Post-Leaving Cert year in France

elliecat

I’d love to improve my French. A year (or six months) in France, or a French-speaking area (Canada, Belgium, etc) would be fantastic, as I plan on studying French in college no matter what I do. I have a very good standard of French as far as the Leaving Cert is concerned, so I’m confident that I could survive in a world of French with no English speakers. And speaking French 24/7 for so long would surely leave me fairly fluent. If I didn’t do this next year, I’d probably do it in the next couple of years anyway, it’d just make studying French a lot easier if I did it before college. Also, it might leave me with a nice part-time job opportunity in future giving one or two French grinds to secondary students (I’ve heard of people doing this after a year in France).


I’ve no idea how this would work, or if many people do this straight after the Leaving. I’d love to have a job while in France, to pay for the year. Which leads me to the question – roughly how much would it cost?? I’d have to pay for almost all of the trip myself, and I don’t have a job or a huge amount of money. Are there families who take in students who want to learn French? Could I do it as an exchange? Would that be far cheaper? Do other students do this and is there an organization or anything almost like a Gaeltacht that takes groups of students for a year? If anyone has done this, even if it was after college, I’d really appreciate some information (how you organized it, what it was like, the overall cost, job opportunities, etc). I should probably talk to my old French teacher about it, but that’d be kind of difficult seeing as school is over!


The job really is a must if I was to go abroad. Are the odds of me getting one as low as I think (about 1%)? The fact that I’m not even fluent in French would surely make it far harder to get a job, unless it was something to do with teaching/helping people with English. So what kind of job could I actually get? Working in a wee shop or fast-food restaurant is all it’d have to be, nothing fancy. I should probably also mention that I have no work experience apart from babysitting.


Is there any newspaper (or even a website) that’d give me a few quid to write a few articles about the whole trip? I’ve seen stuff like this in local papers, so if I asked my local ones they might take me up on it.


I think a year improving my French would do me a world of good. My standard would be far better after speaking it so much – and I’d have no problem with this. I’ve been to a Gaeltacht and spoke Irish all of the time (sadly that’s rare in most Gaeltachts). If I was surrounded by people who could speak English I’d still speak as much French as possible, so I wouldn’t be wasting a year. It’d also give me time to decide what I want to do in college, as right now I’m not very sure. I’m only seventeen so I think I’m a bit too young to know what I want yet.


The only downside is that I’d be lonely as hell without my family and friends. But that wouldn’t be as bad if I was with other students (which is why I’m wondering if groups go). And that it’d be expensive. But going straight into college unsure about what I want to do and then dropping out would be costly too.


If anyone knows anything about taking a year out to go to France, I’d really appreciate it if you could give me some info/advice. Merci!

hokeypokey

elliecat wrote: »

I’d love to improve my French. A year (or six months) in France, or a French-speaking area (Canada, Belgium, etc) would be fantastic, as I plan on studying French in college no matter what I do. I have a very good standard of French as far as the Leaving Cert is concerned, so I’m confident that I could survive in a world of French with no English speakers. And speaking French 24/7 for so long would surely leave me fairly fluent. If I didn’t do this next year, I’d probably do it in the next couple of years anyway, it’d just make studying French a lot easier if I did it before college. Also, it might leave me with a nice part-time job opportunity in future giving one or two French grinds to secondary students (I’ve heard of people doing this after a year in France).


I’ve no idea how this would work, or if many people do this straight after the Leaving. I’d love to have a job while in France, to pay for the year. Which leads me to the question – roughly how much would it cost?? I’d have to pay for almost all of the trip myself, and I don’t have a job or a huge amount of money. Are there families who take in students who want to learn French? Could I do it as an exchange? Would that be far cheaper? Do other students do this and is there an organization or anything almost like a Gaeltacht that takes groups of students for a year? If anyone has done this, even if it was after college, I’d really appreciate some information (how you organized it, what it was like, the overall cost, job opportunities, etc). I should probably talk to my old French teacher about it, but that’d be kind of difficult seeing as school is over!


The job really is a must if I was to go abroad. Are the odds of me getting one as low as I think (about 1%)? The fact that I’m not even fluent in French would surely make it far harder to get a job, unless it was something to do with teaching/helping people with English. So what kind of job could I actually get? Working in a wee shop or fast-food restaurant is all it’d have to be, nothing fancy. I should probably also mention that I have no work experience apart from babysitting.


Is there any newspaper (or even a website) that’d give me a few quid to write a few articles about the whole trip? I’ve seen stuff like this in local papers, so if I asked my local ones they might take me up on it.


I think a year improving my French would do me a world of good. My standard would be far better after speaking it so much – and I’d have no problem with this. I’ve been to a Gaeltacht and spoke Irish all of the time (sadly that’s rare in most Gaeltachts). If I was surrounded by people who could speak English I’d still speak as much French as possible, so I wouldn’t be wasting a year. It’d also give me time to decide what I want to do in college, as right now I’m not very sure. I’m only seventeen so I think I’m a bit too young to know what I want yet.


The only downside is that I’d be lonely as hell without my family and friends. But that wouldn’t be as bad if I was with other students (which is why I’m wondering if groups go). And that it’d be expensive. But going straight into college unsure about what I want to do and then dropping out would be costly too.


If anyone knows anything about taking a year out to go to France, I’d really appreciate it if you could give me some info/advice. Merci!

A year in France would be good to improve your french, but you would find studying etc. harder when you come back.

First Year does not tend to be too hard in college, you could also spend next summer abroad which would be good.

If you want to go to france, grape-picking in the autumn, disneyland and ski-resorts etc. would be your best chance.

A year is a long time, if you are worried about starting college don't be as it will be a great experience...