Français
The FIL concept and its unique way of learning French.
Learning French and enjoying unforgettable holidays: with FIL, it’s possible!
FIL offers French-language holiday courses for young people from all over the world.
With FIL, a language stay becomes a real adventure: on horseback, in a canyon, in a kayak or on the beach, everyone speaks French all the time.
Participants come from all over Europe and even from all over the world to spend fabulous holidays together. Our groups are formed by age: 11 to 15 and 16 to 17 inclusive. Each group has 16 to 24 participants, including about 2 French young people, and 2 or 3 dedicated team leaders who stay with the young people throughout their stay.
Our method? Because we are convinced that a foreign language is learned mainly through practice, FIL’s priority is to develop spoken expression and practical, everyday French. On top of our French workshops, we encourage the young people to speak French all day long. Speaking the language of Molière must become automatic: you have to live it, feel it and even dream in the language! And at FIL, we live in French!
At FIL, all the activities take place in French, and participants need French every day: in the shops, at the market, to talk to the kayak instructor or to ask where a meeting point is...
What if a young person hasn’t understood or can’t express themselves? No problem. The team members and the French young people are there to help. That’s how they learn French without even noticing!
The French teenagers who take part in FIL stays alongside the international young people help us create a French-speaking dynamic. It’s great to be able to speak French with people your own age, but that’s not all: you can really share your culture, discover, share and learn together, as young people!
The French young people therefore make everyday immersion in French easier, and they are a real asset for group cohesion during games and activities. Our motto: Speaking, Practice, Pleasure (Parole, Pratique, Plaisir).
A summer with FIL means sharing everyday life in French in an international atmosphere, and above all lots of great activities, original French workshops, wonderful encounters and unforgettable moments!
Our French workshops rely on a teaching approach that favours speaking and playful interaction
Living French at FIL means 3 hours of workshops led by qualified language team leaders (8 workshops per stay), daily activities in French, friendships with French-speaking young people and interaction with French people. During the French workshops, you work in a small group of about 8 people, so as to gain confidence and overcome any apprehension. Very quickly, you widen your vocabulary, learn new expressions and start joking in French!
The aim is to put your basic knowledge into practice by taking an active part in role plays and debates, creating a radio programme or a short film, and so on, so that you forget you are speaking French! Every opportunity is a good one to express your ideas and give your opinion.
We do everything we can so that each person finds their place according to their needs, temperament and difficulties. Our qualified language team leaders know how to adapt the content of the French workshops to each young person. At FIL, making mistakes is an integral part of learning: when a young person makes a mistake, we guide them towards the right wording so that they correct themselves. You remember far more this way than if you are penalised!
The workshop materials are created by us so that they are perfectly suited to the teenagers we welcome, and the themes are linked to the immersion stays at FIL.
We follow a very strict quality approach, guided by the French interministerial Quality FLE label (Label interministériel Qualité FLE, for French as a foreign language). That is also why our workshops are revised every year, so that young learners have unique experiences.
At FIL, young people learn differently from at school: the main thing is to become more comfortable in French and to have fun.
The active method we use in our workshops, recognised by the Quality FLE label, allows young people to make rapid progress in French, and the 12 days of the stay will be extremely beneficial both for school and for using French in everyday situations.
FIL stays are therefore a real asset for discovering the French language in a different way, by taking charge of your own learning.
Minimum level required to take part in FIL stays: to ensure good integration, participants must have a basic knowledge of French, enough to put together simple sentences and understand the general meaning of a slow conversation. For effective learning, the young learner’s own commitment is essential. We take care of the rest!
At FIL, it’s a little writing but a lot of speaking, and learning through play.
Which participant follow-up tools, developed by FIL, guarantee quality French learning?
Individual interviews
Three times during the stay, we spend some quality time with each learner. It is an important time for questions and answers, but also for confidences. The first individual interview lets our teams assess the level of spoken French and learn about each person’s motivations. We do not run placement tests: this interview helps our teams organise the young people into level groups for the French workshops! But nothing is set in stone: a young person can change language group during the stay. Let’s give everyone time to feel comfortable with their learning.
The second interview allows the team leaders to check, at the halfway point, each young person’s commitment and well-being.
The last one lets us review how satisfied they were with the stay and what could be improved.
The French passport
We follow each participant individually, both in language and in personal terms, thanks to our “French passport”, which has been proving its worth for more than 10 years! Every day it lets them note the new words they have learned, assess themselves and receive a personalised comment from the team. It is the essential tool of a FIL stay.
The French “red thread” (FIL rouge)
Throughout the stay, the team leaders offer a “FIL rouge” (a running theme) that involves the young people in using French every day. It can take the form of challenges (around themes, a song, a photo rally, a video shoot, and so on) and allows each young person both to invest in following their own progress and to contribute to group cohesion and motivation.
The FIL stay participation certificate
At the end of the stay, each participant receives a certificate of participation in a French immersion stay.
This certificate is a document completed by the team leaders. It records the participant’s progress, involvement and motivation throughout the stay. It also gives a language level assessed according to the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) and a personalised comment about the young person, to encourage their future progress in a foreign language.
The communication situations covered during the stays are very good complements and practice for improving your skills in communicating in French, and so for better approaching future exams or diplomas such as the A-Level and the DELF Junior. You can find out more on the website france-education-international.fr.