Alliance Française de Pasadena, one of 107 Alliance Française chapters in the United States, won’t be doing anything special for Bastille Day on Wednesday, July 14. French-language classes and other activities will continue online, as they do throughout the year.
Emma Franks, executive director at Alliance Française de Pasadena, said their chapter can only help advertise the French national day in the spirit of promoting the French language and French culture.
During normal times, the Pasadena chapter would usually hold cultural events commemorating the day, July 14, 1789, when French citizens stormed the Bastille, a large medieval fortress in Paris which at that time was regarded as a symbol of royal tyranny. The storming of the Bastille was a crucial event that further strengthened the French Revolution of 1790 and ended the old French order.
With the pandemic, Alliance Française de Pasadena decided to forgo these celebrations and instead continue normal online French-language lessons. Their office and classrooms at 232 N. Lake Ave. Suite 105, remains closed.
“Before, everything was in our school located on Lake,” Franks said. “We have a very beautiful school. We have small boards in each classroom. From time to time, private classes took place via Zoom. On the 16th of March last year, we decided to be totally online and we are still online because we want to be careful. We are not very happy about the Delta variant. We wanted to observe the evolution of the virus during the summer, because we know that the habits of the people are different during the summer. So, we want to be safe when we open again; we don’t want to open and then close again.”
As a French-language school, cultural center, and examination center, Alliance Française de Pasadena teaches French to children, teenagers, and adults. They also organize cultural events so anyone planning to go to France can adjust to the culture early.
The school also has native French speakers who make sure students not only learn French but are immersed in French culture, Franks continued.
“When you arrive, you actually meet French speakers, native speakers. All the contents are spoken by native speakers,” she said. “All the employees are French and we really want to teach French in the best way. The teacher is professional, and actually, they immerse the students so that they hear the French language so that they can communicate in French as if they were in France. So, that’s the difference between us and the other schools.”
To learn more about Alliance Française de Pasadena, visit their website, www.afdepasadena.org, email afdepasadena@gmail.com, or call (833) 386-3911.
