Online French Lessons for Expats Living in France

You’re living in France, or preparing to move, and you want to speak French with more confidence in real life. These one-to-one online French lessons are designed for expats who need practical French for everyday situations: talking to neighbours, booking appointments, shopping at the market, handling local services, and feeling more independent in France. You may already know more French than you think. The challenge is using it when real life happens.

These online French lessons are built around the situations you actually face in France. Instead of spending hours on textbook dialogues, we focus on the conversations that matter in your daily life: speaking with neighbours, making appointments, shopping at the market, talking to local services, understanding French culture, and feeling more comfortable in social situations. The goal is not to learn French in theory. It is to help you use French more confidently in real life.

No two expat journeys are the same. Some students need French for doctor’s appointments and administration. Others want to make friends, join local activities, or communicate more easily with French family members. Every lesson is adapted to your goals, your level, and the situations you encounter in everyday life. Together, we focus on the vocabulary, conversations, and cultural understanding that will be most useful to you.

I am a native French teacher with more than 15 years of experience helping adults learn French. I’ve taught in universities, language schools, companies, and French cultural institutions in countries including China, Singapore, and Australia.

Although I am French, I have spent most of my adult life living abroad. I understand what it feels like to adapt to a new culture, build new routines, and communicate in another language. This combination of professional expertise and personal experience allows me to create lessons that are practical, supportive, and adapted to the realities of expat life in France.

Learn more about my background as a French teacher and long-term expat.

A Learning Approach Adapted to Adults

Whether you’re retired, working, or building a new life in France, your lessons are adapted to the way you learn best. Some students remember vocabulary through conversation, others through visuals, audio, storytelling, movement, or repetition. I use a mix of games, images, real-life objects, MP3s, and memory techniques to help French feel easier to understand, remember, and use in everyday life.

The goal is not to force everyone into the same method. It is to find what works for you and help you build confidence at your own pace.

Every student has different goals, but most expats face similar situations when living in France. Lessons are tailored to your needs while focusing on the conversations and skills that make everyday life easier.

• Introducing yourself
• Speaking with neighbours
• Making small talk
• Joining social events and apéros
• Understanding spoken French more easily

• Making appointments
• Visiting the doctor or pharmacy
• Shopping at local markets
• Speaking with tradespeople and local services
• Understanding common administrative situations

• French politeness and social codes
• Understanding cultural differences
• Speaking more naturally
• Building confidence in conversations
• Feeling more comfortable in everyday interactions

This course may be a good fit if:

Whether you’re settling permanently, spending part of the year in France, or simply exploring the possibility of a new life abroad, lessons are adapted to your goals, your pace, and your situation.

Students join Feel Good French at many different levels, from complete beginners to advanced speakers. Some have just arrived in France. Others have owned a home in France for years, spend part of the year here, or are preparing for retirement or relocation. What matters most is not your level, but your goals. Whether you want to order confidently at the market, make a doctor’s appointment, understand your neighbours, participate in local life, or simply feel more at home in France, lessons are adapted to your needs.

Complete Beginners

You don’t need any previous knowledge of French to get started. Together, we’ll build a practical foundation focused on everyday life in France, helping you understand and use simple French in real situations from the very beginning.

Intermediate Learners

Many expats arrive at this stage. You can often understand French reasonably well when reading or listening, but speaking still feels stressful. We focus on conversation, confidence, pronunciation, and the practical language needed for daily life, appointments, social situations, and local interactions.

Advanced Learners

If you already speak French comfortably, lessons can help you refine your fluency, sound more natural, understand cultural nuances, and participate more confidently in deeper conversations. This is often where students begin to feel less like visitors and more like active participants in French life.

Not sure where you fit? During your discovery call, we’ll assess your current level and discuss the best approach for your goals.

“Living in Sète is a dream. Speaking French wasn’t.”
Deborah is my weekly support. She helps me prepare what to say at the hairdresser and makes sense of all my little quiproquos. She gives me fun challenges to try with my French partner, like putting sticky notes around the house. It’s fun and it’s brought us closer.
Emily, Sète

“French life felt confusing when I moved to Bergerac.”
Deborah helped me understand things like priorité à droite and how to explain what happened when I took the wrong exit. Now I can laugh about it in French. She encourages me to speak and practice in real life. I feel more confident every week.
Mark, Bergerac