Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

Learning French as a family in .france

Country forums / Western Europe / France

Hi, we are a family of four, 2 adults and two children aged 5 and 10. We are hoping to travel to France for several weeks and want to spend a couple of these in an immersion style French language programme. Can anyone recommend anywhere? Our dream would be to be on a farm stay where there is a mix of learning French and helping out on the farm/ enjoying the farm experience . I wonder if such a place exists?! Any advice much appreciated. Thanks

You don't say specifically how your idea would work.
There are French home stays where you pay for the lodging and such but
because you write of helping out on the farm...makes me think you want to
be a paying guest...but not necessarily with money.

You're not from the EU or the UK so you legally can't work in any Schengen countries on the visa-waiver tourist entry....and on Thorn Tree we never advise anyone to do anything which would break the law.
So you might check out helpx.net and see if any of their situations (where visitors volunteer in return for lodging, etc...) where you would not 'work' but would 'pay' for the lodging.
I knew of a couple (originally from UK) in a town near Limoux in the south of France who usually have what they call 'visitors' a couple times every summer...very friendly, very useful....so the program seems to work well for them. And because it sounded like an interesting program (and I love that area of France) I looked at various listings in the southwest; lots of variety.
You can take a look at the website and see if anything fits your needs/interests.

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Lots of people find great places on Wwoofers...

Worldwide organization of organic farmers

Free room and board in exchange for a couple of hours a day on farm or chateau

Since you are not paid
You are not working

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Capttim, that is not true I'm afraid. Whatever your or mine definition of 'working' is, the French government does not allow working on a visa exemption or tourist visa and working to them includes all forms of labour for which there is a compensation financially or non-financially (food and board). So wwoofing is technically not allowed for non-EU citizens in France. Whether this is really enforced, is another question of course . But just imagine the consequences in case of an accident.
On the positive side, France does allow limited working on a student visa.
As to the OP's original question, my experience is that a combination of lodging and language lessons is not very widespread in France. But if you stay somewhere for a longer time, I'm sure you could find a student in the village who is willing to teach you a few hours a day ( at a student salary of 10-12€/hr).

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Thank you for this useful information. We fully intend paying to stay somewhere. We are hoping there might be somewhere where we could stay (preferably on a farm) where french language teaching is offered. Any help much appreciated!

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Here are a few listings, don't know much about them...but you have a better idea of what you want, maybe you'll find something..
http://www.frenchinthedordogne.com/

This looks like a great site for people with children, I've refined it down to more workable options:
http://www.takethefamily.com/family-holidays-finder/in~France-0.europe/matching~French%20lessons

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