French immersion?

[bionicnemonic]

Hello
DS 16 studying French. I’d like him to do a week or so immersion to give him a boost. Does anyone have any recommendations? Preferably not in Paris!
Thank you

I did this for a month but in Germany. This company is excellent and everything was sorted for me. Highly recommend.
www.esl-languages.com/en/adults/learn/french/france/index.htm

In Paris, but these people are good www.accord-langues.com/

They run a summer school, for teens and/or families, on the outskirts of Paris.

Long ago when I needed French for work, I did my immersion here www.cavilam.com/en/ As well as lessons, they arranged for you to stay with a family. Don’t know if they have anything for teens. The water tastes foul!

A good alternative is to look for a non language residential course (tennis, cookery etc) and send your child on it. It’s what the French often do, sending their kids to the UK or US, sometimes quite young and with very little English.

I have heard god things about this school in Antibes link, although haven't used them myself. Friend of DS went a couple of years ago and enjoyed the course.

You could also consider the Alpine French School in Morzine. I’ve booked it for the summer. Obviously can’t review it yet but they have been very helpful during the booking process.

Thank you all for your suggestions...I’m slowly looking through them!

Exchange visit with penpal? And independent travel?

I went to Paris for a fortnight at Easter before A level to look after two small children as an au pair (no cooking or housework, to cover two working parents during the days) via a friend of my mum. It was successful, in that it improved my spoken French a lot.

I did a month in Montpelier as an adult at a school through www.ila-france.com

Would've been perfect town for a teen, I'd think. They can arrange homestays and the city is a decent size but still small. I felt safe walking around even at night. One central bus takes you straight to the beach and the train to nearby cities like Nice aren't too long.

To be honest I chose it because it was the cheapest option but I loved it. We had quite a few teens doing summer lessons so he'd have friends to spend the time with.

Just updating to say that Alpine French school was great - would recommend.

Hi RedDogBlueDog,

Yes they did! We only went for a week, so no-one was expecting miracles, but both of them made very real progress.

They enjoyed it too - the afternoon activities were good. And Morzine was beautiful. And it was friendly.

I'll admit it really wasn't immersion, sadly...plenty of English spoken.

I was planning to go back in 2020 but we all know what happened there :(

I took them to a Spanish school last summer. Still haven't decided what to do this year. If anyone's got any ideas, do share...?

Best of luck to your DC for her future studies.

Two languages at GCSE is a great idea 😃Hard at the time but will set them up for the future.

The Spanish school was Don Quijote in Castelldefels near Barcelona. I actually started a thread about it called Is this a stupid idea? Learning Spanish in Spain. It was hugely useful for me and lots of people gave me great advice.Here

My kids are younger - still not KS4 age - but yes their Spanish did improve. The school wasn’t perfect but all three of us would happily do it again.

If I was mainly aiming for a GCSE grade boost, I’d get better value for money buying sessions from a tutor. I absolutely can’t deny that. Summer school was the right choice for us though.

Do please ask if you have any questions I can answer and all the best to your linguist.

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