This is a living list that will continue to grow. Your ideas are always welcome!
Except where noted, each of these establishments have offers for you to speak more in English OR French, right her in Paris
Workshops & Classes
- Dégustations de Vin – My favorite has to be La Cave de Verres Luisiants. It’s is one of my local caves and the owners are wonderful! Their wines are fabulous and they have a lot of their own tastings and workshops, each of which have been fantastic. This is why I had proposed that they hold a tasting in intermediate French for us fellow learners. It was fabulous and I hope to expand on that.
- Fromage + Wine – I loved the “Immersion dans la Caséologie”at Paroles de Fromage. The pairing course also looks great: “L’art des associations fromages & vins”! I took it in French but this year we will privatize one in English as well. Le M. Musée du Vin.
- Beer Making Ateliers – Brew your own beer at Brew Unique! I got to know Mike at Fete de la Musique in 2023. Originally from the USA, and having lived in Paris for many years now, he offers his cool workshops in either language.
- Cooking – Cooking classes at Alain Ducasse are fast and intense but oh-so-delicious. At the Ritz Escoffier they teach in French but also recap in English. The famous Cordon Bleu is right down the street and has a large variety of ateliers offered (and also in French then recapped in English). Also keep an eye out at your local small shops like Coin Cuisine.. And finally, there is a fabulous chef that gives amazing lessons right out of her great Paris kitchen. It is for at least 4 and a max of 8, which is usually parents connected to our school, but she is open to private courses as well (contact me for her info).
City Tours & Walks
- Txango Tours – Super-fun side-car tours. After taking a tour with the intent of practicing my French, Simon became a friend. He now offers a discount for those of you who commit to practicing your target language! Simply use the code MERCYBUCKETS and note something like “I would like to practice my French” in the comment section.
Utilisez simplement le code MERCYBUCKETS et notez quelque chose comme “j’aimerais pratiquer d’anglais” dans la section des commentaires pour obtenir 10% de réduction sur le prix total du panier. Un bonus pour ce devoir de français en plus. 🙂 - Paris Greeters – What a fun morning this was. I walked around the 16h with Pascal, on his final balade before retiring from the beloved gig for warmer pastures further south. His family has long been in the 16th which meant he had plenty of personal stories to share with made it all the more special.
Arts & Culture
- Lost in Frenchlation – This has only recently come into my orbit, but it came from two angles, and I can’t wait to check it out.
- Theater w/ Subtitles – After being surprised to see French and English subtitles at Cécile McClorin Salvant’s Ogresse at the Paris Philharmonie December 2022, I was psyched to find this resource of other subtitled theater in Paris.
- Museum Tours – I have two friends who offer tours and would be happy to keep things in intermediate French or English and be open for great practice conversation all the while. Contact me for more info!
Music
- GroupMuse is an organization that brings together artists and patrons in intimate spaces for amazing live music. I have both attended and hosted in New York City, and I can’t wait to enjoy my first Paris ‘muse now that they are back up and running in the city of light. I must also say that the people I have met through GroupMuse have become friends for life, which says something about the community they have built.
- SoFar Sounds is a very cool way to see diverse types of live music in intimate venues. I have been fortunate enough to have attended in four countries now, and I have enjoyed striking up conversations in each new place to meet fellow live-music-lovers.
All this said, though I have attended many in NYC, I have only attended one each in Hyderabad, Madrid and Paris. That I have lived in Paris for many months and only been able to attend one (and yet I could manage one in the scant visits to Hyderabad and Madrid) despite applying for many is testament to how hard it is to secure a spot to the Paris shows. I may have given up… - Open Mics – Having met many new friends at open mics in NYC, I have attempted to apply the same strategy here, however I haven’t yet had much luck. First of all, to took a while to find the correct term: scène ouvert, and even after that , I haven’t found one to match my fond memories of open mic at Jalopy in Brooklyn. But I will keep this up to date as I find some, and please tell me if you come across a good one!
- Auberkitchen has one called “re-pass le mic” that I haven’t made it to yet.
- Le Plan is what keeps coming up but it’s way out past Orly!
Volunteering (Faire du Bénévolat)
- Refettorio Paris – This one is great. I wish I could do it more often. It’s a 3 hour evening commitment, and at the end you share a meal with the other volunteers. It’s a great chance to practice conversational French while doing something good.
- Agir – a new-ish application on the Paris.fr site which lets you search volunteering opportunities by theme or neighborhood.
Cultures Capsules
… but wait, there’s more! On the other side of the pond, we had been hosting a weekly “À Table!” dinner party in which we offered a meal from the Francophone world (plus wine!) and our gracious invitees would patiently converse with us in our budding French.
We miss that and would be happy to continue that here in Paris, but more than that, we actually want to pay that forward here, so if you would like to come to our Paris home and practice your English, please contact us here! We could even make some fun American food to complete the experience.
Many of our fav recipes and playlists from those “À Table!” dinners in Brooklyn (ranging from France to Tunisia to Canada to Kenya (and portraits from many other places such as Lebanon and India are in their final stages of completion!) are posted on this site, so you can also dive into them with your own family. Each also has a fun French-learning activity to increase the fun (games, song studies, podcasts…).
I am also in the process of creating a google form to match up families to do French and/or English conversation dinners or meetups in this same vein. So check back soon, or go ahead and drop a note here to get on my radar straight away!
Who Am I?
I am creative person who moved to Paris with my family in 2022 and was looking for ways to practical and fun ways to improve my French. Sure, we can find plenty of French language classes but I was interested in opportunities that were more social in nature, and designed to take advantage of the cultural aspects of France: cooking classes, wine tastings, art galleries, tours, etc..
As I made my way through the list I had created, I would also add more. Meanwhile, I was also doing a weekly conversational group with fellow parents our children’s bilingual, international school. So I began inviting others from that group, and found there are a lot of folks out there who want these opportunities in French and English!
Want to work together? Your ideas are always welcome! Or culturescapsules {at] gmail.