French Language Learning (esp Immersion) Opportunities

[pehp]

I'd love to get a few ideas on French language learning opportunities for my son, who is 14.  We live in southwest Virginia but spend about 1/3 of our time in Charleston, SC. 

He's a French addict--self-taught for years very casually, then placed into Honors French 2; next year he'll be taking French 3 for a college credit.  (He's also going to be in Spanish 3 next year, and may start Chinese in a year or two!)  But French is his first love. 

My husband and I were talking last night about providing more opportunities for him as he gets older to practice the language AND experience cultural events.  Virginia does have a language Governor's School--45 minutes away from us, at one of my alma maters!  But we're not quite there yet--probably in 2 years, and that will be a whole 'nother post (trying to figure out how feasible it is to get nominated by the local high school!). 

In any case, I'd LOVE ideas that anyone might have here.  I think we're looking for "engaging opportunities" to continue immersing himself in language and culture....and also meeting some of his "tribe."  So far Francophones with a deep passion for grammar are thin on the ground in our area.  ha. 😉

I am looking into the closest chapters of the Alliance Francaise (Charlottesville, 2 hours away, and Lynchburg, 1 hour away).  

We are willing to travel and are hoping to to go Quebec sometime (??) in the next year or so (my dad is sick; we're holding off on firm travel plans for a while).  Maybe even willing to do an immersion course in Quebec.....for a period of time. 

We are willing to try immersion camps, especially of the day variety, anywhere between Pennsylvania-ish and Florida, anywhere east of maybe west Tennessee......

I'd love to take him to France, but lots of moving parts need to be wrangled for that to happen--I'd say that's more of a 2-3 year away plan.  I also have a good friend who just moved to Lausanne, Switzerland!  So that may be on the distant horizon. 

(Also: my husband mentioned opportunities for French exams/contests....he apparently took one at the urging of his French teacher in high school, but I don't know much about that.  I know there's the NLE/NGE.....but French?  That's another topic to investigate.) 

This is my brainstorming session; feel free to throw anything at me that you've got. 

Thank you all so much!

 

 

[8filltheheart]

Things my dd did:

Culture et Langue Française à Charleston SC (a-f-charleston.com) (not this chpt, just AF.)

French Residential Language Camp | Concordia Language Villages

BYU had French camps that my dd attended but they don't appear to have one for this summer, but you could be on the look out for future summers.  (we are not Mormon, but dd is glad she went to camp bc she learned a lot)

FWIW, my dd spent time with a Francophone just conversing and reading books.  They read quite a few of Guy de Maupassant's short stories, several other books I have forgotten, and Les Mis her sr yr.  (I had her read dd's essays and mark them for grammar mistakes, not content. Dd was solid in grammar bc she was at high level in Latin and studying Russian.  I wasn't worried about her learning French grammar in general.)

Edited April 5, 2022 by 8filltheheart

[8filltheheart]

FWIW, my dd did not want to do immersion in Quebec bc she didn't want the Quebecois influence.  (People mistake her as a native French speaker when admid Francophones.)

(Though she did contemplate completing her bachelor's in Canada.  Some U's do wave international tuition if you study in French. )

Edited April 5, 2022 by 8filltheheart

[pehp]

Sounds a lot like my son! He has spent lots of time with a very good friend of mine who lived in France—reading aloud together and chatting about grammar, etc! Love having that close resource…..

What activities did your daughter engage in when in Charleston? I am glancing through the website….many neat things. Since we are part-timers there, I may look into that chapter, because we do not have one very close to home in VA. 
 

My son would LOVE the experience at Concordia! Even though Minnesota is waaaay out there. 😉 I will look at their options….!!

 

thank you! 💕

[8filltheheart]

I edited after you must have read.  My dd didn't go to the Charleston chpt of AF, but our local chpt.   It is where she met the the Francophone who had newly arrived to the US and couldn't really speak English.  She had moved here with her dh and had left behind her children and grandchildren.  She "adopted" dd and enjoyed having someone young in her life with whom to converse about local places to go to and just chat in French.

FWIW, my dd really learned a lot of French from watching the Flash News.  I couldn't find the site she listened to, but something like this: Live: Watch France 24 (French) from France. (wwitv.com)  It really broadens the vocabulary.  

[pehp]

20 hours ago, 8filltheheart said:

I edited after you must have read.  My dd didn't go to the Charleston chpt of AF, but our local chpt.   It is where she met the the Francophone who had newly arrived to the US and couldn't really speak English.  She had moved here with her dh and had left behind her children and grandchildren.  She "adopted" dd and enjoyed having someone young in her life with whom to converse about local places to go to and just chat in French.

FWIW, my dd really learned a lot of French from watching the Flash News.  I couldn't find the site she listened to, but something like this: Live: Watch France 24 (French) from France. (wwitv.com)  It really broadens the vocabulary.  

Great! Thank you--I'll look into the news site.  He has already asked for a subscription to Le Monde for his birthday. How to get that delivered into the boondocks is my next problem to solve, ha.  He LOVES the podcast "One Thing in a French Day" and has listened to it for years!

 

[J-rap]

My dd is completely fluent in French and actually married a Frenchman last year during the pandemic in France!  (Where she is presently going to graduate school.)

She had a pretty typical/traditional French language education experience growing up.  She graduated from high school a year early, and then attended a French-immersion Bible School in France the next year.  She had to pass a French language test to attend the school, but I think she was pretty borderline... They gave her the choice to attend if she was willing to work hard.  It was a very small school, but reputable and solid.  I can PM you the info if you're interested.  Before she went to the school, she spent the summer watching French TV shows and movies, listening to French radio stations, reading books in French (that she had already read in English), etc, to keep exposing herself to more French.

Then the next year she went to college and was able to pass out of French grammar classes and move directly to the more challenging French lit, etc.  She also did a semester abroad where she studied in Dakar, Senegal.  She had the opportunity to take her classes in French or English, and she chose French, for the challenge.  After college, she taught English in French high schools for two years.  (Through a French Ministry of Education program.)

She then decided to go to graduate school in France.  Graduate school programs in most European countries are taught in English, but in France, they're taught in French.  She had to take a French proficiency test and pass at the master level as part of the application, which she did.  

Anyway, all that to say that she didn't do anything super extraordinary, but just kept plugging away at it, taking advantage of opportunities.  

 

 

[jplain]

Unless he turns 15 soon, this one isn’t an option this year, but maybe in a year or two it’d be a good fit.  

My 16 year old will be going to Université Sainte-Anne’s 5-week summer program in Nova Scotia.  The exchange rate makes it pretty affordable, certainly significantly less than a US residential summer program.  She’ll likely fly to Halifax and take the program-provided transportation to campus. 

The French taught is “standard,” not québécois.  (There are of course Acadians in N.S., but Université Sainte-Anne is a Francophone university, and their immersion instructors are recruited from all over the French-speaking world.)

https://www.usainteanne.ca/en/learn-french/spring-and-summer-sessions#apply

Note that when applying as a US student, you use the online form for Canadian students and then choose US for citizenship.  This allows for credit card payment.  If you try to use the International form instead, payment becomes a lot more complicated.

Here is a podcast episode focused on the Sainte-Anne immersion program: https://www.americathebilingual.com/41-french-immersion-at-universite-sainte-anne-a-bubble-of-joy/

 

[pehp]

13 hours ago, J-rap said:

My dd is completely fluent in French and actually married a Frenchman last year during the pandemic in France!  (Where she is presently going to graduate school.)

She had a pretty typical/traditional French language education experience growing up.  She graduated from high school a year early, and then attended a French-immersion Bible School in France the next year.  She had to pass a French language test to attend the school, but I think she was pretty borderline... They gave her the choice to attend if she was willing to work hard.  It was a very small school, but reputable and solid.  I can PM you the info if you're interested.  Before she went to the school, she spent the summer watching French TV shows and movies, listening to French radio stations, reading books in French (that she had already read in English), etc, to keep exposing herself to more French.

Then the next year she went to college and was able to pass out of French grammar classes and move directly to the more challenging French lit, etc.  She also did a semester abroad where she studied in Dakar, Senegal.  She had the opportunity to take her classes in French or English, and she chose French, for the challenge.  After college, she taught English in French high schools for two years.  (Through a French Ministry of Education program.)

She then decided to go to graduate school in France.  Graduate school programs in most European countries are taught in English, but in France, they're taught in French.  She had to take a French proficiency test and pass at the master level as part of the application, which she did.  

Anyway, all that to say that she didn't do anything super extraordinary, but just kept plugging away at it, taking advantage of opportunities.  

 

 

This is really interesting! I'm intrigued by the Bible school.....

But Dakar!  That is so cool. My son is very interested in Senegal.  (He's interested in *everything,* but he was recently talking to me in particular about Senegal.)  

He loves grammar (all grammar, all languages) and I've often told him he'd be a fabulous English teacher to French speakers! I love hearing about her path...thank you. 

[mommyoffive]

On 4/7/2022 at 9:21 AM, jplain said:

Unless he turns 15 soon, this one isn’t an option this year, but maybe in a year or two it’d be a good fit.  

My 16 year old will be going to Université Sainte-Anne’s 5-week summer program in Nova Scotia.  The exchange rate makes it pretty affordable, certainly significantly less than a US residential summer program.  She’ll likely fly to Halifax and take the program-provided transportation to campus. 

The French taught is “standard,” not québécois.  (There are of course Acadians in N.S., but Université Sainte-Anne is a Francophone university, and their immersion instructors are recruited from all over the French-speaking world.)

https://www.usainteanne.ca/en/learn-french/spring-and-summer-sessions#apply

Note that when applying as a US student, you use the online form for Canadian students and then choose US for citizenship.  This allows for credit card payment.  If you try to use the International form instead, payment becomes a lot more complicated.

Here is a podcast episode focused on the Sainte-Anne immersion program: https://www.americathebilingual.com/41-french-immersion-at-universite-sainte-anne-a-bubble-of-joy/

 

How cool.  I hope you post what your dd thinks of the program after summer.  Are the fees listed online Canadian? 

[pehp]

On 4/7/2022 at 10:21 AM, jplain said:

Unless he turns 15 soon, this one isn’t an option this year, but maybe in a year or two it’d be a good fit.  

My 16 year old will be going to Université Sainte-Anne’s 5-week summer program in Nova Scotia.  The exchange rate makes it pretty affordable, certainly significantly less than a US residential summer program.  She’ll likely fly to Halifax and take the program-provided transportation to campus. 

The French taught is “standard,” not québécois.  (There are of course Acadians in N.S., but Université Sainte-Anne is a Francophone university, and their immersion instructors are recruited from all over the French-speaking world.)

https://www.usainteanne.ca/en/learn-french/spring-and-summer-sessions#apply

Note that when applying as a US student, you use the online form for Canadian students and then choose US for citizenship.  This allows for credit card payment.  If you try to use the International form instead, payment becomes a lot more complicated.

Here is a podcast episode focused on the Sainte-Anne immersion program: https://www.americathebilingual.com/41-french-immersion-at-universite-sainte-anne-a-bubble-of-joy/

 

This sounds SO neat!  Also a great excuse to visit Nova Scotia....

Please do come back here after your daughter attends the program. I know I'm not the only person who would love to hear about how it goes and what you think!  Thank you!

[jplain]

On 4/8/2022 at 11:51 AM, mommyoffive said:

How cool.  I hope you post what your dd thinks of the program after summer.  Are the fees listed online Canadian? 

Yes, the fees are listed in Canadian dollars.  So the cost for the 5 week program (before adding transportation, travel/health insurance, and spending money) will be under $3400 USD.  Our Amazon credit card has no fees for foreign transactions, so that’s the one I’m using.

I’ll definitely report back after her return!

[Flatlander]

Bumping. Any feedback on Université Sainte-Anne’s summer program?

[stripe]

On 4/6/2022 at 5:06 PM, pehp said:

Great! Thank you--I'll look into the news site.  He has already asked for a subscription to Le Monde for his birthday. How to get that delivered into the boondocks is my next problem to solve, ha.  He LOVES the podcast "One Thing in a French Day" and has listened to it for years!

 

Do you receive mail from the USPS? If so, an international magazine won’t be any more difficult than any other mail item. However, you may also consider digital magazines. Many public libraries have subscriptions to Libby, which has audio books, e books, and electronic magazines. I searched mine for French magazines, and see a huge variety, from <Gourmand> (food) to <Mon Jardin & Ma Madison> (house/garden) to <01 Net> (economics?) to <Grand Gibier> (hunting). They’ve also got photo-heavy magazines about celebrities, a car magazine, etc etc. I also think watching TV or movies in other languages and listening to the radio are all great things to do with an internet connection.

Also, for anyone whose child is Canadian, even if living abroad, there are a host of opportunities for them to study French/English as part of the government’s encouragement of bilingualism, through summer language study.

https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/funding/explore.html // https://englishfrench.ca

Edited August 20, 2022 by stripe

[jplain]

On 8/20/2022 at 10:58 AM, Flatlander said:

Bumping. Any feedback on Université Sainte-Anne’s summer program?

Yes!  She had a great time, although she did spend a week in isolation after coming down with COVID.  The program had a fairly large outbreak, which we figured was inevitable.  Masks were encouraged but not required, and from pics I'd say fewer than 5% of people wore masks.

She was very happy with the difficulty level of her morning academic classes.  Sainte-Anne's immersion programs offer 8 levels of classes, and she says her placement in the 7th level was perfect. During the school year the prof she had is a lecturer at University of Louisiana.  Her afternoon conversation workshop was taught by a graduate student (a mom who brought her own teenager along) from the University of Veracruz in Mexico.  

Housing (mostly doubles) was assigned by age, so she was on a floor of 15 and 16 year olds.  Her RA was from Mauritius.  Food wasn't anything special, but it was edible.  

There were plentiful afternoon, evening, and weekend activities on campus, including sports, game nights, and themed evening parties (Western night, 80's night, pirate night, etc.).  There were also opportunities to leave the campus on the program's bus to visit nearby towns, a regional park, a farmer's market, a grocery store, etc. They even have local bands come play in the campus bar a few times during the session, which was a highlight of the summer for my kid!

The recommended amount of spending money ($250 CAD) was too little.  We should have sent twice as much.  She had some USD, but couldn't exchange them locally.  The vendors at the Acadian Festival toward the end of the session were happy to accept her USD at a very steep effective exchange rate, LOL.  I wish we'd sent her with an ATM card, but at least we had the foresight to get her a card on one of our credit card accounts (a Visa with no foreign transaction fees).

My kid was really impressed with how rapidly the novice and intermediate students progressed.  She felt her own class didn't cover a lot of new topics, but she realizes that when you are an advanced student, most stuff is going to be review or gap-filling anyway.  She does say her speaking ability and vocab improved a TON because of the immersion.  

Students in her class researched and wrote a 1500 word term paper and gave a 10 minute oral presentation.  Mid-session I ended up signing up for a free trial of Canadian Amazon Prime in order to ship her a 10" Kindle Fire with a Bluetooth keyboard.  The campus computer lab wasn't convenient for her preferred late night study sessions! 

The lower level classes don't do that kind of writing, so the program hadn't recommended bringing computers.  However, given that COVID will likely be an issue for a while longer, I'd definitely suggest sending a largish device (tablet with keyboard or laptop) with attendees.  While in isolation she had only a tiny iPhone SE to work with -- not ideal, although she did manage to virtually attend her AM classes on it.

She was allowed to speak English when calling home in the evenings from a designated phone room, so we usually chatted via FaceTime (audio only, internet was iffy) a couple times a week.  Other times we texted in French.  On the last evening they were allowed to break the language pledge, which she said felt weird.  She and her immersion bestie decided to just keep speaking in French to each other.  They're keeping in touch via FaceTime, and since her former French conversation partner is off to college now, she hopes they'll be able to set up regular French conversation sessions this year.

Feel free to PM me with other questions!

[mommyoffive]

On 8/22/2022 at 9:00 AM, jplain said:

Yes!  She had a great time, although she did spend a week in isolation after coming down with COVID.  The program had a fairly large outbreak, which we figured was inevitable.  Masks were encouraged but not required, and from pics I'd say fewer than 5% of people wore masks.

She was very happy with the difficulty level of her morning academic classes.  Sainte-Anne's immersion programs offer 8 levels of classes, and she says her placement in the 7th level was perfect. During the school year the prof she had is a lecturer at University of Louisiana.  Her afternoon conversation workshop was taught by a graduate student (a mom who brought her own teenager along) from the University of Veracruz in Mexico.  

Housing (mostly doubles) was assigned by age, so she was on a floor of 15 and 16 year olds.  Her RA was from Mauritius.  Food wasn't anything special, but it was edible.  

There were plentiful afternoon, evening, and weekend activities on campus, including sports, game nights, and themed evening parties (Western night, 80's night, pirate night, etc.).  There were also opportunities to leave the campus on the program's bus to visit nearby towns, a regional park, a farmer's market, a grocery store, etc. They even have local bands come play in the campus bar a few times during the session, which was a highlight of the summer for my kid!

The recommended amount of spending money ($250 CAD) was too little.  We should have sent twice as much.  She had some USD, but couldn't exchange them locally.  The vendors at the Acadian Festival toward the end of the session were happy to accept her USD at a very steep effective exchange rate, LOL.  I wish we'd sent her with an ATM card, but at least we had the foresight to get her a card on one of our credit card accounts (a Visa with no foreign transaction fees).

My kid was really impressed with how rapidly the novice and intermediate students progressed.  She felt her own class didn't cover a lot of new topics, but she realizes that when you are an advanced student, most stuff is going to be review or gap-filling anyway.  She does say her speaking ability and vocab improved a TON because of the immersion.  

Students in her class researched and wrote a 1500 word term paper and gave a 10 minute oral presentation.  Mid-session I ended up signing up for a free trial of Canadian Amazon Prime in order to ship her a 10" Kindle Fire with a Bluetooth keyboard.  The campus computer lab wasn't convenient for her preferred late night study sessions! 

The lower level classes don't do that kind of writing, so the program hadn't recommended bringing computers.  However, given that COVID will likely be an issue for a while longer, I'd definitely suggest sending a largish device (tablet with keyboard or laptop) with attendees.  While in isolation she had only a tiny iPhone SE to work with -- not ideal, although she did manage to virtually attend her AM classes on it.

She was allowed to speak English when calling home in the evenings from a designated phone room, so we usually chatted via FaceTime (audio only, internet was iffy) a couple times a week.  Other times we texted in French.  On the last evening they were allowed to break the language pledge, which she said felt weird.  She and her immersion bestie decided to just keep speaking in French to each other.  They're keeping in touch via FaceTime, and since her former French conversation partner is off to college now, she hopes they'll be able to set up regular French conversation sessions this year.

Feel free to PM me with other questions!

What a great review.  Thank you.

[Jeke42]

We are in SW Virginia, too. In the New River Valley.  My kids went to an immersion program in Quebec City this winter with EduInter and came back with mixed feelings.  They lived with host parents and that went well, each with a different family.  They like all of the activities in the afternoons, although several were cancelled in the first week due to snow, which left them with too much free time when they were most homesick.  But the morning classes were not leveled, as we were expecting, due to low enrollment- about 10 kids in all in any given week.  That could have been Covid related, but all the kids were in one class.  So the kids that were new to the language were overwhelmed and my kids, with a year or two of French under their belts, were bored.  The other problem was that all the rest of the kids had Spanish as their first language, and did not abide by the French only pledge, which was isolating for my kids.  They both improved dramatically in their conversation skills, due to speaking French with their host parents, navigating public transportation, buying food in shops, and listening to tour guides in some of their afternoon activities.

We especially miss their French teacher since their immersion, she moved back to France a couple of years ago.  We've been using Italki to keep up their studies, but the in-person element is sorely missed.