would like to spend 1-2 months in paris to learn french, have fun and be free of work and worry! so many schools on internet - how to know which is good.
also - would like to swap apts. Have one in NYC, one in Palm Beach, fl...any recommendations?

I liked the Alliance Francaise. I learned some French and met wonderful people from around the world.

ttt as I am also interested in some recommendations.

Schnauzer

I have studied with the Alliance Francaise in London and recommend it. In Paris you would get the immersion you want. Here is their website.

http://www.alliancefr.org/

I think you need to re-post for suggestions on swapping apartments

My daughter did Alliance Francais also and did very well with her French.

Helen - should i repost re: swaps on this site or is i not the appropriate place?

I am not the expert on Fodors but would suggest you post something on the lines of. Paris apartments: swaps for US accommodation advice please. Then give a little more detail in your text. With luck someone will set you on the right path even if they tell you to try a different forum. If you have been reading this for any length of time don't take it personally if they are blunt.

Looking at the Alliance Francaise site you may need a student visa, it would probably be sensible to check with the nearest French consulate. Even if you can go on a tourist visa for this type of study you will be limited to a total of 90 days in Europe (the Schengen area). Check some of the other posts on this topic to clarify the issue.

There are some threads here already on home exchanges that should get you started. I remember reading some that give agency names or other info on how to approach home exchanges. Put home exchange in the search box above to find them.

Americans do not need a visa to go to France for 1-2 months to study. I suggest that you go for the max, 90 days. Paris grows on you.

For apartment rents and swaps try frango.

I've been to three French schools in Paris, if you've studied language at all you kind of know what to look for in terms of courses you want, I think, and perhaps methods. For example, it is perhaps trendy for some language schools to have videos a lot, but I don't like that method and don't want to learn that way. I also look for particular courses I might want, something other than just typical language/grammar, such as history, literature or sociology or something. If you are a real beginner, that won't pertain.

As for the immersion thing, well, you are in Paris anyway, so I don't know what that means except I think some classes might call it immersion just if you spend all day at the school, rather than half a day. You can't go wrong with the official universities in Paris, I've been to both (Sorbonne and l'Institut Catholique). They both have language classes in summer for one-two months. I"ve also been to l'Institut Parisien in the 15th arr. which is very good, also, and a lot of students of various nationalities go there.

I guess you have to find recommendations somehow. I like official universities myself, and they often have more university-like accommodations (meaning student residence halls as the students are gone for the summer). I knew various French teachers who also had opinions on schools, as some are considered good for teachers to go to, also, to get extra summer credits. Private schools may have lists of places they recommend, foyers or whatever. If you are getting your own apt., that doesn't matter so much. I did get my own apt. when I went to l'Institut Parisien.

I would look for a school that is accredited or recommended by some agency, I think that would be the ones on the FLE, the agency for promoting French as a foreign language (francais langue etranger) www.fle.fr