Is the mairie the best place to go to get help with some french lessons?

Hi, it depends on how big your Commune is. Our village Mairie would be of no help, but large Communes seem to organise French classes for foreigners.
Go along to ask, but look elsewhere at the same time (make enquiries among Collège/Lycée teachers, look for or place ads in your local free newspaper and supermarket, Google Pages Jaunes for Ecoles de Langues in your area....).
Bonne chance!

Our mayor recommended someone who turned out to be one of our friends in the mext village but they do not teach as such, so no good really. He did take details but never heard anything back. We are in an area where there aren't many english, so is tricky finding anyone. We ended up using skype for lessons. Also, we found the schools and colleges don't reply back either! The french language schools in the towns or cities are good if you can attend Mon-Friday, but not if you hold down a regular job. Also, they are incredibly expensive, but then again so are skype lessons!

Go along and ask...
our local mairie didn't but a nearby town did - there were loads more foreigners living there so it made sense.
Don't know where you are but in Leguevin (Toulouse area) "la maison des quartiers" at the mairie organised french lessons that were incredibly cheap.

La Mairie, if it doesn't organise classes itself, should be able to refer you to organisations that do.

Big tip: make friends, even in very broken French, with staff at your Mairie

Many years ago, I was TEFLing in Normandie, & had Mairie employees in my class. When the commune decided to offer French classes to a sudden influx of new immigrants, I was recommended to help coordinate & teach (I was, & am, not qualified to teach French). It was really hard to get the programme off the ground, but we did, eventually.

Depending on your age, working/family status, there are several options you might look at, if classes are not currently available in your area.

S