French exchanges - do children in England still do these and how are they organised?

[Anna8888]

We were talking about this last night. Both of us remember from our youth that schools in England and France had long-standing agreements and sent children back and forth at the end of the summer term on a regular basis, with children attending school either end.

Does this still happen? If not, how do parents ensure their children learn French (and other languages) beyond what they acquire in the classroom?

I think I agree with frogs - I have an extensive international network but match-making is a difficult and fraught task that I don't feel up to...

snorkle - that's kind - but I can do my own googling (you are not my employee - kind of you to offer though).

I'm really interested in hearing about people's personal experiences and what's worked.

I also have a feeling that it is really hard to find English boy exchanges. Boys just don't seem to study languages much at all in England any more...

(OK I get the message about having been complacent - I was just thinking of my mum, marooned in 70s Edinburgh, bustlingly cultivating Dad's colleagues' wives, school assistantes & people's au pairs.)

See loads of others have beaten me to it, but there's this outfit too which I don't think's been mentioned yet.

How old is your DD Bink? My partner's first cousin has four daughters in a lovely all girls Catholic school in Neuilly that would be nice environment for a London girl to learn French in

Or, if you want something more exotic, I know a family of six girls - mother is Afghan, father German but the language of the family/education is French and family is very broad-minded and cultivée in the nicest sense of the word...

Anna - I'm only looking out of curiosity for myself too! My ds enjoys languages a lot & might be interested in another exchange I'm sure he's not alone, so there must be other English boys in a similar position.

How old is your DS, snorkle?

Oh snorkle, thanks for that link! DS2 is just finishing Y10 and is doing both French & German; he'll be going to Perpignan for his school exchange in Sept but I'd love it if he could go for a longer trip on his own too.

(Trouble is, if it has to be summer, I have to work 3 days a week so the return part would be tricky)

I wonder whether the fact that so many mothers work these days hasn't made exchanges harder to execute? And language schools more popular?

My dd's only 7, so it'll be years yet! - though she would love joining a big family of girls!

I also have a ds who's 9, so he may be a contender too in due course.

It is completely obvious that, down the line, MN is going to be part of the answer here, isn't it?

Both families have a seven year old girl, Bink - my children's second cousins are four girls and it's the youngest one who is seven, and my Afghan friend's second to last one is seven. Highly recommend that family - not a minute of boredom.

Completely agree than MN is great hunting-ground, since we actually know so much about one another's values from all this talking before sending our children into the fray.

Don't know if this has been said as haven't got the time to read the whole thread but our exchange programme was run in conjuction with the twinning scheme that towns do with each other - so part of the local council's remit.

I did it 4 times I think, didn't learn a huge amount of French, they were more interested in learning English than teaching me French but we got on well enough to go to each others weddings 10 years later. Kind of lost contact now though. Sad.

I would love my boys to do it when they are old enough.

They haven't got a 13yo as well, have they, Anna?

13 year old girl in my partner's cousin's family

What are you after, frogs?

Would be interested in exchange for dd1 (13) -- academic but not geeky, sensible (mainly), goes to selective catholic girls school in London.

We did an exchange with a relatives family when she was 8 -- her visit to France was all fine and dandy (though I should have smelt a rat when they kept banging on about how amazingly good and wonderful she was) but the return visit was a nightmare for all sorts of reasons. It died a death fairly swiftly after that.

I like the "selective girls Catholic school in London" bit as that exactly the kind of school my children's second cousins are at in Neuilly. Very well behaved girls, and the thirteen year old is bright. All ride, play an instrument, father is lawyer, mother a science teacher (has PhD). Slightly impecunious however. When are you thinking of? Summer 2009 or before?

I hzve done exchanges for my children on mnet and organised an exchange for a friend's child.

The mumsnetters I have met through this have been lovely.

Anna, I would hate it if someone described me on a public forum as 'slightly impecunious though'.

The family in question are completely upfront about it GGG

My ds is 14 Anna and I also have a Dd who is nearly 13. Dd is very good at making friends easily but is less good at learning languages - I'd like her to do an exchange sometime, but not sure how she'll feel about it! Is it your stepson you are looking for? I've a feeling he's slightly younger if I'm remembering right.

The conversation arose last night in a general sort of way as it is that time of year when parents talk about what the children are going to be doing in the summer and so many parents have been discussing exchanges, language schools, asking for help etc.

We are planning to send my stepsons (13 and nearly 11) to a language school next year but perhaps the elder one might also do an exchange, if we found the perfect family

snorkle - has your DS just finished the third year of secondary school?