French Cultural Center

This is a review only about the summer language program for teenagers. Three hours a day, five days a week for two weeks in August.
PROS: My son is sort of in the middle — not quite a beginner, but not ready for something other than a beginners level. The school started him in the lower level, but moved him up to a higher level once they could more fully assess his skills. He feels he did learn a lot and it straightened out some grammar issues for him.
CONS: This is not a dynamic, conversational, make-​your-​child-​want-​to-​learn-​French program. It was very dry teaching style that included a lot of worksheets. The teachers were very knowledgeable and clearly knew the language — they just didn’t do much to engage the students. I wanted him to HEAR the language, SPEAK the language. That really didn’t happen.
My other rather major disappointment is that they did not provide an end of course evaluation. Nothing was provided to indicate what was covered, what your child learned, if your child behaved in class, what you should do next. It was a lot of money and I think they should be provide you with something that lets you know if your child’s skills have improved or not.
So, while I believe it did give him a better foundation for this year’s school program, I don’t think I will use it again.

This review is specifically about the Bastille Day event on Marlborough St. We attended this year after reading a positive review here and were pretty disappointed for the steep cover price (around $ 30 pp with the ticketing fees). Once inside the gated area we could buy food (mostly $ 3 – 5) from local French restaurants, which was OK, but not very extensive; and as enthusiasts of French cuisine we were extremely disappointed with the wine selection. For $ 7/​glass we decided to skip that entirely. We had gone mainly interested in the food /​wine, not because we were big devotees of either of the bands that played. We left within an hour, feeling that we’d blown a lot of money between the tickets and food samples. We wished we’d splurged on a nice French restaurant meal instead.

I attended the Bastille Day festival sponsored by the French Cultural Center both last year (2010) and again this year (2011). I highly recommend this event. There’s plenty of great French food offered by local French and French-​influenced restaurants. This year’s restaurants included places such as Chez Henri, Sandrine’s Bistro, Dore Creperie and Terenga. The Dore crepes were insanely popular; I stood in line for over 20 minutes for a crêpe. It was worth it, however. The entry price: $ 35 at the event, $ 28 before, is a bit steep, but IMO, it can be worth it for the really great musical acts. This year featured Rupa and the April Fishes from San Francisco. Awesome music and in French!

I won’t even pretend to not be biased.
French is one of those languages that mesmerizes even the most stoic ears. I volunteered for one of their holiday events a couple weeks ago and almost moved all my earthly possessions into a broom closet.
I like the building that much.
The unrealized ‘yupster’ in me likes the entire neighborhood, actually. The Black girl in me can’t get with anything gentrified. I still cringe when I order at Starbucks. Hell, is it even gentrification? Boston’s so old, we could probably just call it natural change.
Anyway, they offer language classes and a discount for members that teach French. They also take on volunteers and interns for all who are interested. It’s a nice environment and they have an amazing library.
C’est tout.

We have a family membership, as our kids are in a french language program in our local public elementary schools. We stop in for books in French, the occasional program, and I have taken Saturday classes here as well. There are loads of great cultural programs — being a busy parent no longer living in Boston proper, we don’t get to many.
One more benefit — members get discounted Saturday daytime parking at the Boston Common Garage. Just buy a sticker at the front desk to put on your ticket.

This is apparently the second-​largest French library in the US. It’s in an old house and so the lay-​out is rather quirky, but that just adds to the charm. Surprisingly, the focus is on non-​fiction, although you’ll also find both adult and children’s fiction. There is also a relatively small DVD collection.
There are a couple of comfy reading rooms for perusing books on the spot, but if you want to check out any books you must first become a member, which at $ 60 a year will probably scare away all but the most francophile. The membership does however also give you discounted rates on special events (lectures, film screening, etc.) as well as invitations to some member-​only events.