belqises

Hi everyone,

Im hoping to learn French in France sometime next summer for about 10-12 weeks (depending on price). I'd love accommodation to be included and some meals as well. I assume this is going to be kind of expensive, but I'll (hopefully) be in Spain as a language assistant for about 8 moths making very little money- so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to save. Im going with some money saved up from working here in the US, but I don't know if that will last me 8+ months. Any volunteer or work programs where I can exchange labor for French classes would be amazing.

Thanks for your help!

jamikins

We are looking at this place in Sancerre for next year for a week: http://www.coeurdefrance.com

It gets really good reviews from several people on this board that have done courses. If you do a search above you will get some other ideas as well!

Bon Chance!

Cathinjoetown

You might see what's on offer in Toulouse, Montpellier or Pau, am thinking of your expenses, all are close to Spain and cheaper than Paris. Montpellier and Toulouse have big student concentrations. I can't recommend a specific course although alliance francaise is noted for being reasonable and offering intensive courses at all levels.

grandmere

Centre Linguistique Pour Etrangers in Tours. (CLE)
I had a much better learning experience there than at Coeur de France, where all the students were anglophones. At CLE there were people from all over the world, and French was our common language so it was truly a total immersion situation.

Christina

The French govt subsidizes French universities that teach French to foreigners, and these universities have extremely cheap tuition and accommodation costs. I think Alliance Francaise may be subsidized somewhat also by the govt, but I don't think private schools are. And of course, finding accommodations in university residences may be easier or more desirable than other methods, but that is partly preference (I prefer dorms to living with some family, and apts are expensive).

The fact that you have 10-12 weeks is a good thing as the summer courses in universities for foreigners are generally 4-8 week sessions.

Of course this depends what you call affordable, but I can't imagine you'll find anything cheaper than the French universities. You should be able to find them online by googling, wherever a major French university is (Paris, of course, I know they ahve such classes in Nice, Aix and Montpellier, also).

This is one university (l'INstitut Catholique de Paris or www.icp.fr) I went to in Paris for one summer, it was fantastic (I liked it better than the Sorbonne, which also has such summer programs). ICP had really nice dorms, much better than the U of Paris system. this is their page on language for foreigners

http://www.icp.fr/fr/Organismes/Inst...ses-ILCF-Paris

For example, ICP charges 710 euro a month in the summer for 18 hrs of classes a week. Their demi-pension rate in the foyers (residence halls) is only 750 euro a month (that is room and 2 meals--I chose breakfast and dinner--in a private room) or about 25 euro a day.

CLE is a good school and they charge 3735 euro for 12 weeks tuition or 1240 a month, about double that of ICP. Room/board seems about the same in a host family.

Here is the page on the summer course for foreigners at Montpellier (Universite Paul Valery), they charge 1450 euro a month for tuition plus accommodation, which is about the same as ICP. They also include some sociocultural programme whatever that is. I suspect around 1500 euro a month for tuition and room/board may be what you are looking at for a minimum.

This is the page for the Sorbonne summer program
http://www.english.paris-sorbonne.fr.../introduction/
They don't have details online yet, but I think their fees are about the same as ICP, maybe a little less.

This is the page for summer courses in Aix at the Univesite de Provence.
http://sites.univ-provence.fr/scefee...sentationf.htm
They charge 670 euro for 4 weeks (20 hrs per week of classes), which is excellent. Their accommodation is only 15 euro per night which is fantastic (although that must not include any meals).

Fodorite018

Our DD did a study abroad term last summer at the ICP and felt she got so much out of it. The dorms she was in though were disgusting. She said students were in various ones around the city, but hers was pretty bad. I saw it when I came to visit and was surprised that she didn't try to move. That was arranged though through the exchange program, not ICP themselves, I believe. Anyway, she said the students were mostly at ICP but a few at the Sorbonne, and the ICP was much better from what she could tell.

AlessandraZoe

My two daughters (teens then) and I spent two weeks with Coeur de France, the school Jamikens mentioned, in Sancerre a few years ago, and we wished we could have spent the summer to really absorb the language. I think Grandmere is right--there were a lot of English speakers there who tended to break into their own language a lot, but we still got a lot of value from it. We were able to snag a private course for the three of us that varied from two to four hours a day that was TOTALLY in French, so I'd say we were pretty immersed. I always exited the classroom feeling rather exhausted because I was not in English zone. We really did try to speak French in the apartment, and the three of us studied our grammar together too, so that helped.

Regarding the apartment--Owners Gerald and Marianne have purchased apartments, rooms for rent, and we were able to take advantage of that by renting very nice apartment on top of the school. Gerald and Marianne are very flexible in their planning and class levels, so there were people there for one week, two weeks, a month, and supposedly, one guy spent an entire year there.

No matter what you do, I love it that you are DOING IT. Good luck!

Xaxu

Bonjour!

http://www.sofi64.com/

This great French language school is located in Anglet/Biarritz.
Teachers are friendly and professsional, classes are up to 10 students max and location is great (next to the beach).
Students come from all over the world.
School offer a host family system for a total immersion.
Bonne chance!

Christina

I went to ICP on my own, not through any exchange program, so ICP arranged my accommodation which was in one of their residence halls in St Germain, it was wonderful. Some programs that handle those summer courses at French universities add on a very large fee for doing so and arrange their own dorms or residence halls which are not the best usually. I recommend people do it on their own if they can. I went through a program at the Sorbonne that was like that, just tacked on a large fee for the arrangements. That was the first time I went so I needed the security of that (and I didn't speak French as well then, either), so wasn't sorry I did it, but I found out they charged about double what the Sorbonne charged if you just signed up on your own. And we had a disgusting dorm in Cite Universitaire, also, through that program.

ICP has some real nice residence halls, I had a private room that was huge with wood floors, a desk, and windows that overlooked a beautiful central garden. The hall had beautiful living room areas with a grand piano I could play, and the cafeteria was in the basement. This was within a few blocks' walk to the school in prime St Germain real estate. Anyway, I just got assigned that when I went to the admin office to pay all my fees, just got very lucky, perhaps. But all the folks I met there said their residence halls were pretty nice. This is exactly where I stayed: http://www.foyerlamaison.asso.fr/def...ml/page-3.html

Fodorite018

Christina--You are right, the Cite University dorm is where DD was and it was disgusting. DD used an exchange program since she was unsure of the whole process, but I like the way you did it. She did meet a lot of great people that she is still in touch with though. I know she said a couple of the girls had dorms in your area, might be the same one I have no idea, so I think it was just chance that she and some others got placed where they did. When I arrived and and the girls moved out of the dorm into the apt I rented, they were soooo happy, lol! Nice to hear more about the ICP from you since I know she is still interested in doing more, so thank you

grandmere

The ICP accommodations look lovely!

FemmeFrancophile

I have done 6 linguistic stays in France including one in New Caledonia. Here is my report about my 3 stays with the Alliance française at Rouen:
http://femmesfrancophiles.blogspot.c...programme.html

Choosing an immersion programme:
http://femmesfrancophiles.blogspot.c...rogrammes.html

Information regarding homestay as part of immersion programme:
http://femmesfrancophiles.blogspot.c...programme.html

Christina

There are some real nice dorms at Cite Universitaire, also, it is a large complex with many dorms sponsored by the various foreign countries (including one for regional France). As I understand it, the country itself pays for that dorm (or built it, not sure about maintenance), and consequently rich countries have really nice dorms (ie Japan and Norway were really nice) and some poorer countries had crummy ones. I was in the one by India and it was pretty grim and smelled of curry, actually, but it was just not very nice. I had friends in the Spain dorm at Cite Universitaire and could have stayed there some other time I was there for the summer, and it was nice, also (and had its own cafeteria in the basement).

Surprisingly, as I was given a chance to move there from Maison de l'Inde, the US dorm was not very nice I heard, so I didn't bother packing up and moving. At least the Maison de l'Inde had a piano I could play (a theme as you can see). I guess it wasn't totally disgusting, it was safe, but the shower room was not very nice and got clogged up and the rooms had very little light. The lobby/living room area of the US dorm is very nice but someone told me the rooms were crummy. I wonder why except maybe the US doesn't care about students in France.

The Cite Universitaire tends to put people in the dorm of their own country, although you can try to get around that if you know the tricks.

AlessandraZoe

Since we are former students, we often receive email updates from the Coeur de France Ecole de Langues in Sancerre. One just arrived this morning describing their 20% discount pricing for Fall/Winter:
http://tinyurl.com/6w7vv9z

A few more detailed reviews of this school and its locale were added to TripAdvisor, so those comparison shopping for schools and programs may find these additional evaluations to be helpful:
http://tinyurl.com/7y7gpom

Happy school hunting!

anne1975

Hi! I've been twice to France to study. www.institutdefrancais.com in Villefranche has a very specific method where you learn mostly through oral exercises (breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea are included). I loved the location of the school--Villefranche is very cute and just 10 minutes from Nice by bus. Student profile: adults.
The second time I went to Sorbonne. I found it a bit slow and the students were very young, but tuition was very inexpensive.

AlessandraZoe

Anne1975--I was hoping that someone who had gone to that school would chime in. I remember very seriously considering the Institute de Francais since we had liked Villefranche so much. If I recall, our own dates of availability and theirs didn't line up so I had to exclude them.

anne1975

Hi, Alessandra--I really liked the method. Through mostly spoken exercises you end up being able to communicate quite a lot. Of course, you are not going deep into the grammar behind the different structures, but it helps you become confident in your ability to communicate.
I am actually thinking about going back for a refresher, as I am feeling a bit rusty. They only have three levels so if you have really advanced French it might be too basic for you.
I enjoyed the food the Institut provides. I am vegetarian and they were able to accommodate me--of course, I talked to the chef the day I arrived (they offer breakfast, lunch and dinner).
The only thing I didn't like was the fact that when you book he apartment through them you don't get to see photos or descriptions of the flats they have--you can only choose an apartment category. When you arrive, they arrange for someone to give you the apartment key--but if you don't like it, you're basically stuck with it. Next time I'll book the apartment myself, not through the Institut. Hope this helps!

AlessandraZoe

"They only have three levels so if you have really advanced French it might be too basic for you."

My kids would be greatly amused by the very idea of my ever being "advanced", Anne.

I just keep trying. Both my high school and college required four years of language, ignoring the fact that people like me just don't have any linguistic ability, so I figure I've invested so much time (and have inflicted so much pain on my instructors) that I might as well keep going.

Great tip about the apartment for the school. We were able to get a view of what we were renting at Coeur de France, and that was helpful.

Attnymom

bookmarking this for my bucket list....

Christina

A lot of young students go to the Sorbonne summer program, but I think that is true of most of the university programs. A lot of universities use it for their summer program. Of course whether it is slow or full of young people depends on which level you place in. Because a lot of teachers use it, also, for continuing education requirements or to add a qualification or something. I didn't consider it slow at all at the level I was in, which had some college and high school language teachers in it (I think it was B1). But in general, at the lower levels, you do have a lot of college students in it due to university summer programs using it, and you won't find that at the private schools. Partly because they are probably not geared to giving credits that universities will accept, their size, and their expense.