Learn French in France

2 000 adults in 2019   

Adults on short-stays of 1-5 weeks who want to learn French in France will take core classes in the morning or intensive full-day classes.

For over 5 weeks’ immersion in France: A course including tuition and accommodation at a highly competitive price.             
     
For seniors: A cultural program including French classes
For the whole family: French classes for parents and/or children in shared accommodation.

3000 juniors in 2019

In 2019, some 3,000 young people and their parents placed their trust in us to learn French in France; most on the Côte d’Azur in the French Riviera.
Children and teens are housed in our campus in Antibes between April and October.
The Cannes course is open this Summer.
The “Premium” course in Juan-les-pins, open in Easter and Summer, is limited to no more than 100 students
Home-stay accommodation is available for each destination.

250 school groups in 2019

All year-round we play host to groups of school students accompanied by their French teachers. As such, we are aware of the requirements of our partner teachers, the need to offer competitive prices and comprehensive logistical support from the moment the group arrives in France.

French courses, activities and accommodation are generally customized by the teacher in liaison with our teaching department and our “hosting” service.    

Learn French abroad for pleasure

I often asked myself the following questions: What prompts foreigners, both teens and adults, to want to get to know France? What is it about France that attracts them? Why are they keen to learn to speak French in France?

“A different language is a different vision of life” said the great film-maker Federico Fellini. Although English has long been a global language, the interest in learning French is perhaps now driven by the desire to escape this increasing uniformity.

Why are you learning French? We are used to asking our students so as to take into account their needs. Simply “for enjoyment” we often hear back.

I remember the skepticism I must have shown when entering my first French language school as a new teacher as a francophile lady felt the need to justify herself adding, “yes, I like French, I love France, you are so different, I like your way of live, you love life!” Which made me even more perplexed as I had no idea that the French were seen as such jolly fellows. I gradually accepted French for pleasure as adult students ranging in age from 18 to 86 (the age of our oldest DELF applicant).

It is also shared, perhaps more surprisingly still, by young school-age teens who choose to take up French when these days they have other languages on offer in their schools.

Learning French on the Côte d’Azur means choosing to take time for life

Learning French means opening a new door, giving the visitor a new perspective on the world. This allows all of our students, young people and adults, whether school-age, at work or retired, to be confronted with a different way of interpreting the world, another way of seeing human relationships, decoding etiquette that may be surprising (Ah! The French ritual of kissing on the cheeks as a greeting in the morning!).

It means discovering a relationship with time where lateness is considered normal and not a big deal and where work meetings can go on long beyond the agreed time since topics that are not on the agenda are allowed to be raised, that is if they haven’t suddenly replaced the agenda completely. 

This is why France is an unusual mix of seriousness and nonchalance, of organization with a welcome injection of improvisation. It is noteworthy that in the South, in our region, our Provence maritime, from May we prefer to escape the sun, sipping a pastis or a glass of rosé under the shade of the plane or lime trees on the patio and banter with our pals.

Very quickly the foreign observer notices that the French language is not merely frivolous and convivial, it can also quickly become serious, feeding endless discussions with a drink or meal with friends, and sparking passionate discussion on television.

French: the language of the Enlightenment, a language imbued with history 

This love for the verb and impassioned thinking have been embedded in the history of France since the troubadours of the Middle Ages. The admiration we hold for the right word and a beautiful text, literature or songs, for debating ideas, including politics, goes some way to explaining what has made French people over the centuries so eager to turn the street into a space for expression and social protest.

The constant search for a better and fairer world and the culture of insurgency has established France's image in the eyes of the world. Long an international language of diplomacy and intellectuals, the French language has circulated universal values based on humanism and solidarity on which democracy has been built. The foreign visitor perceives that France is rightfully proud of its accomplishments, the intellectual heritage it has bequeathed the world: its Enlightenment philosophers, Victor Hugo or more recently 15 Nobel Prize-winning authors (making France the most represented country). The country is also proud of the part culture and the music of language play.

Established in France in 1984, Heritage Weekend has been adopted by fifty countries around the world, as has Music Day, born in France in 1982 and now celebrated in fifty or so countries worldwide. As for cinema, it's a very French passion. France now has the  biggest cinema complex in Europe. The favorite leisure activity of the French brings in over 200 million cinema-goers each year, the biggest audiences in Europe. This unwavering link between France and cinema explains why the country is fiercely committed to the adoption by UNESCO in 2005 of the “Convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions”.

France: an international reputation

Studying French in France: a major career benefit

French is also a serious language in terms of employment and the workplace. Of the world’s 500 biggest businesses, 29 are French. With some 97 businesses in the top 500 of the technological sector in the Europe Middle East & Africa region, France scores highest, top of the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA rankings.
Foreign investors regard the French economy very highly. In 2017 84% of them considered France to be an attractive and dynamic destination. That same year, there were 25 new investment decisions a week. France is also at the forefront of countries that support their start-ups through their policies.

All of these reasons and many others explain the continued appeal of our language. Each year it results in 150,000 young and adult students of all ages coming to take French classes in France in a school specializing in teaching French as a foreign language. It explains why branches of the Institut français and the Alliance française overseas are made up of some 600,000 people whilst 800,000 teachers teach French in the various educational systems worldwide.

But, I have to confess that of all of these reasons that might prompt foreigners to come to France to learn French, I have a weakness for one in particular. My favorite is the one I have never forgotten: “You, the French, are so different.  I like your way of life, you love life!” As all being said, I have never heard a better slogan than this cri du cœur for the promotion of France and French…