FRENCH AND ART CLASSES IN THE HEART OF PARIS - ÉCOLE DE DESSIN TECHNIQUE ET ARTISTIQUE SORNAS - CELEBRATING 130 YEARS

Fun interactive French classes mixed with sightseeing throughout the city.

Hone your skills in life drawing, pastel, oil, acrylic or watercolour painting, while exploring the city. Teacher fluent in English & French, makes it also an opportunity to brush up on your French in a fun and relaxed atmosphere.

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FRENCH CLASSES

Here at Ecole Sornas our goal is to share the joy of French culture by offering French classes to our students, alongside our popular art courses.

During summer, you can come and learn French in the heart of Paris and immerse yourself in the culture.

We mix fun interactive French classes with sightseeing throughout the city. These courses are taught at all levels in small group settings. The family atmosphere at L’École Sornas is relaxed, casual, and fun.

Yet, thanks to our personalized attention to each student, at the end of your class you will be delighted at how much you've learned and seen!

Our instructors are certified and experienced.

At l'Ecole Sornas, we believe that learning by doing is the most efficient and entertaining way to absorb a language, and you will see that our teachers use a lot of exercises and real conversation to make sure that you can use the grammatical rules and the vocabulary you have just been taught.

This interactive method will allow you to progress quickly and to communicate confidently in French. For the most advanced of you, the courses can follow themes, like the romantic literature, or the Paris of Zola, or French art and movies.

There are many things to see and do. You will leave having made friends and with memories of a lasting experience.

ART CLASSES

Learn technique, while exploring the cultural history of Paris

École de Dessin Technique et Artistique Sornas, one of the oldest art schools in Paris, situated at rue Saint Honoré at the doorstep of the Louvre, is offering art, history and literature courses in the heart of Paris.

Classes have a freestyle structure inspired by the Salons artistiques made popular in Paris in the 19th and 20th centuries. Rather than having a rigid curriculum imposed upon them, students are encouraged to explore their individual interests, guided by our professors of art, history and literature.

All levels of art experience are welcome. Those wishing for in-depth instruction in the techniques of life drawing, oil, pastel, acrylic, collage, or watercolour painting, have an opportunity for one-on-one instruction with Mia Funk, an American artist living in Paris who trained in France and Italy, has lectured at the American University of Paris, and won many awards for her work. Others may be more interested in art history, literature, cinema or the history of Paris, and the flexible structure of the classes offers much time for open discussion and to explore the city and discover its many stories.

Each class is different, no one week is the same. Some weeks we may have a visiting Professor, who has lectured at the Rietveld Academy and around the world, give a talk. Or visit a fashion designer’s atelier (the school is located in the city’s main design district) and see haute couture clothing as it’s being created. We aim to take students outside the classroom as much as possible, students will explore the markets of Paris, go on wine tastings or dine in an originally-furnished Art Nouveau restaurant. 

Museum visits are a regular part of the experience, as well as just taking in the city which has been such an inspiration to so many artists and writers. Visiting the art shop where Picasso bought his supplies just around the corner from where he painted Guernica, seeing the apartment where Hemingway penned A Moveable Feast, and touring the quarter where James Joyce wrote Ulysses, the cafes and restaurants where Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and others gathered when they were writing some of their most important works, the street where Gertrude Stein famously held her own salon, or the locations featured in the films of the Nouvelle Vague, up to the winding streets of Montmartre, once the haunt of Edith Piaf, Toulouse Lautrec and Salvidor Dali, and more recently the setting of Moulin Rouge and Amélie.

Weekends students may explore the marché aux puces at St-Ouen de Clignancourt, a source of antiques and vintage clothing and a continuing inspiration to the city’s many fashion and furniture designers; or take an optional excursion to Monet’s gardens at Giverny, or Auvers-sur-Oise, where Van Gogh spent his last days and painted some of his more heart-breakingly beautiful paintings.

Our philosophy is that by always maintaining a fluid, changing curriculum, our professors remain interested and interesting to their students. To learn and retain information it is important that, first of all, the information be interesting and relate in a meaningful way to a student’s life. So we don’t separate life from the classroom. All of Paris is an education. This  summer, you are welcome to explore Paris with us.

Classes are taught in both English and French (depending on the composition of the students).

FLEXIBLE AND ADAPTABLE

The open nature of instruction means students can more easily adapt classes to their own schedule and plan their study in Paris alongside their independent travel plans. Students are free to take time off to explore the city or Europe and return to resume.

One week courses offer a kind of introduction and courses lasting two or more weeks allow more time for intensive one-on-one instruction and for students to explore their particular interests.

At the end of the year, Ecole Sornas publishes a full-colour book of student art and writing created during their time in Paris. Students may contribute art, photos, essays, poetry or prose. This art and literary publication is designed as both a record of students time in Paris and as a reinforcement of learning as a creative process. Participation in the publication takes the place of a traditional exam or exercises in memorisation. Professors will give detailed comments on a students contribution in lieu of a written grade, in this way each student is evaluated not just on what they are able to memorise or take in, but also on what they are able to output, thus building a better sense of achievement.

Books are mailed to each student at the end of the year. Groups are limited to 12 people, allowing everyone to have individual attention.