Schools for non-French speakers

I have three children (8,10,%26amp; 13) and am considering moving to the greater Paris area next spring for 2-3 years. I will be working from CDG, but need to find a school(s) for my kids in an area I can afford (no corporate help).

We will have a year to learn all the french we can, but that will not be enough for them to begin in pubic school.

Any Suggestions?

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Hi 52Crayons. Here%26#39;s a link to a recent thread regarding schooling in Paris. Some of the info may be useful for you:

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187147-i14-k27657…

I am hopeful that phread will read your post and respond, as I believe she has some good first hand experience regarding the school system in Paris.

Best of luck.

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Here are some links I found just googling -

intransit-international.com/moving_paris_int…

and

ssa.paris.online.fr/pages/Int.Schools.htm

also anglo info, which I%26#39;ve used before -

…angloinfo.com/af/250/paris-%26-ile-de-france-…

I had my daughter in a school in Aix-en-Provence for a while, and that%26#39;s how I found it.

Also, the pastor of the church we attended in Aix, a guy from California, said he just put his kids in the local public school. They were fluent within a year. The one thing I didn%26#39;t like about the international school my daughter attended is that they taught her very little French.

Hope that helps!

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Hi --

How exciting. What a great opportunity for all of you.

Don%26#39;t be so sure that your children will learn so little French in a year. It all depends on whether or not they have a good ear for it, and that has no genetic component, believe me. I don%26#39;t have a good ear for languages, and they are very difficult for me to learn, but my daughter just soaks them up like a sponge and can be fairly fluent in just a few months of study - 2 or 3. Her father is no more gifted than I, nor are the grandparents, or any other near relatives. It%26#39;s just something straight out of the blue.

See if you can find Radio Canada, the French version of CBC Radio. You may have to get a short wave radio for it. It isn%26#39;t true that Canadian French is %26quot;completely different%26quot; from %26quot;French French%26quot;. There are some vocabulary differences, local patois being local patois, but the various Canadian accents still can be found in provincial areas of France. The normal accent you%26#39;ll hear on CBC, however, will be pretty much the same as that used in Paris.

If you have CBC running in the background in your home, your children will acquire an ability to %26quot;hear%26quot; the language - i.e., they%26#39;ll be able to discern individual words instead of hearing just one long word when a stranger speaks at normal speed - a very important skill on the road toward fluency. I can%26#39;t explain it, I just know it happens. It happens for adults, as well, but usually it takes longer for us decrepit old folks.

BTW, your cable or dish provider probably offers a French language channel, possibly CBC once again, which will show films dubbed in French, with or without English subtitles. Your children will get a big kick out of watching characters with whom they%26#39;re familiar speaking French, and there also will be original French language content being aired that they might learn from. Every little bit helps.

Bonne chance.

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Hi --

How exciting. What a great opportunity for all of you.

Don%26#39;t be so sure that your children will learn so little French in a year. It all depends on whether or not they have a good ear for it, and that has no genetic component, believe me. I don%26#39;t have a good ear for languages, and they are very difficult for me to learn, but my daughter just soaks them up like a sponge and can be fairly fluent in just a few months of study - 2 or 3. Her father is no more gifted than I, nor are the grandparents, or any other near relatives. It%26#39;s just something straight out of the blue.

See if you can find Radio Canada, the French version of CBC Radio. You may have to get a short wave radio for it. It isn%26#39;t true that Canadian French is %26quot;completely different%26quot; from %26quot;French French%26quot;. There are some vocabulary and idiomativ differences, local patois being local patois, but the various Canadian accents still can be found in provincial areas of France. The normal accent you%26#39;ll hear most on CBC, however, will be pretty much the same as that used in Paris.

If you have CBC running in the background in your home, your children will acquire an ability to %26quot;hear%26quot; the language - i.e., they%26#39;ll be able to discern individual words instead of hearing just one long word when a stranger speaks at normal speed - a very important skill on the road toward fluency. I can%26#39;t explain it, I just know it happens. It happens for adults, as well, but usually it takes longer for us decrepit old folks.

BTW, your cable or dish provider probably offers a French language channel, possibly CBC once again, which will show films dubbed in French, with or without English subtitles. Your children will get a big kick out of watching characters with whom they%26#39;re familiar speaking French, and there also will be original French language content being aired that they might learn from. Every little bit helps.

Bonne chance.

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Thanks for your all the help.

I%26#39;ll e-mail phread if I don%26#39;t hear something. The links are useful and listening to CBC is a great idea.

My little two I am not so worried much about, but my oldest will be starting high school and will need an english speaking curriculum I feel. He is dyslexic and a bit under motivated, but certainly capable.

I%26#39;d like to live outside Paris, Fontainebleau for example, but that doubtlessly limits my schooling choices and is not so easy to get to CDG.

I%26#39;ll dig deeper into the new information given, but am open to suggestions.

Again thanks for everyones help!

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%26lt;%26lt;I%26#39;ll e-mail phread if I don%26#39;t hear something%26gt;%26gt;

In addition to what phread may have to say, toutou has also taken her school aged child to France with her and may offer special insight.

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Seeing that you are in Anchorage you may be able to get CBC French from Canada but what about TV5 (from Europe ie France, Belgium, Switzerland) I know that TV5 is shown in the USA.