Student Spotlight: Lisa Kinney

What was it about the Alliance Française that first interested you? I was interested in the Alliance Française because of its reputation as being one of the best French language schools in the world.

We met Dany Laferrière... Do you want to know all about it?

A few weeks ago, on February 13, in conversation with our very own Director of Programs, Aimee Laberge, Dany Laferrière told us stories about his life. When asked where he lives these days he responded whimsically that he lives in the vast space of writing. He also spends a fair amount of time in hotels due to the large amount of travelling he does. Some of the places he described travelling to included Italy (where two of his books are set) as well as Haiti, Madagascar, Algeria, Canada, China and France. He also confirmed that his books have been translated into a wide variety of languages.

Learning a new language makes you a better person

Imagine that you are on the train. You’re sitting down and trying to read an Alliance Française blog post on your phone but you can’t help but get distracted by those around you. The man across from you is loudly eating a ham sandwich. The woman next to you yawns and suddenly it strikes you how you also need to yawn.

Dolphins become bilingual in their sleep. What does that mean for us humans?

At the Planète Sauvage in Port-Saint-Père, France in 2011 it was observed that captive dolphins were talking in their sleep. While sleep-talking in general can be rather alarming, what made this even stranger was that they weren’t speaking the same dolphin language they speak during their waking hours. Instead they the sounds were closer to a whale language!

French Loop to the rescue!

What do you do if you want to learn French at the Alliance Française de Chicago but none of our classes fit your busy schedule or it’s an ordeal for you to visit us at 810 N Dearborn?

How music can aid in language learning

Here at the Alliance Francaise we are always interested in learning about new ways to acquire language. So when we found this article we thought you could be interested too!