French school for six months immersion

[Florine]

Does anyone have any experience of sending their nine year old to a French speaking school just for six months. She doesn't speak French at home but will be staying with our french family. How proficient in the language is she likely to become with six months immersion in the language? Is this likely to help her become more secure in the language later on. Thank you sharing your experience.

Does she have any French at all?

Yes she can make simple sentences, she enjoys this.

Do you also speak French at home?

It would certainly help accents when learning later. But if you are hoping she wI'll continue with the fluency she would gain I think you will be disappointed.
I've known children who would be considered completely bilingual lose their fluency after a relatively short time back in UK.
Why are you contemplating a fixed six month period?

Oh that's disappointing to hear. We we're thinking six months up to nine months maximum so that we don't disrupt her schooling for any longer in the uk.
Part of me feels it's an opportunity to develop a language as a child. I am surprised to hear that previously bilingual children at this age could loose that.

I went to France for 3 months at the age of 9 to stay with family friends (who were French and English) I went to school there and I had virtually no French when I went. I refused to speak it when I was there (too shy) but picked up a ton and could understand most conversations and basic books etc

The biggest challenge I had was there was no way of keeping it up when I came back, and when I went to Secondary school, I spent the first ~3 years of French bored out of my head as I knew it all and they didn't tailor the lessons. I then lost interest and failed to pick up any of the useful grammar lessons and bombed my A level, despite being predicted a B

I'm not sure the value tbh if there's no way of keeping on lessons / tutoring etc once she gets back

I don’t think I’d send my 9 year old away to a school in a different country and disrupt her life. She’ll have to make new friends and then another set of friends when she comes back. If you’re assuming that she’ll simply slit back into her existing school, don’t. Her friends may well move on.

Pay for language lessons, take her to France in the school holidays. Don’t disrupt her life in the hope she gains some long-lasting proficiency in French, when it’s not certain that she will.

What's the actual goal of this? It just sounds disruptive for your child

I spent a year in France when I was 10. I became completely fluent and got an A in GCSE French as soon as I got back. I did find that I maintained it - was able to get an A at A level as well, which I took at the age of 18 never having studied French at school. Now at the age of nearly 40, I am told I still 'sound fluent' when I start speaking, as the accent I picked up has remained. However, after about 1 minute it becomes clear that I'm not on fact fluent, as I don't have much of a vocabulary. Also, because I learnt it by immersion rather than by translation from English, if I can't remember a French word I have no way of remembering it as you might be able to recall a word you have learnt at school, by thinking back to lessons or to notes you made or whatever. I either know the word or I don't, if you see what I mean.

Thank you for sharing your experience, that's really Interesting and I think that's the opportunity I want her to have. I know she won't be totally bilingual.
Did you find the experience was good for your confidence or give you more opportunities in your adult life?

Yes, I really had a wonderful time. It was fantastic. I wouldn't necessarily say it gave me more opportunities, but it has certainly been an advantage to be able to put 'fluent French' on my CV 😊

Would she be away from you for the whole of the 6 months?

No just for three weeks at a time. Similar to boarding school.

Is she at boarding school at the moment? Not many people send their 9 year olds away to boarding school

You may need to think about how easy it will be to get her into a French school- particularly post Brexit.
Are you looking at private schools?
I can't help wondering how people would react if British state school resources were being abused by foreign parents sending their children just to learn English with no intention of staying.

That's an unusual thing to do at 9, more common for a teenager. Secondary schools are likely to be more receptive to the idea.

Statistically children do tend to lose the language if they learn it under the age of 10 and it's not kept up. Obviously there will be exceptions especially hovering close to the age of 10, and some residual "musical" memory meaning improved accent.

If she doesn't know the French family members incredibly well the arrangement you propose will cause her very high underlying stress levels even if she isn't unhappy, and constantly high stress levels inhibit learning and can undermine the immune system. Living away from her nuclear family is a different proposition to all moving to France for a year and different from boarding school where other children are in "the same boat". She will need to be an unusual robust 9 to cope. Every single element of every second of her day will be alien, and she may well struggle socially at school.

I'd do it later if she's on board - year 8 maybe. That way she'll be more emotionally mature and have the chance to keep it up at school with GCSE too.

Secondary schools will be more likely to see something in it or them in hosting an English guest student, because their students will have started learning English in earnest and your child will be expected to help them practice English as well as to learn French. That's how it works in Germany anyway, where one year guest pupil set ups are moderately common.