French Language courses for students - a warning

[Pickles]

OK, perhaps "warning" may be OTT; let's say "be aware".

Around this time of year, parents of children in the UK and Ireland tend to look for summer schools or crash courses to help their children improve their French, particularly with regards to impending GCSE/"A" levels in the UK and the Leaving Cert in Ireland. A whole industry has developed over the years to fulfil this demand - and a good part of this is based in France.

Typically, the courses or summer schools offer 'total immersion' experiences, where teaching in lessons during the day is supposed to be enhanced by having the student live with a French family. I'm not going to comment on the quality of the teaching: that isn't my beef (except that in a case that I know of, a school had a course whose details indicated quite clearly that the course began on the 14th July when there was never any intention of offering lessons or any other activity on that day - indeed the students turned up to find the offices locked up).

The aspect that concerns me is the 'living with a French family'. The parents of the students seem to expect that their child will be "part of the family" - similar, I suppose, to an exchange. Although some hosts undoubtably do treat their guests as such, parents need to be aware that some schools seem to be less than careful in their recruitment. The result is that some "hosts" use these course students as a source of income (naturally, since this is NOT an exchange, the host families are paid for their accommodation), and so provide bed, breakfast and evening meal (in some cases this was not "en famille") and very little else - certainly not any exposure to French conversation in a family atmosphere. In the case that I know of, where the host families were supposed to have children of similar age to the students, in one case there was only a very young child in the family, and in another, the "host" took in four foreign students at a time. As far as I could see, all hosts basically expected the students to go out in the evenings on their own, with no structure or activities being provided. This seemed to be the norm for the hosts associated with this particular school - although others seemed to be similar. Another school approached us to be a host, despite the fact that we are from the UK, speak English and have no children.

It occurs to me that in such circumstances, the students are not being provided with a total-immersion experience (in the case that I know of, the students basically spoke no French outside of the lessons), and the parents may well be wasting their money.

I'm not saying that these courses have no value; just that if you are expecting that your child will be immersed in the French language all day, and into their "free" time, think again.

[Loiseau]

Gosh, I heard a lot of this kind of report from FRENCH friends whose kids were on similar visits to England - especially in the south-east, where the "hosts" seemed often to be depressed divorcees with no children, who were far keener on the money than on providing a family atmosphere or indeed much value for money when it came to meals, picnics etc.  

It's sad to hear that similar "hospitality" (or lack of) can be experienced in the reverse situation, too.

Angela

[YCCMB]

It really is hardly surprising, though. Living in the UK in a tourist area, and teaching English as a foreign language, I see and receive loads of adverts for "teach English in your own home" opportunities, and for "become a host family and earn big bucks" opportunities, and I can't for a moment imagine that there would be any fundamental difference when kids are sent to any other country for a similar sort of linguistic stay.

The latter (host family) "opportunities" are invariably advertised as an opportunity to earn money, rather than focusing on any onus for the family to provide much social or cultural interaction. Indeed, often there IS no real need for this, as the children are merely billeted with a family whilst taking their English lessons at a summer (or Easter, or whatever) school on a daily basis, and having organised trips and activities after lessons. A quick stroll into our local town at this time of year and you'd be passing group after group of French/Spanish/Italian/German teenagers hanging about and shopping with their peers, speaking their native language etc. They only seem to be required to return to their host family for meals.

Some (I can't vouch for all) of the "teach English in your home" opportunities are a bit more organised and require greater commitment on the part of the families, but (in the UK, at any rate) you get what you pay for. The cost of spending a week with a qualified teacher, and being taken on trips and generally entertained is astronomical: many of the companies I know of who offer this sort of package make it quite clear up front that the student will pay for the visit/lessons/lodgings, and that any additional activities where the host accompanies the student will be charged as an extra and that the student must also pay all costs for the accompanying tutor. However, on the plus side, the better companies will offer a choice of activities (and some do very tailored programmes with specific interests, sports or whatever).

I think anyone going in for this sort of arrangement needs to ask a lot of questions about who the host family will be, how they're vetted, what structure there is to the language learning and what the visitor will receive in terms of activities etc. It's a fairly unregulated industry and, as I said, you get what you pay for (or rather, you sometimes DON'T get what you THINK you paid for)..