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'node_revisions_body' => 'Alliance Française d\'Ahmedabad
Founded in 1981 by a group of local eminent personalities, Alliance Française d\'Ahmedabad is part of a vast network of 1500 centres all over the world, with India boasting the second largest network of 16 main centres and 9 annexes in the country with the Head Office being located in Paris. The Alliance Française d\'Ahmedabad is a Charitable Trust run by a local committee of 10 members elected from amongst the members of the institute while the Director, who is in-charge of the day to day activities of the centre is a French national, named by the French Ministry of Foreign affairs who works in close cooperation with the Embassy of France in New Delhi.
The Alliance has two main activities: Academic and Cultural.
Academic:
We would like to stress that there are no prerequisites for admission to our institute in terms of educational or social backgrounds. Our admissions are based only on a first-come-first-serve policy and we accept limited number of students per batch.
? Courses: The Alliance offers various courses; right from the beginner’s level to high level French courses in Business French, Literature, etc. The courses are available at various timings during the day to suit students who come from different backgrounds, with options of varied durations as well: one month intensive course (conducted during the summer holidays), regular three and a half months courses and an extensive six months course (held only on Sundays). We also conduct courses for young children.
? Teaching techniques: Using audio-visual techniques, we encourage our students to participate wholeheartedly in various activities, moving away from the traditional book oriented methods of learning. It is to be noted that French is the only language of communication that is utilised in class, right from day one and though the students initially find it surprising and sometimes difficult they later appreciate the value of the same as they invariably enjoy a good command over the language which they are obliged to use from the first class, just the same way as toddlers pick up their mother tongue at home.
? Exams: Apart from conducting our own exams, we are also a centre for all the examinations of the Alliance Française de Paris, the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the French Ministry of Education, the International Centre for Languages, Sèvres, France.
? Certifications: The certificates for the first three levels of courses are issued by our institute. From level four onwards, which is the Diploma Course, all the certificates come from Paris. These certificates are recognised all over the world.
Cultural:
We firmly believe that a language cannot be learnt in a classroom alone, language learning also includes the knowledge and appreciation of the culture to which the language belongs. We also aim to build strong bonds between our students and the French culture, the Indian and the French culture in general. With this objective in mind, and with the support of the French Embassy in Paris and the Association of French Artists in France, we regularly organise cultural events in the field of music, dance, theatre, puppetry, mime, films, and exhibitions of both French and Indian artists. Our programmes are always free and generally open to all but since the past few years, we have been restricting them to our students and members only for the only reason of logistics, given the large number of students and members now associated with our centre, it is difficult to accommodate everybody.
We organise student activities (Music Day, Book Day, French Day…) to encourage and showcase the immense talent of our students. These evenings are always looked forward to and bring immense joy and satisfaction to the students and staff of the institute thanks to the enthusiasm and efforts of all concerned.
? Library: Students and members have access to a well maintained library with books dealing with different fields, audio cassettes, CD, DVD… We have material in French and in English.
? Cafeteria: A small but self sufficient cafeteria to serve mouth watering delicacies or simple refreshments for our staff and students. We also try and organise “French Cuisine Evenings”, without French cheese and wine (of course!) but they are always a huge success, trust us!
? Campus France: Given the large number of students learning the language and the gradual but definite shift that is taking place in the perceptions of students wanting to go abroad for higher education, it is not at all surprising that more and more students are looking at France as an option for continuing their studies. To help and guide such students, the Embassy of France has set up “Desk Campus France” in all Alliances. The representatives at these desks guide the students through their search for courses and universities and answer their queries and doubts regarding various aspects of daily life in France.
? Partner institutes: Alliance Française d\'Ahmedabad is very happy and proud of its associations with premier institutes of the city and its surroundings such as the Indian Institute of Management, National Institute of Design, Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology and the School of Interior Design where we teach. We also organise various other activities with institute such as Kanoria centre for Arts and Darpana academy. Our association with schools such as Rachana School, Nelson School, DAIICT, Airport School also gives us immense pride and we are thankful for the pleasure that we derive from working with the young ones.
Annex in BARODA
It is to be especially noted that we also have a centre in Baroda and almost all the activities mentioned above are conducted there.
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