Put yourself in the picture!

The six week programme

Departure dates are different each year. The most recent departure took place two days after the end of NCEA and returned six weeks later. This exchange is a cultural experience inside a French family and not an opportunity to be a tourist while living with a French family and going to a French school. There are approximately ten days of school vacation time around Xmas and New Year celebrations providing a special experience with a French family at a special time. The exchange concludes with a guided Paris Cocktail Tour of three days and two nights taking in major sights.

Longer Exchanges

These all include a one-month language course in Paris at the beginning of the exchange. This involves about half a day of language instruction and the remainder of the day free. It is not obligatory to go on this course and if you don’t want to do it, you should discuss this during your interview. You should remember that many French families regard their language as a national treasure to be used carefully and accurately. Many students have valued the language course very highly regardless of their facility with the language at the time they arrive in France. New Zealand exchange students are well-regarded in France for their warmth, their ability to fit easily into French families and for their enthusiasm for France and French culture.

Click Notes for Students for comprehensive information about our exchanges to France, including information on the placements, the application procedures and exchanges for gap year students.

If you’re hoping to spend six weeks in France this summer, now is a good time to apply. Early birds have already put in initial applications and are working on their full ones. We need to have these in by the end of July so that we can complete interviews in August and have your applications in France in September.

French Placements

Placements are made before you leave and if you have applied at the correct time you should be in contact with your host family for at least a week before you leave. Some students are in contact for a month or more.

Host families have to go through an interview and vetting process. Most placements are in Brittany and the northwest but you can be placed anywhere in the country. Your personality and preferences are taken into account if at all possible, but the supply of generous and welcoming families is not bottomless and you must be prepared to adapt to the situation you are given.

Successful placements depend as much upon you as upon the family you’re given. Some students stay with the same family for a whole year while others may have two or three families.

Transfers

You will be met on arrival in Paris and transferred immediately to your host family. On shorter exchanges this can mean sometimes long, train journey without a chance to rest after your flight. You are not usually accompanied on this part of the trip but are met at the other end by either your host family or the local coordinator or both.

If you’re on a longer exchange, you are taken straight to your host family in Paris. You will be with them while you are at the language course and will take the train into Paris each morning.