Families with children coming to learn French in France

COURSES AND FACILITIES FOR FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN

If you are interested in doing one of our courses and would like to bring your partner and children, no problem. Our classes are flexible to allow, for example, one partner to study French, the other to do cooking classes and the children to be catered for, with or without classes.
If you would like your children to attend a course, we will advise how many hours of classes would be suitable for your child, given the child’s age and your particular circumstances. Alternatively, there are some games, videos and toys for children at the villa, a horse-riding centre nearby and a heated indoor pool in the city centre.

Inga M.

REVIEW

Our family of four (including two girls of 11 and 16) joined the language and cooking class and loved it ! The language classes were particularly good, each class perfectly adapted to each family member’s level so that we could really maximise our output. The language teachers at Ecole des Trois Ponts are absolutely first class. In the afternoons, we enjoyed cooking together with the rest of the group, and learnt quite a few French kitchen terms on the way. In between, we enjoyed exploring the villages and scenery of this lovely part of France. Highly recommended !

Supervision for under 14s

Children under 14 have to be under adult supervision at all times. If both parents are taking courses, then you will need a supervisor/baby-sitter. We can arrange one for you, and while they generally speak English, this is not always the case, so please let us know well in advance if you need a bilingual sitter. They are usually older high school or tertiary education students and hence availibility is restricted to their holidays.
Sitters normally arrive around 8.30am on Monday morning, thereby giving both parents and children time to meet and get to know each other. It’s helpful for the sitter to be shown your room and where to find toys and books that you have brought with you. It’s also a good time to discuss the week’s program so that the sitter can plan her schedule around your children’s needs. The supervision/baby-sitting service is a transaction between you and the sitter and therefore you make payment directly to her.

Children’s classes

Children under 12 years of age are taught in 30-minute modules with a maximum of 2 hours a day. These classes are usually held at 9.15am during the adults’ French class. We charge 65 euros per hour for these classes.
Children between 12 and 17 years old are advised to take 2 to 3 hours private classes per day. In our experience, teenagers tend to lose interest if the classes are any longer.

Accommodation fees for children

Children of 4 years or younger are accommodated free of charge, with a bed in their parents’ room. For children from 5 to 12 years of age (inclusive) the price of accommodation is half the adult accommodation rate if the room is shared with a parent.

A few rules…

…to help small children fit into an adult setting and make life easier for everyone:

The kitchen staff are busy at meal times and need your understanding and co-operation to cater for your children.
We require that small children eat earlier than the adults, namely at 7pm for dinner and 12.15pm for lunch. If older children eat the same food as the adult meals they may eat with their parents at a separate table or by themselves, so that they can leave the table when they are ready to.
If you have small children and if it is possible for you to do so, please bring their first night’s dinner with you.
Please bring your children’s favourite breakfast cereal with you as it might be quite different to our cereals. Our usual breakfast menu is composed of cereals, yoghurts, fruit juices, tea, coffee and fruit.
We have an extra fridge available for our guests’ use and you are welcome to use it to store food and drink for yourselves and your children.

An example of a successful family stay

An American family had been living in France for two years and they came to stay with us for 2 weeks. Their children, a boy and a girl aged 7 and 9, took French classes of a half-hour in the morning and a half-hour in the evening. The classes were bespoke, catering to each child’s particular needs. One parent took the General French course (19 hours) while the other parent took the Intensive Course (25 hours). The parents swapped roles for the second week. We organised a supervisor/baby-sitter to take care of the children while both parents were in class in the morning from 9.15am to 12.15pm and also on Monday and Thursday afternoons from 5pm to 7pm.