Study in France in a French high school
Coming to France with ARAM and living an immersion for a few weeks or months in a lycée français is a real opportunity to gain skills and better build your future. During your stay, you will be able to discover France, study and be immersed in the life of a French family. This programme is available now!
Why choose France to learn French?
Discover a new culture
France is a wonderful place to study, discover the gastronomy and enjoy the French way of life! Living in the country and being immersed in a host family is the best way to learn French and a new culture. So choose France to study is a very good choice!
Gain experience
This experience in France will be a great advantage for an international career and will give your CV a competitive edge. Studying in another country demonstrates that you have stepped out of your comfort zone and are able to adapt to new environments and cultures.
6 reasons for learning le français
The OIF (Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie), an international organisation of French-speaking countries, comprises 88 member States and governments. It is the only language, alongside English, that is taught in every country in the world.
It is the international language of cooking, fashion, theatre, visual arts, dance and architecture. The English have Shakespeare. France offers Victor Hugo, Molière, Edith Piaf…
France is the world’s leading tourist destination, attracting over 98 million visitors a year, thanks in particular to cities such as Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lille and Montpellier, and its central position in the EU. French is very useful to also travel to French-speaking countries, like Switzerland, Belgium, Canada or African countries.
The ability to speak French and English is an advantage on the international job market. A knowledge of French opens the doors of French companies in France and other French-speaking parts of the world. As one of the world’s largest economies and a leading destination for foreign investment, France is a key economic partner and part of the European Economic Area.
French is both a working language and an official language of institutions such as the United Nations, the European Union, UNESCO, NATO, the International Olympic Committee, the International Red Cross and international courts. French is the language of the three cities where the EU institutions are headquartered: Strasbourg, Brussels and Luxembourg.
First and foremost, learning French is the pleasure of learning a beautiful, rich and melodious language that is often called the language of love.
Program Highlights
Live in another culture, make new friends and learn French with ARAM
Coming to France with ARAM to study for a few months is a real opportunity to gain skills and build the future you need. During your stay, you will be able to discover France and be immersed in a local lycée français and host family.
Many years of experience
Our experience and our network of local coordinators throughout France enable us to offer and implement a quality programme.
Benefits for foreign students in France
We are committed to assisting you in order to offer you the best services and profitable experience as possible.
As an exchange student you will:
- Build lasting international friendships
- Challenge yourself
- Improve and apply your foreign language skills
- Learn about other cultures
- Become more independent and confident
- Improve your qualifications to apply for higher education, maybe in French universities
- Add a great reason for why a future employer should hire you
- Gain crucial cross-cultural skills for success in the global marketplace
- Contribute to international understanding and diplomacy
Living with a host family like at home
For decades, intercultural homestays have been considered as the best pedagogical way to develop true international understanding. Students participating in this programme have the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the French culture living with an experienced host family while attending a local lycée.
Our French host families
- Selection
What you need to know: the host family is probably the most important element of our programme. It is for this reason that we pay special attention to their research and selection. When we find new host families, we meet them and visit them in their home. We choose families who want to take advantage of this cultural experience and who will accept students as if they were their own children. We are very careful when choosing our host families and we place the foreign teenager according to common interests, hobbies and all other criteria that will make the student comfortable with the host family, like at home.
- Location
All families are located in a safe area. A placement may be anywhere in France, in small towns or large cities. Regardless of the location, however, students live their experience, in a warm and welcoming host family.
- Experience
Usually, at least one person can speak English in the host family. Host families receive a small compensation to help them to pay for the daily costs. They have to provide their international “son or daughter” with meals and a bedroom.
Just as in every country, every family is different. Whether you have got many siblings or no brother or sister, whether the host mother is a housewife or a business woman…, the possibilities are endless.
Some host families have hosted participants from different countries over the past years. For others, hosting is a first time experience. Host families do not want or expect a “boarder” , but rather a new friend and family member. They are delighted that you have chosen France and welcome you into their family!
Our High School Program in France
Studying in France will benefit foreign students on both an academic and personal level. They will learn a lot about themselves as they discover a new culture and improve their French.
Which program can you choose in France?
It is possible to study in a public or, rarely, in a private school, to be in the countryside or in the city and we are confident that we will find a placement which allows students to be happy in France. Our stays range from 1 to 10 months, but the time spent in France can be very flexible: it is one of the great advantages of our program.
We can also offer these opportunities:
- International Baccalaureate: foreign students can take the International Baccalaureate if they stay in France during 2 years and study in a private lycée near Montpellier. This diploma offers admission to universities in France and in many other countries. Classes are in English. Please contact us for more information.
- Combo program: French lessons in a language school in Montpellier before starting the high school program. It is aimed at students who are committed to their studies and to quickly improving their level of French.
Please note: our exchange students will study alongside French students and will be expected to work just as hard. However, they are unable to take the French Baccalaureate as this requires at least 2 years of studies.
Excursions & activities included in our program
We want our exchange students to get the most out of their time in France. That is why we organize excursions and activities in France throughout the year, which are included in our program price. We offer the opportunity to our foreign students to participate in stays in cities such as Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux or Toulouse and in day trips to historical cities such as Avignon or Nîmes.
We organize international potlucks at the beach with host families and their foreign student in September and at the end of the stay in June.
We want our foreign students to discover the depth of what France has to offer, make friends and have fun! It was hard to sum up how rich a stay in our country can be in this 3-minute video: a great stay in France!
Local coordinators
Foreign students will remain in constant contact with their local coordinator for the duration of their stay in France. They should not hesitate to call them if needed. The local coordinator will monitor the student’s progress and will be there to help in any situation.
The school system in France
Foreign students must know that studying in France is certainly stricter, heavier and more difficult than in their country of origin. It is important to understand that if you choose to live in France, priority is given to your studies.
We can place foreign students in a public collège or lycée all over France, depending on the decision of the school’s director and of the Board of Education.
The most important thing is to improve the level of French as much as possible. Foreign students will be placed in a class with students of the same age. An open-minded spirit and a lot of efforts are needed but this challenge is worth it.
| ECOLE MATERNELLE (Primary school) | ECOLE ÉLÉMENTAIRE (Primary school) | COLLÈGE (Secondary school) | LYCÉE (Secondary school) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AGE | From 3 to 5 years | From 6 to 11 years | From 11 to 15 years | From 16 to 18 years |
| CLASS | Petite section Moyenne section Grande section | CP CE1 CE2 CM1 CM2 | 6e 5e 4e 3e | 2nde 1ère Terminale |
| FINAL EXAM | None | None | Brevet des collèges (DNB) | Baccalauréat |
Subjects
The lycée curriculum is a general national curriculum: the same subjects are taught for the same amount of hours.
In classes of Première and Terminale, all students have to learn these subjects: French (only in 1ère), philosophy (only in Terminale), history-geography, Civics, sciences, 2 foreign languages and sport.
3 “specialities” also have to be chosen in 1ère (4 hours each) and then only 2 in Terminale (6 hours each), among the following specialities:
- Art
- Maths
- Digital and computer sciences
- History, geography, geopolitics and political sciences
- Physics and chemistry
- Humanities, literature and philosophy
- Earth and life sciences
- Foreign languages, literatures and cultures
- Economic and social sciences
- Antiquity languages, literatures and cultures
- Engineering sciences (not in every lycée)
All international students on our programmes will be considered as any other French student and therefore must abide by the rules of the school, attend all classes, do all tests and exams.
A report will be sent at the end of each period (term or semester) with the student’s grades and teachers’ comments.
The final exam, the Baccalauréat (or Bac) is very important for French students because it gives them access to university studies. It is a rigorous exam with no multiple choice questions. It includes a written part and an oral part. Each exam is taken over the last two years of lycée (part in 1ère, part in Terminale).
After the baccalauréat, you could choose France to study in public universities such as Ecole Polytechnique de Paris, University of Paris, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lille… Tuition fees at French universities are low compared to other EU countries or countries like the UK or Switzerland. You can find it difficult, but study in France offers a good opportunity for your future.
What you need to know about the school week in France
Students generally have classes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., from Monday to Friday, with a one-hour lunch break. There are usually no classes on Wednesday afternoons.
Information about fees and dates
In order to welcome you in the best possible conditions and offer you a placement according to your profile but also to your European or non-European status (you have to obtain a study visa if you are not from the EU), we advise you to register as soon as possible to facilitate administrative procedures. Visit the France-Visas website for more information on visas.
Please contact us to receive our fees. They include:
- Host family selection
- Room and board provided by the host family
- Enrolment in a public school. Grade designation, class schedule and attendance recognition are solely at the discretion of the school in which the participant is enrolled. Foreign students will receive a transcript with grades and comments
- Airport greeting at arrival
- Orientation with an ARAM local representative
- Welcome pack with student handbook and information
- Excursions and activities organised by ARAM throughout the year
- Progress reports
- Personal supervision during the whole program by the local coordinator
- ARAM certificate for successful program completion and attendance in France
Start dates and deadlines
Foreign students who need a visa will have to send us their application at least 3 months before arriving.
Academic year and semester 1
Starting date: end of August
Semester 2
Starting date: beginning of January
Terms and short stays
Possible at any period.
Don’t hesitate to contact us, we are very flexible!
Orientation
On arrival in France, you will take part in our 2-day orientation session in Montpellier or close to your host family’s with your local coordinator.
