Study French in France

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steelblue

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Hi,

My son wants to study French in France (staying with a host family) instead of doing transition year. He is 15 years old.

Can anybody share experience of this or recommend any colleges in France.

Thanks
Steelblue
 
Is he old enough to go as an au pair? Lots of families accept male au pairs, but there might be a lower age limit.

The Institut Catholique or the Alliance Francaise would be good reputable language colleges in Paris and provide recognised certification in French. Like TEFL there are lots of places that someone can study, but some are good and some not so good.

I'm not so sure of the AF but the IC also provide 'options' which are specialisations in French culture, e.g. art, music, history etc. Depending on how many hours he's planning on studying they might be useful.

If you contact the AF in Ireland they might have more details for you, or you can contact the IC here - [broken link removed]

Some schools in Ireland provide for foreign students to come and spend a year while improving their English - one that I know of is Colaiste Criost Ri in Cork, and also the secondary school in Crosshaven outside Cork city (not sure what it's called) - quite possibly they might have reciprocal arrangements with foreign schools, or they might be able to point you in the right direction.

Hope your son has a great time!
 
Firts off excellent idea from your son. In my opinion going abroad and living away from home and becoming fluent in another langauge would be far more rewarding than anything he could ever learn by doing a transition year in Ireland.

Suggestions Alliance Francaise and Institut Catholique although haven't heard of the latter) are good ones.

One thing I would question is the host family bit. I think a boarding school option would provide a better structure. Stronger academics, extras such as sport and a ready made peer group.
 
Strongly agree with Mr Toad. In my opinion transition year is a complete waste of time. Fair play to your son for having the maturity to make that decision.
 
Excellent way to learn a valuable skill. 15 is too young to be an au pair and he's a boy so very unlikely to find a job that way.

There are Alliance Francaise I believe in Dublin, it would be a good way to start with getting information also try the French tourist office in Dublin (not sure if there is one, maybe try London by phone).

In order to learn a new language the only way is full immersion so avoid environments that have too many English speakers, (think the Gaeltaech courses with the Ban on Ti with 6 kids in a house whose mother tongue is English)
 
I spent a few months with a host family in France when I was 15 and thoroughly enjoyed it, but possibly not for reasons my parents would have approved of!

My host family didn't impose any restrictions on me at all. They gave me a key to the door and a map of the train system, so off I went and enjoyed the nightlife of Paris. Fantastic fun, however in hindsight it was insane letting a 15 year old loose in a BIG city. Anything could have happened to me.

Hosts were apparently vetted by the company who organized it all (can't remember their name), and my experiences living with a host family are only one case - I'm sure other people have other experiences.

Some friends of mine who spent the academic year in France did so in Internats Permanent which are like full time boarding schools (weekends, with holiday care optional). They definitely improved their French more than I did.
 
Bronte said:
Excellent way to learn a valuable skill. 15 is too young to be an au pair and he's a boy so very unlikely to find a job that way.
Click to expand...

Male au pairs were starting to become accepted when I was in France around 15 years ago. They're very common nowadays. No reason he couldn't find a job, age permitting.

As the thread is 18 months old I'd love to hear how the student got on, whether he finally went to France...
 
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