In California, students can take part extra-curricular activities after their classes. In the Bay Area, there are many after-school programs offering to learn french. One of them is called "The French Education in the Bay Area". Here is an interview of Gabrielle Durana, the President of the association.
Why was The French Education in the Bay Area (EFBA) created?
“Children’s job is to go to school. All children should be able to discover and learn their mother tongue and heritage culture in school. Unfortunately, 80% of the middle class people cannot afford the French private schools. The opportunity to become bilingual should not be reserved to the wealthy. At EFBA, we welcome American children too, because we are all living in the US”
Who are your students?
“Intrigued by our success since the inception in April 2009, the French Consulate did a survey in the Spring of 2010. In 60% of our families, there is at least one native speaker. 40% speak English or another language at home. The level of command of French is very variable. We accept everybody as long as they agree with our philosophy”
What is your philosophy?
“We believe in “the joy of learning”, in learning through play, art, making mistakes”
There are other French afterschool programs: what makes yours different?
“We are a nonprofit, founded and run by parent volunteers. We welcome all interested children, but for educational reasons, we separate native French speakers from children who are not exposed to French at home. We want to convince the school districts that French and Francophile families have needs too and start immersion programs in French, like in New York public schools”
What are the advantages?
“We build « francophone » and “francophile” communities where people live, within and around public schools, anywhere in the Bay Area”
What are the main reasons why parents sign up their children with EFBA?
“The main three elements are the quality, the proximity, and the affordability of our programs”
Some foreigners, like the french expatriates, may not be used to this. Classes in France end around 5 p.m. Students then have about an hour to take part in extra-curricular activities (if they choose to do) before returning home to do their homework. However, in the french public schools, classes such as music, art or sports are a part of the educational curriculum program. Students attend these classes as they do for other classes like history and geography or math.
“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow” Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book
Comments
80% seems to be a gross exageration
There are 40.000 French people in the Bay Area. There are 2500 children in the 5 French private schools of the area. If all of them were French, that would be 8% of their children getting schooled in a bilingual private school. The truth is those schools do a super job which benefits mostly the American families who can afford $28k per year and per kid tuition. For the mere mortals, those schools are not a possibility.
Precision: Secondary schools, not Elementary schools end at 5:00PM in France. In the Bay Area, the French-American schools all end their daily bilingual program around 3:00 to 3:30 PM, and offer a large choice of enrichment classes, art, craft, sports etc. in their extended day program. And they all make big efforts to preserve diversity in their student and parent population.
These schools have teachers who are credentialed. The curriculum is accredited by both the French National Education Office and National American Accrediting organizations. A few hours of French per week in an alternative program will not replace them!
Thank you for your comment.
I checked with some people living in France. They have two children in elementary school. This is what they told me "deux options se présentent pour les écoles maternelles et élémentaires confondues : soit les enfants commencent à 8h30 et finissent à 16h30, soit ils commencent à 9 heures et finissent à 17H. Cela dépend des écoles qui le décident lors du conseil d'école." In english: "Elementary schools in France either start at 8:30am and finish at 4:30pm or start at 9 am and finish at 5pm. At the end it is up to the school to decide"
I don't know where the "80% of the middle class people cannot afford the French private schools." comes from but I agree with the other comment that it seems to be a gross exageration. Actually, my understanding is that the schools that seem to be targeted here are also not for profit institutions which were created long ago by parents who wanted to give their children a quality bilingual French-American education. On the affordability question, there is no doubt that delivering full time quality bilingual education with small class size and accredited teachers will be more costly than trying to create afterschool language classes taught by volunteers. When choosing where to send my children to school I compared tuition, and to my surprise French bilingual schools are not more expensive than monolingual independent schools, their tuition is about average. On the practical level, please note that the French children can receive financial aid from the French government and the other children can get financial aid from the schools. Going to public school and getting a few hours of French here and there will not recreate the quality of education in the bilingual schools where children get the benefit of full immersion.
There are no school targeted here. Just a very unfortunate situation described. Francophone parents that would have loved to bring their children in the french schools but are too wealthy to get a scholarship but not enough to pay the school tuition.
When you have to choose between french education or a visit to the family in France in the summer... french education or a house.... Well... thank you EFBA for being here!
It's true that the French and French-American schools cost about the same as other private (non-religious) schools. It's also true that having 2-3 hours a week of after school French instruction doesn't compare with 25-30 hours a week. But paying $20,000 a year per child just isn't feasible for many, many people. Paying $2,000 a year to help maintain the language with paid French teachers is a great option to have for those who can't afford private school or who want their children to have a more "American" experience, but who want to keep their children's cultural language. There's plenty of room in the Bay Area for both types of programs.
I know quite a few french families who have 2 or 3 children and who cannot afford putting their kids to a French school. The aid they receive is not sufficient to afford to cover the cost of a French private school. I agree that a few hours of french cannot equate a full education in French, but it is an affordable alternative especially since the children are immersed in the French culture and speak French at home.
This is again a gross exaggeration that needs correction.
Barely one fourth of the the 40,000 French registered at the French consulate in San Francisco live in the Bay Area. The consulate covers all Northern California and Nevada, the states of Oregon, Washington, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Alaska and Hawaii. There are several established French schools in Portland, Seattle and smaller schools starting in other states.
I seriously doubt it is 80% that cannot afford the tuition. Here are MY facts!
1. I have two sons and a niece that currently attend a private French-American schools (Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley and we are middle class. (Not “wealthy.”)
2. My sons are both African-Americans and my niece has dual citizenship French-American. Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley goes to great lengths to promote Diversity in social class, race & culture.
3. The best thing about the private French-American school is that they DO NOT separate native speakers and none native speakers.
4. The private French-American school is not just a school, but a community. We look out for each other and our community includes families from all over the Bay Area. I live 40 miles from the school, but the sense of community is so strong I don’t feel left out.
It is not just about learning a language; it is about being a part of an International community. I would encourage anyone to check out the bay area French-American schools and especially Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley before you rule it out. The tuition rates are in line with every other private school in the Bay Area. Sometimes after-school programs are just not enough.
There is no doubt that your school is great. You just seem to forget that some people can and people can't go to private school, for money or distance reasons.
EFBA offers " the other ones" a chance to have french in their life and it's also a wonderful (including) community project !
As it has been previously said , there is room for everyone ;)
We are a middle-class family who is making sacrifices for both our children to attend Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley. When I read this article, I was even shocked to see that an after-school program can be compared to a bilingual school. I teach elementary school French at a private school in the Bay Area, and I have a lot of respect for after-school French programs, where students can discover the French language and culture. However, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the only way to allow a child to grow up bilingual is to let them attend a French-American school. These schools have fully-credentialed teachers, their curriculum is well established and recognized by French and US educational systems alike. I am French, I speak French to my kids all the time, they were fluent in both languages before we enrolled them at EB, but I know that they will never learn to read, write and master French if they just listen to me and play 3 nights a week with a parent volunteer at an after-school program.
About the financial aspect of the issue: French schools in the Bay Area are significantly cheaper than private (non parochial) schools in the same area (I work at one of them, so I would know). The consulate offers scholarships (although I agree that the system is far from perfect and that the "commission des bourses" needs to seriously re-evaluate its system), and the schools themselves go to great lengths to offer financial help to families who need it. The result is that the student body at EB is one of the most diverse student bodies I have seen in any school. I do believe that the
For me, what you get at a French-American school versus an after-school program is precisely that it is a "school", with all the structure, experience in education and professionalism that it implies. Our son was born with a severe disability and EB has done wonders to allow him to thrive in the classroom.
Other commentators are right: there is room for both French-American schools and after-school programs. They just do a very very different job and parents who believe that an after-school program can replace bilingual education at a recognized institution are just grossly misled.
The Bay Area offers to French speaking or French loving families the ability to choose between an array of different private schools with a French immersion program or being part of the American Public school community, with still a desire to keep the French language alive, that the creation of the non-profit EFBA can forfill.
Unfortunately, instead of cheering and creating a bonding French speaking community, the old celts are bickering about their choices, snickering about the accuracy of numbers! SHAME ON YOU!
Our love for the French language should go beyond our politic and economic backgrounds. This article was not about criticizing your choice as a parent to go for a private or a public school. It was to make res publica the fact that there is an association that offers a solution to bring the French back to their family. EFBA provides lessons given by accredited French Teachers from the Education Nationale, the lessons and teachers are supervised and coordinated by professionnals, the sites are run by volunteer parents who give countless hours and all their professional skills for the association to run smoothly.
EFBA gives an answer to the children who have a question of identity: it's harder for a kid to be different. "I don't dare speaking this first French language. I'm too afraid the other kids would laugh at me!"
Hermione, 5 years old, born in the United Kingdom, who barely went to France for a couple of weeks, could understand French but would never speak it. She is attending a small class of Petits Francophones in San Francisco, once a week for an hour and a half. After a month, she wants to take the phone to call her grand parents and speak French to them!
Please, imagine the joy of these grand-parents who can now hear the voice of their grand-daughter speaking French to them for the first time after five years!
A language is a treasure that only exists if we share it. This is what EFBA is allowing in the Bay Area. Please French speaking Bay Area citizens, can we stop fighting, and start speaking.
I am a french expatriate. My daughters attend EB. In my opinion there is no comparison between a full time program in a french-american school and one hour a week after school program. It really depends on what you are looking for. Other commentators are right: there is room for both French-American schools and after-school programs. I do want my children to get a strong bilingual education with academic strengths. Our current investment will be a head start in competition for universities and jobs of tomorrow.
Someone mentioned there are about 5 French schools in the bay area. Could you please list them? I am only aware of EB. I am just starting my search and guidance is appreciated. THANKS!
Lycee La Perouse in San Francisco, French American International School in San Francisco, L'Ecole Bilingue in Berkeley, International School of the Peninsula in Palo Alto, French-American School of the Silicon Valley in Sunnyvale.
Thank you all for your reactions and interesting comments.
This article is not about comparing French bilingual schools with after-school programs. They cannot, obviously, offer the same level of education in French. These are two totally different options for parents to explore. French bilingual schools are doing a tremendous job educating and immersing children in the French language and culture. After-schools programs are an opportunity for children who don’t attend bilingual schools to discover the French language and culture or to reinforce their knowledge.
EB students don't even speak French. Nothing impressive about that school, it's expensive for nothing. We chose not to put our kids at EB because of the low educational level and they're doing great. They speak French better than EB students and we're definitely grateful to EFBA for their tremendous effort.
Do your children come from a French-speaking background or did they learn French from EFBA?
I live in the East Bay and am considering French bilingual education for my child. Could you share your opinions on EB (schools in SF are not an option for us)? I want to hear about parents whose children are going there. It is a big comitment and your inout frank input is appreciated.
Here is the follow-up story:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870465400457551830073778432...
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