At Work With Coucou Brooklyn

We are happy to welcome Coucou Brooklyn to the blog today to share a little bit about their business! "Coucou Brooklyn is a French language school and cultural center in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. At Coucou we offer French classes and workshops, as well as "specialty" classes, such as knitting classes, French theater, and even yoga taught in French! We also have French classes for babies and toddlers, and will launch an after school program for older kids in January. Aside from our focus on language teaching, we also host art openings, concerts, film screenings, and wine tastings, all with an eye towards creating a relevant cultural exchange between New Yorkers, French expats, and everyone in between. We are a team of three women, and are proud of our space, which presents aspects of a traditional language school with a fun, contemporary twist." "On an average day, we open up the space, answer emails and take care of various administrative tasks, work on organizing and promoting our upcoming events, and then prepare our classes for the day. We typically have a couple of private lessons in the morning or afternoon and then at least one group class each in the evening. The weekends are also pretty busy, which is normal – people come to us for classes whenever they're not at work themselves!

One of our favorite (and also most functional) pieces in the space is our bookshelf made out of wine crates. It serves as our library, holding a wide array of French novels, newspapers, magazines, movies, as well as fun knick-knacks. We love its asymmetry and DIY look, and think it's much more fun than your average bookshelf. We also love our whiteboards, which aren't traditional "whiteboards" at all! We painted large squares on the walls in bright colors, and fixed rectangular plexiglass sheets over them. You can write on the plexiglass just as well as on a whiteboard, and it's just another way to spice up our space a little bit, and make it a little less academic.""I love this space because when I work here, I feel like I'm at home. This helps us bridge the gap between "school" and "space/cultural center," and makes our classes a little less formal, and a lot more fun. Our space is also versatile, and lends itself well to a lot of different activities. Aside from classes, we are holding yoga classes in French, backyard movie screenings, wine tastings, and art exhibitions (although not simultaneously!) We are in the process of putting some AstroTurf down in our backyard to make it a little more comfy."

Thanks so much for sharing your space with us, Coucou Brooklyn! xo.