ecole du ski francais esf isola 2000

My wife had one to one lessons with Jacques and I couldn't believe the difference in her confidence taking on tricky blues and bits of reds where in the past struggled with the greens

We booked a total of three lessons for our kids. We all liked all the instructors. They were a lot of fun and the instructors gave us a recap of the lesson and the kids progress when we picked them up. We saw huge progress with our kids - and are so thankful one of the instructors managed to convince our child to get over her fear of drag lifts! What was really lovely is that every one of the instructors said hello or gave our kids a high five when they saw us on the slopes the following days.

If you are lucky you will get a great ski tutor. I was first time skiing (although not too bad) and I had an english speaker tutor, who spoke french till I asked him to explain everything in english (as english tutor was asked while the reservation was made). 45 euros per lesson - it is expensive for the quality he gave. Better to take group lessons.

Book two sets of group lessons for my boys. Both went well. My son (age 25) in a mixed group of mainly older teens for engineers snowboarding. He progressed well, and enjoyed the lessons. Instructions obviously first in French, then thorough in English. His instructor spoke very good English. The group lessons for my other boy (aged 16) consisted of just him and one other!! Great service and very good English spoken by all the Instructors.

We called ahead of time to ask if private lessons could be booked on the spot or if we needed to reserve. We were told we could book on the spot. When we turned up first thing in the morning however we were told nothing could be done until the afternoon. Also, the ski school for under 6 year olds, club "piou piou", was good during the week, when they actually separated children according to ability so they could progress. The Saturday class however was a shambles:our relatively experienced little skier , who had until the day before taken ski lifts on her own and snow-plowed down a green slope with club "piou piou", was stuck in the flat enclosure and left to her own devices as the teacher,( a different one from the week classes , on her own and not too bothered),looked after some 3 year olds that had never been on skis( as she explained with a smiling - shrug.Was the club not meant for 4 to 6 , as we had been sold?) . Our child lying on the snow, skis off and half asleep, one hour before pick up time, while the photographer chatted to the teacher. This seemed more like a market for the photographer than a ski lesson charged at 38 euros.I guess like in many things in life, so much depends on whom you get, but I expected more consistency from the ESF.

We have just spent a week at Isola 2000 during the French school holidays. As both sons ski well we arranged lessons for my husband to get him ski-ing more confidently! Must say he had mixed impressions - a 1 to 1 lesson he had in Jan was expensive, started late, finished early & not very good English spoken! The week group lesson with Thierry we found was excellent & worth every penny (or euro) spent! Not only has his style & confidence grown to attack every type of run he would happily have lessons again to continue to improve! They recommend you book on website which was fine (4different languages) were offered, the only confusion I found was 6 days start on Sundays whilst 5 mornings commence on Mondays. The 1 to 1 lesson we just asked on the day so maybe didn't give them chance to arrange for better English speaker

We did not use ESF this time, but our friends did last April and they found the instructors very helpful, reassuring, very good, kind and from the kids side fun!

Two, one-on-one lessons, for the beginner in our family went well and focused on the needs of the person concerned

Our kids were on their second skiing holiday so need to go into ski school. The ski school times were excellent (9am) so my wife and I could go off skiing on our own, return for a hot chocolate and still be back in time to get the kids from ski school.

We booked via the website then went into the office & spoke to the ladies serving to absolutely make sure the instructors spoke good English. The staff were not very friendly, yes sorry our french is poor but we were very, very polite & apologetic. Anyway this didn't work, clearly, as we got 2 instructors who spoke very poor English. Our children really didn't understand hardly anything, they learned by watching & copying. I think the lady ski instructor was from Peru??? The man had such a strong accent, we could barely understand him too... All in all a painful disappointing experience. Pleas don't say you have English speaking instructors if you don't!!

ESF is not cheap but my instructor who could speak English tailored the hour's lesson well.

My daughter (17) and I had a private one hour lesson - it was fantastic loads of tips and help - well worth it and not expense - around 40 Euros for both of us. Well book earlier in the week next time.

They have a group of wonderful ski instructors who help people to become the best they can be. The two instructors who really helped us were Sebastian and Phillipe. After 5 days my son achieved the level above where he was expected to be and received a 1 star badge. He could even ski backwards down the slope by the last day. This was testament to their patience and encouragement and we couldn't fault them.

Great selection of ski instructors for all levels. One draw back is the level of english spoken is quite varied & a lot can be lost in translation. Make sure you ask for a fluent speaker - many have some very odd turns of phrase that can make or break your learning experience.

The ski school at Isola is perfect for children, adults and private lessons. They are so patient and caring and always there to give advice.Look out for Antoine & Julien Cabal - lovely!!