Join Our Weekly French & English Language & Culture Exchange!
Practice English or French with our refugee community in Paris while fostering meaningful cultural connections.
To participate, please register as a Serve the City Paris (STCP) volunteer.
Where:
Volunteers meet each week, every Wednesday for French language and culture exchange and every Thursday for English language and culture exchange, from 19:00 to 21:00 at “L’ESPACE IMPACT CAFÉ,” 67 rue Beaubourg, 75003, Paris. Space is limited to 30 participants—15 refugees and 15 volunteers—so after registering as a volunteer, please sign up in advance on our Event Calendar.
What:
Each session begins with a 20–30-minute introduction to the evening’s topic, led by a volunteer. If you’re interested in teaching, please reach out to the program coordinator. After the introduction, volunteers pair up with members of our refugee community (in 1-on-1 or 2-on-2 groups) for conversational practice, focusing on meaningful dialogue in English or French.
Volunteers may rotate to different conversation partners during the discussion period, fostering a variety of interactions.
After the conversation session, Serve The City Paris provides a dinner for refugees and volunteers, fostering a sense of community. While STCP provides the main meal, volunteers are encouraged to bring small items such as nuts, fruits, cookies, or a French baguette to share with the group. Volunteers interested in cooking a meal, contributing towards dinner, or celebrating their birthday with the beneficiaries by bringing a birthday cake or special treat are encouraged to contact the program coordinator. The entire activity lasts approximately 2 hours, offering a blend of language practice, cultural exchange, and shared meals.
Requirements:
You don’t need to be a trained language instructor to join! Volunteers with a B1 level or higher in French are especially encouraged to participate, as our beneficiaries’ French proficiency ranges from beginner to advanced (A0 to C1). These sessions focus on building connections, showing patience, and fostering empathy.
We kindly ask all new volunteers to attend one of our New Volunteer Training workshops. These workshops are held online via Zoom on the first Tuesday of every month and last approximately one hour.
During the workshop, we discuss best practices for working with and integrating into our refugee community in Paris. The first 50 minutes cover essential training, followed by a Q&A session where volunteers can ask questions about volunteering with Serve the City Paris.
To participate in any of the STCP volunteer activities, it is a requirement to first register to become a Serve the City Paris Volunteer. Please fill out a Volunteer Registration Form.
Once you fill out the form, there is a monthly €10 Euro donation required to participate in STCP volunteer activities. This €10 euro donation is a tax deductible donation and it goes towards our expenses for our programs for the marginalized in Paris, and our volunteer activities at Serve The City Paris.
You might also consider joining the STCP S.AV.E. program, which offers volunteering on special social impact projects created by S.A.V.E. members. The S.A.V.E. program offers a combination of theory and practice around creating social impact projects, to ensure more impactful and meaningful volunteer experiences for our volunteers. There are many benefits of joining the SAVE program at no additional cost.
A S.A.V.E. application must be completed. The S.A.V.E. application can be filled out at this link.
To learn more about S.A.V.E.
