Point Langues
Like everything else in life, learning can be made all the more enjoyable if the teacher is fun, dynamic and loves teaching. So we were delighted to meet someone whose bubbly personality and love of the French language and its culture, made us want to go back to school and learn French all over again - this time enthusiastically.
And Point Langues is such a school we’d attend. Run by Cristina Ziliani Hooper, the school opened in July 2004. Its curriculum is English, Italian and French language courses adapted to all ages and levels and is officially registered with the regional OPCA - Organizmes Paritaires Collecteur Agréé (Professional Training Organization).
Qualified in Modern Foreign Languages and Literature at the University of Milan (Italy) in English, Russian and Italian, Cristina has taught in both public and private institutions in a number of countries, giving her the experience and knowledge required before setting up her own school.
When the opportunity to come and work in France presented itself in 1991, Cristina had mixed feelings. Having lived with her British husband in the Caribbean, Turkey and Greece she was unsure how she would settle down here. When she found out her new home would be Antibes, her apprehension soon changed to delight.
Like many before her she quickly adored the seaside port, the immense sky, wonderful mountain range, and the multi-lingual and international feel of the area with its relationship to Sophia-Antipolis. More importantly, the ease with which she could travel to Italy to see her family greatly influenced her decision; her mother and brother live in Milan, one of her sisters lives in Toscany, while her other sister lives beside the beautiful Lake Majore).
While her husband set up his own business in Antibes, she worked for a consortium of Petroleum companies as their Customer Assistant where her linguistic skills proved essential. And thus office life became the routine of her daily life and continued so for many years. But deep down, although happy in her position, she missed teaching and often wondered if she would ever do it again.
Events were then to take an unexpected turn. After ten years the company suddenly announced its closure. It was not the only company hit by the downturn in business; Sophia-Antipolis suffered numerous closures and redundancies as did other regions in France. The age-old adage says, “when one door closes another opens” - thus the opportunity presented itself for Cristina to change direction and set up the language school she had longed dreamed of.
With the support and assistance of her husband, Cristina set about establishing the school: looking for premises, wading through realms of bureaucracy, handling PR and finding a webmaster to create the school’s website. After several months of hard work and perserverence, she had not only found the right premises in Antibes, in front of Carrefour above Pier Import at the Centre Galaxie but had also received the official go-ahead.
For their youngest students (7 years upwards) the approach is playful, varied and based on group games, manual activities, videos, music and stories.
Students who are already familiar with grammar structures can practice and improve their language skills in various role-play situations. Point Langues also proposes school-year courses of either 1 or 2 lessons a week (September to June) in addition to school work as extra curricula activity.
During school breaks, and throughout the summer holidays, the school runs semi-intensive weekly courses for those who want to revise a school program or just learn a language with a kick-start, while English or Italian students can follow qualifying courses
Adult training courses offer all levels of English, Italian or French courses with the aim of supporting the professional mobility of employees and helping their adaptation to changes in the working environment.
If you would like to know more about Point Langues and the cost of attending their courses, then do visit their website or give Cristina a call.
Point Langues also offers foreign language professional training to companies located either in Antibes or surrounding area (Sophia Antipolis, Biot, Valbonne, Vallauris or Cannes for example.)
Learning a foreign language should be a pleasure and not hard work or with a feeling of dismay. Having met Cristina and discovered her enthusiasm and positive bubbly personality, we think you’ll enjoy learning French, English or Italian very much.
Better still, you might even turn native - like we have.
Contact details
Point Langues
2793 chemin de Saint-Claude
Centre Galaxie Bloc A - 2nd Floor
06600 Antibes
(Directions: Point Langues is located opposite Carrefour supermarket and just above Pier Import)
Tel: 04 93 74 36 47
Mobile Phone: 06 03 26 70 28
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