MFL year abroad in France

[AfterLeavingMrMacKenzie]

All being well, DD will be going to study in France this September for the 3rd year of her degree.

The university has put on a couple of information sessions for the students and given them a list of institutions with which they have exchange programmes.

They've said that with regards to funding (Turing) they don't know how much will be available but it won't be much and they don't know when they'll be allocating it.

I'd love to chat with other parents whose DC are doing a year in France or did one in the past.

DD doesn't have an EU passport.

I'm actually disgusted at how little support there is for MFL in the UK. I wish people were encouraged to be bilingual the way they are in Europe etc. I didn't spend the year abroad for my degree, which I probably regret, but it would have made my degree 5 years long, and the other half of my joint honours was English, so I didn't have to.

I was back in the days of grants (such as they were, but at least no fees!) and DD was either the last or second last year of Erasmus. She also benefitted from a large bursary offered to MFL PGCE students.

The requirements for her undergrad were AAB. Back in my day it was CCD!! I went in with AABB.

I think it's a case of "you don't use it much, you lose it" though I recall so much more Spanish A level and French degree than I do of my English and History A levels, and my English degree. I even remember some Latin O level!

DD spent her year abroad as an assistante in a French lycee in the arse end of nowhere with shit public transport, living on her own on the school premises. On the bright side, it was cheap! She still managed to travel extensively but a lot of it was a bit shit.

DD spent her year abroad as an assistante in a French lycee in the arse end of nowhere with shit public transport, living on her own on the school premises. On the bright side, it was cheap! She still managed to travel extensively but a lot of it was a bit shit

This is why DD doesn't want to risk the assistante route (combined with her dislike of kids).

Obviously there's a risk of uni not being everything she's hoping for but she reckons in a city she'll have more options. It'll put her resilience and resourcefulness the test.

As a counterpoint, I spent my MFL degree year abroad as an assistante in a French lycée, living on my own in the school premises, didn't like teaching, in a small, ugly industrial town and had an amazing time because the teachers and people in the town were so welcoming and inclusive. My French improved massively to the point where people thought I was French and I put on half a stone because I was constantly invited for meals. Whereas classmates who did the uni route were lonely and hardly spoke French at all. Basically either route can be great or not so great - luck of the draw. Your DD just has to go with her gut feel. Resilience and resourcefulness will go a long way to making it a great experience.

Why would dc at a uni not speak French? The other students are mostly French, the lectures are in French, the work for the uni course is in French and everywhere they go the French speak French. DD lived in a flat in Switzerland and all the Swiss flatmates were multi lingual. They kindly always spoke to her in French - which was the language they were all using at the uni. Dc just need to be resolute in speaking French. I think the language assistant roles are hit and miss. However finding people your own age is a challenge in many towns. It’s an adult environment and some won’t thrive with this at 20.

In a non-university town (such as the ones that language assistants are so often allocated to) there won't, by definition, be French university students to make friends with as they are all in university towns. I think you need to want to be a teacher and to like children a lot to make the language assistant route work.

Some French cities are far more closed societies than others and some have far more incoming French students from other cities than others, which is likely to make making friends easier.

@Ceramiq The poster said uni exchange student was lonely and didn’t speak French! I wax replying to that post.

@TizerorFizz And I was adding some clarifications to that. An overseas student at a French university might well not speak much French - unfortunately that is easily the case. If a student wants full immersion they would be better going to a very vibrant university city with lots of incoming students. Paris or Lille would beat Grenoble or Bordeaux any day.

Well, after my earlier negativity about DD's French level, she's apparently just been told by her French tutor that she passed her end of seminar test with an "extremely high mark".

Given that over Christmas she was pronouncing "faim" as "fame" I'd say there was still a way to go but I'm a bit more hopeful she might actually be able to cope in two years time!

@HPFA she will be absolutely fine. If you think of international students in the UK, they pronounce English words in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways and we rarely misunderstand them. DS was far from fluent six months ago. Apparently some people don't realise he's not French now. And he's also been asked if he's from Belgium when he was drunk. I'm not sure if that's done sort of Southwestern French insult or not 🤔
Well done to your daughter on her high marks.

@mummyinbeds Your Belgium comment made me laugh. DD got exactly the same comment and she wasn’t drunk. Didn’t spend any time in Belgium. She was not sure if it was a put down or not!

DD went to two universities abroad, one for French and one for Italian, and both taught in the target MFL and she spoke to everyone in her MFL. Occasionally a student wanted to practice a bit of English with her but students must try and speak the MFL. No one is going to a city where English is the first language.

I once got asked to check a Polish guy's job application before he sent it off and he'd written: " I want to feather my understanding of....." it took me a minute or two to work out what he was trying to write!

I spent a month as part of my degree in Grenoble many years ago. I loved the city and I had a great time, but I socialised mostly with my compatriots from the same uni, a middle-aged American dad and his 16 year old DD who was studying there too, an Iranian guy and a bunch of Italians!

OP I've rtft but have I missed what uni she's at and what she's actually studying?

OP if your DC has not yet decided, just wanted to say Montpellier is a friendly, cool, safe city. In no way can it be described as 'dangerous' Recently spent a couple of happy years working in this city - back in UK now but I keep going back to visit. It's vibrant and full of university students. I came across a few 'year abroad' students some from University of Oxford.

I find Montpellier strategically situated for skiing, beach holidays and visiting other cities, really no point to basing yourself at Avignon, which is tiny and easily reached from Montpellier, beautiful though.

There are always students looking for English lessons in Montpellier.

You can pretty much live anywhere where there's a tramline and you will be fine.

It's also a top destination for digital nomads and if you search online will find maps of neighbourhoods preferred by nomads for high internet speed and abundance of public transport and cafes.

Also it's worth adding that all lessons are in the target MFL, Most students talk to you in the MFL and you can open a conversation in the MFL. DD was friends with people from other nations but in 2 semesters (one in each MFL) she was fine. Any student needing the MFL input can find it.

Montpelier sounds really great.

You could always look at St. Anne's University in Nova Scotia. They have undergraduate and seasonal study, all 100% immersive (they throw you out if you speak English)

@Swapsnamebriefly I imagine most uk universities don't swap students with that one.

Yes I expect you're right - but it might be worth doing the summer immersion for 5 wks, regardless. It is actually not that expensive.

Yes but a uk MFL student should not need that after 2 years at university. They might then get 2 or 1 semester in the target MFL abroad to hone a number of skills.

Looking at the Canadian College (interesting location - I've been there!) they hardly offer any subjects. Business only really. My DD studied another MFL and History of Art whilst at the European universities. The loss of the Erasmus funding is the big disaster here but most students don't need a MFL language boost after 2 years. They do need wider cultural experiences though and certainly not keep speaking English with mates!

The French unis DD's uni is linked with all seem to offer free French classes as well as the normal seminars etc.

Can't remember which but one had different requirements for students who'd passed a test for B1/B2 - they were prepared to accept B1 students but they were required to do extra lessons.

Honestly, I think if DD doesn't emerge from her year abroad with reasonably fluent French it'll be down to her own lack of effort and there's not much anyone can do about that!

@HPFA Yes. Definitely effort required. I think DD had compulsory translation/language classes too - forgot those! The other issue with more summer school study is then there's lack of time for work or internships. DD had other goals which needed her time. She also did 2 MFLs so you only get one semester in each location so wasting your time speaking English would be a luxury you just cannot afford!

Learning MFL to any degree of fluency is really hard without full immersion. It isn't natural to learn languages without hearing them all around you and needing to speak them to communicate. So, yes, individuals need to take responsibility for exposing themselves to fully immersive language and cultural settings.

More info regarding Montpellier: There are places dotted across town where MFL students go to chat in French with local students. One small happy moment for me was when I was walking behind two young students who had just come out of such a place - one a local French kid and the other, I think English from his accented French. The English/British student told his new friend that he attends a "top, top uni in England called University of Leeds." I was delighted to hear that because my father studied Chemical Engineering at Leeds and remembers his time there with fondness; the welcome he received as a young international student was phenomenal, from students and faculty both.

I don't know much about universities in other cities but in Montpellier it’s common to see small groups of local and international students chatting in French.

Something to consider, especially if shy: go there before term begins and enrol at one of the many French Language Schools in town to get up to speed on spoken French. If you have had structured learning through school and/or two years of university, you already have a strong command of the language and fluency in speaking comes very quickly once you are using it daily for six months to a year.
Good luck!