Description of organisation

The Alliance Française Ostrava (https://www.alliancefrancaise.cz/ostrava/) is a non-profitable organisation created in 1991 by a team of several Czechs passionated by the French language and the French culture and who wanted to introduce the French language and the French culture in the region of Ostrava. It is a Czech independent and apolitical association. The Alliance Française Ostrava belongs to the biggest cultural network of the world with over 830 Alliances Françaises in more than 130 countries. In the Czech Republic, there are 5 other Alliances Françaises located in Brno, in Liberec, in Pardubice, in Plzeň and in České Budějovice.

The mission of the Alliance Française Ostrava is to promote the French language and the French-speakers cultures in Moravia-Silesia.

At the Alliance Française Ostrava, everyone is warmly welcomed from the kids to the seniors. In our organisation, it is possible to :

1) Learn French language thanks to a various offer of French courses from A1 to C2 level such as : French for kids, French for juniors, French for seniors, General French for adults, French conversations, professional French, preparation for the Maturita exam and for the DELF/DALF exams.
2) Learn Czech language for the French speakers living in the Czech Republic.
3) Get the DELF/DALF exam. Those exams are diplomas awarded by the French Ministry of Education to prove the French language skills of non-French speakers candidates. There are 6 independent diplomas, which correspond, respectively, to the 6 levels of the Council of Europe' s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL). In the Czech Republic, only the Alliances Françaises and the Institut Français de Prague are authorized by the French Ministry of Education to deliver DELF/DALF diplomas.
4) Attend to cultural events during the year such as French movie nights, French conversations in different bars of the city, French cooking workshops, concerts, conferences, exhibitions, French regions presentations, …
5) Participate to some contests such as the « French song contest » and artistic contests (writing, painting, drawing, …).
6) Enjoy the multimedia library of the Alliance Française Ostrava with hundreds of French books, DVD, CD, magazines to borrow.
7) Find a lot of information about France and French-speaking countries (travels, studies abroad, …).

We cooperate with many organisations of Ostrava such as cinemas, music clubs, institutions (regional council, town hall, schools), bars/cafés/restaurants.

Our organisation is located in the city center of Ostrava, really close to the Cathedral (2 min by foot), the tram stop (2 min by foot), the main square (5 min by foot), a shopping center (10 min by foot) and surrounded by several shops, restaurants and bars. We are in an old style building, at the second floor with a lift. In our organisation there are a reception, four classrooms, a library, a kitchen, bathroom and toilets, a small balcony and a big office.

Ostrava is a large industrial city on the north east of Czech Republic with about 300 000 inhabitants. It is the 3rd biggest city of the Czech Republic, almost 400 km far from Prague, very close to the borders with Poland and Slovakia. You can find many cultural and sport opportunities there, such as theatres, cinemas, large shopping centres, large sport centres. There is also a football and hockey team, both sports are very famous in the country. During the summer there are big festivals, the most famous one is called Colors of Ostrava. There is also a very famous street called Stodolni, where you can find many music clubs, bars and restaurants. There are two big universities in Ostrava, so you can also meet many foreign students there. Although Ostrava region was very famous for heavy industry and coal mining, the city itself is very green, there are few parks and a forest. Ostrava is also very close to Beskydy mountain. The Moravian - Silesian region where Ostrava is placed is a region with high number of unemployed young people and also with many socially excluded areas. There is quite a large Roma community in Ostrava living in particular parts of the city. Due to industry or heavy traffic in and around Ostrava, the city is facing poor air quality. Nevertheless, the city tries to alleviate this situation by various measures.

In addition, because we’d like to learn from an experimented organisation we’ve created a partnership with a non-governmental organisation of Ostrava called Trendum, which has had a status of coordinating organisation since 2014. They will be our supporting organisation during our European volunteering projects. Trendum is focused on a soft skills development of young people and offers non-formal educational activities for young people and youth workers, including international projects such as youth exchanges and training courses, and has many experiences with volunteering projects and also with running national and international projects.

Inclusion topics

This organisation is willing to involve volunteers who face situations which make their participation in activities more difficult, from the following categories for different types of project:

• Cultural differences
• Economic obstacles
• Refugees