Where to holiday in France/improve language skills

tinker15

Hi, I would like to take my daughter on holiday to France next year to a place that would encourage/improve her French as she will be continuing French through to A Level and possibly University so would like to use it as much as possible.


Ideally a place with a nice beach, restaurants and a bakery (love fresh bread) but nothing too rowdy would be great. Oh and the hotter the better

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Kernow666

Nice is Nice

Voyager2002

When I was 16 my school arranged for us to go and work in the maize fields over the summer holidays. I went with two friends, and since no-one else spoke any English that was a great way to practice French and develop language skills. So I suggest that you pack her off somewhere where she will need to use French to survive: and survive she will!

tinker15

Thank you, what area would Nice come under as I cannot find it on the owners direct website.

tinker15

Voyager2002 wrote: »

When I was 16 my school arranged for us to go and work in the maize fields over the summer holidays. I went with two friends, and since no-one else spoke any English that was a great way to practice French and develop language skills. So I suggest that you pack her off somewhere where she will need to use French to survive: and survive she will!

My daughter would love to do this but the school won't even offer the student exchange so they would not entertain this.


I do agree with you though, in at the deep end is the best way to pick up a language.

Cornucopia

Nice is on the Cote d'Azur.

The entire administrative area is called Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, sometimes abbreviated to PACA.

There are probably 100 suitable resorts fitting your requirements along the Mediterranean Coast, and another 50 along the Atlantic Coast. How will you be travelling there?

Anywhere but Paris is fine for practising French, although the more touristy the area, the more likely you are to find people trying out their English on you.

tinker15

Thank you. We will probably be flying there as I have never driven abroad, although having a go this year when we rent a car.
The more French the better as although my daughter is good at French she lacks confidence and feels that spending time in France would be a benefit to her.

zagfles

Avoid the Dordogne. More British there than French!

agrinnall

How long are you thinking of going for? If it's just a couple of weeks holiday I doubt if it will have a significant effect on her French, she really needs to be going somewhere where she can be immersed in the language for a lengthy period, as voyager suggests.

BOBS

We love south coast, fly into Nice and stay in a static caravan on a campsite 20 minutes away which is on the train line. (it has a FAB FAB FAB Bakery!!!)
You can travel by train west as far as Cannes and east as far as Menton and over the border to Ventemiglia in Italy.
Tripadvisor is a good place to start for ideas.

Of note our teens are very hesitant and lack confidence on using any of their french at all and I was left to do most of the talking with my very rusty GCSE level french.