Sylouan Poitou

Sylouan comes from Nantes, a region in the Northwest of France.
Passionate about travel, cinema and video games, he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in English language, literature and civilization, as well as a Master's degree in French Teaching as a Foreign Language.
Our globetrotter has now settled down in San Francisco, and has several missions at the Alliance, including teaching French classes for children and adults, participating in the management of the Alliance team, as well as handling and administering our online teaching platform, Moodle. 
Sylouan is also in charge of overseeing our TCF exams so you may contact him for any exam-related questions at sylouan@afsf.com.

Contact Sylouan

What our students say:

"Sylouan is great! SO helpful and I have learned so much. The classes are engaging and fun" - (Beginner 4 student).

"Sylouan is engaging, helpful and adaptable in his style to work with each student in the class. I've enjoyed the content of each course & also the activities aside from the textbook (games, discussions, current topics). The critical feedback to assigned work is constructive, and most of all, has helped to improve my writing in professional situations" - Joshua (Advanced B2.1 ).

"Sylouan is a great teacher. He keeps us engaged with different tasks. He is also funny, which makes the classes more fun. He is very knowledgeable. I really enjoy taking classes with him" - Advanced B2 student.

"Sylouan is an excellent teacher. Although we are beginners, he almost always speaks French. He makes it very easy to learn new things because he is always clear about the focus of the lesson and uses examples to help us recognize patterns. He give us a variety of exercises to do (games, working in pairs, competitions, etc.) so it is never boring in his class and we always get a lot of practice. He is always kind and encouraging" - Elizabeth (Beginner A1-2).

"Sylouan is an excellent instructor. He's enthusiastic, patient, and very respectful of folks in a mixed group. He really goes the extra mile to make connections and draw everyone in while also keeping us on task, highly recommended!" - (Intermediate conversation class student).

"I very much look forward to classes with Sylouan. Were it not for him, I'm not sure I would continue studying French. I don't find studying French on my own particularly exciting, but with Sylouan it's playful, it's interactive, and it's anything but rote. Our class is late in the evening, from 7pm-9pm on a weekday, so I have to imagine that by the time class starts Sylouan probably hasn't eaten dinner, has probably taught multiple classes that day and spent many hours grading or wrestling with Moodle. And yet, every class he's got a smile on his face and an endless amount of patience for correcting us on all of the most infuriating mistakes: "especialment" has never been, and never will be a legitimate French word, and yet almost every class someone says it. Every week we fumble with our words and babble like awkward children. Someone has to call us out though, because otherwise we're never going to learn. And the truth is that we're getting better--particularly those of us who bother to do the homework. Thank you, Sylouan. I'll see you next session" - (Elementary A2 student).

"Sylouan is a really great teacher. He provided good handouts, clear explanations and good feedback" - (Elementary A2 student).