the contents clearly. She would go extra miles and provided more practices to make sure my daughter got the solid grip. I highly recommend her to anyone needs French tutor! read more

I had classes with Christelle twice in preparation for the TCF. In both instances her assistance directly contributed to my improved results. She is an excellent French tutor and very knowledgeable on the test structure, and provided strategies to help me succeed. After my initial classes with her, I decided to come back and would continue to work if her. While I have succeeded on the TCF with her help, I am sure that if I need additional help in the future I will seek her services again. read more

Christelle was amazing to work with before my husband and I left for our two-week vacation travelling around France. She gave us extremely useful tips and we were able to apply her advice many times on our journey. Would love to work with her again in the future! read more

Pascale and Christelle are both amazing and have helped me manage new vocabulary, pronunciation and reading skills. I was very nervous about speaking French but both instructors made me feel comfortable and corrected my pronunciation and my vocabulary in a kind way. I travel quite a bit and my schedule is chaotic and they both have been kind to manage around the chaos and keep me on track. I am told by my French friends that my accent and pronunciation is very good and that I have progressed a great deal since I started with Pascale in November. Can't say enough about this team. read more

I've never worked with a tutor before, but I was looking for someone to help me brush up on my French. I feel so lucky to have found Christelle. She was very skillful about tailoring our lessons to my goals and my weaknesses. She was always positive, encouraging, and she helped me to overcome some anxiety I was having about conversing with a native speaker. She provided me with a wealth of resources that were selected with my interests in mind, and I so looked forward to engaging in meaningful and relevant conversation with her in every session. I appreciated the way she dealt with my mistakes. Instead of correcting me on the spot, and disrupting the flow of the conversation, she first listened to what I had to say, and later she would gently suggest some alternative ways for me to express my ideas. Also, she has a great sense of humor! I cannot recommend her enough, Christelle is an awesome teacher. read more

I worked with Christelle for a few months before a 2 month trip to France and she was VERY helpful! I had some basic skills but she helped me pull it all together and patch the holes in my knowledge. Really fun classes, learned a ton, could speak when I went to France. Can't ask for more! read more

Christelle is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable tutor, who is patient with errors and helpful with all the small details of the French language. She is also flexible in terms of when and how you meet and is eager to point out practical ways you can improve your grammar and pronunciation. She makes an effort to tailor your lessons to your particular situation and interests. I highly recommend her. read more

Pascale is extraordinary! I love learning with her. She has many resources and approaches to teaching French. Plus I travel a lot for work and work long hours - yet she's still patient with whatever I can do between lessons. I love working with Pascale, she's the best! read more

Christelle has been my French tutor for five years and I don't know what I would do without her! My husband is from France, and we both live in the US, but I desperately needed to learn French in order to communicate with his family as they don't speak any English. I take class weekly with Christelle and it's always a pleasure, never a chore. She is extremely patient and reinforces everything from grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, idioms, etc. She always keeps the class interactive and spices it up with new exercises. Christelle is not only formally trained as a teacher, but she also clearly has a passion for teaching French which comes through in her lessons. She takes note on basics that I'm forgetting and incorporates the simple stuff along with advanced level complexities, so I don't keep making novice mistakes. I would highly recommend learning French with Christelle! read more

After a year of work with Christelle, I now have a good grasp on French grammar, tenses, reading and writing! As I am moving out of the Bay Area, I hope to continue my French studies. I will be remembering and using the foundations Christelle has taught me! read more

Christelle was able to help me refresh my study of the French language. She was very encouraging. I do recommend the Bay Area French Tutor. As a busy professional, I found it especially helpful that she was able to tutor me in my home. read more