I attended the Lyon Bleu school in March 2013, and...

I attended the Lyon Bleu school in March 2013, and it was a complete waste of time and money.

We had three different substitute teachers during those two weeks, and the tuition was so bad it was almost a caricature. For example, the "vocabulary" class consisted of the teacher looking up fish on the internet and saying "voila!" when she found it with Google Images. The only word I learned that day was "voila" - and it was in the school's most advanced class (C1).

On my first day there, we talked four minutes of French. On the second day, none at all, since it was "grammar day" (you only do one thing each day). The third day, we talked ten minutes of French. In general, the tuition was mechanical and so tedious that it was hard to stay awake - especially since the only person speaking was the teacher.

At the end of the first week, only three students even bothered to show up - and I completely understand those staying home. We didn't learn anything, and we completely lost our desire to learn French.

I did contact the school and asked for a refund. After all, they'd told me it was an extraordinary situation (sick teacher). They dragged out the complaint process until I'd left the country, and then they refused to refund anything, claiming that I didn't know what I was talking about. For the record, I've been following numerous language courses in both France and Germany, AND I'm a teacher, having taught my own language as a foreign language as well. I know good teaching, and I know bad teaching. The teaching at Lyon Bleu was atrocious; don't waste your time and money on it.