French language camps for kids

The concept of language stays for teens took hold in France in the 1970s when the craze for learning English was in full swing.

For teens of all nationalities, going to England, then Ireland provided opportunities for endless new experiences. We have all held on to lasting memories of these moments that helped to make us who we are and offered a multitude of new experiences, when we were seen as strange foreigners by our British and Irish hosts and vice versa. As for our parents, what mattered most to them was the convenience of keeping their kids busy and engaged in a safe environment whilst introducing them to the new language immersion camps during the summer vacation.

By the time French, a language studied in schools worldwide, began to be offered in the form of language camps for kids, the concept was already well established.

All that remained was to adapt it to the specificities of France. Teaching French as a foreign language became a specialism in its own right with curricula and qualifications offered by universities in France. French summer camps for foreign kids and teens became more professional with text books by major school publishers, specially produced for young learners along with the emergence of new teaching methods.

Today, French courses for kids are taught by qualified teachers.

They are experts in using a range of resources including ICT to inject fun, creativity and stimulation into the basics of any language learning and thus developing motivational teaching methods aimed at young people centered on encouraging them to want to learn.

The language camp for kids expanded its provision after developing its own specific teaching methods in France.

By incorporating cultural aspects, including an entire strand dedicated to extracurricular activities, the language camp for kids expanded its provision after developing its own specific teaching methods in France. Thus, in French language schools in France, specific recreational programs were created with sporting activities, excursions and cultural trips offering participants the opportunity to check out unmissable historic sites and tourist attractions whilst studying French in France.

Today, sport and exploring heritage are part of the experience of learning French in France and are overseen by trained leaders.

The safety of the kids is their top priority. These leaders are young French adults, often students, who to some extent play the role of big brothers and sisters to the kids as shown by the fact they are on first-name terms with them. As such, by being close at-hand and having regular chats with the teens, these supervisors help to create an “everything in French” environment before and after class which now typifies the French immersion camp in France.

French language schools in France quickly put in place a service dedicated to offering accommodation with French host families

Indeed, it is with this in mind, and to facilitate and build on this concept of immersion in the teaching plans of French schools that these host families must be able to offer good quality meals and support but must also demonstrate specific interpersonal skills when interacting with the teens. This takes the form of an ability to share and discuss and, above all, put foreign teens at ease since, although they have an interest in France and the language, they may sometimes feel intimidated since they are unfamiliar with French customs.

However, this type of accommodation requires a degree of adaptation.

This type of accommodation is not suitable for all foreign teens which is why many of them opt for accommodation on the campus itself. In their student residences, in summer French language schools offer teens the opportunity to hang out together and take part in activities in the evening overseen by leaders with close supervision. Staying on-campus also offers the opportunity for extensive interaction between teens and the various members of staff at the school: These include administrative staff, leaders and kitchen staff who, alongside the teaching team, are adults responsible for creating an environment of linguistic immersion beyond the French classes themselves.

There is a component of the language camp that offers a benefit beyond merely studying French in France and is worth highlighting:

We are talking about the formative experience for teens of traveling far from home alone, often for the first time. This departure gives rise to situations, conflicts and experiences that will help to develop their personality, as captured so well by the French saying, “les voyages forment la jeunesse” (“travel broadens the mind”) coined by enlightenment thinkers who were already well aware of the educational benefits of experiencing other cultures and other ways of seeing the world.

A French language camp should trigger a shift in mindset in teens

It should allow them to see that French classes are not just a school subject and source of good or bad grades, but a real tool for interacting with different people in a foreign land: French people in France.

Teachers will strive to facilitate this shift in mindset by taking their students out of the classroom environment. They will encourage interaction with retailers, passers-by, professionals etc. They will have prepared their students in advance by giving them the language tools required for these extracurricular interactions.

The combination of French classes and the French-speaking environment results in a shift in mindset in teens.

As such they will be able to demonstrate an ability to deal with real-world situations in daily life. As such, steered by the teacher who, rather than trying to trip them up, seeks to give them confidence, students gradually see their autonomy increase.

The stay in France will always be an interlude

In the grand scheme of things, the time spent learning French overseas will be a moment suspended in another place, where the young person will have experienced something different, challenged their assumptions, lost their bearings, will have had to make an effort to adapt to a new, international environment with young people of their own age from all around the world. They will have become more mature, learned a bit more about themselves, gained a degree of confidence and ultimately had a good time whilst perhaps making new friends for life.

• Spend time with them
• Give them comic books in French
• Allow cartoons in French
• Speak to them in French if possible
• Teach them French songs
• Encourage them to learn one new word a day

Yes, particularly if you can learn the language in France. Having said that, it depends on a number of variables:

• Your mother tongue: If it's a Latin language it will be easy.
• If you are an English-speaker: 650 to 750 hours to reach B2
• A mother tongue that does not have shared roots with French: 850 to 950 hours to reach B2

Take the Centre International d’Antibes, the gold-standard French language school in France:

• €930 per week for an all-inclusive language camp in Antibes
• €955 per week for an identical camp in Cannes
• €1,390 for a “Premium” camp in Juan les Pins

• Take your love for teens and combine it with your love for the French language!
• Persuade students that studying French can meet all their needs in all areas of communication.
• Organize creative activities: singing competitions or theater and movie festivals.
• Give your students a helping hand.
• Send them on a language camp in France.

To study French for free there are a number of sites of varying quality. We have selected “Le français et vous “ edited by Alexandre Garcia who is an authority in the field of teaching French as a foreign language in France.