French Language & Culture Immersion in Québec City, Canada

On my trip in Quebec City I had done a lot of new things and meet a lot of new people. With this program I was able to experience Quebec and it’s wonderful highlights. I also learnt a few news things in the French language, Quebec heritage and photography in general. All in all my trip was a great learning experience and I would not regret doing it again.

Overall I think it was a very good experience for my daughter. Abbey Road was well organized and provided a very safe, stimulating setting. Quebec is beautiful, and the program leader last year was outstanding. I would say she was the highlight of my daughter’s experience. The leader had taught French at both the college and high school levels and was clearly very committed to experiential learning. The group was very active, as it seemed that most days they traveled throughout the city exploring and practicing. My daughter also found it to be very safe. The kids don’t have a ton of free time. My daughter would have liked more free time but they keep them very busy, which I personally think is probably a good thing. All the kids last year got singles (no roommate) which she enjoyed. It seemed quite lively with many students on campus studying. She attended for two weeks and said her French improved quite a lot. She was not terribly confident in her French before going (and was actually quite reluctant to go for that reason). The immersion approach really seemed ideal for accelerated learning. Now that we are several months past the program, I think my daughter is starting to realize how much she grew and learned from the experience. It was not easy for her in the sense that she would rather have stayed home. She was reluctant to go. Again, I think the program director made her feel so comfortable and much more confident in her French.

My daughter really enjoyed her experience in Quebec City. It was her first time spending weeks away and it was really the perfect program for her to gain some independence. She is now a senior and it was a good experience for her all around. We live in the SF Bay Area and another girl from our area was going so they traveled together. Julie, the program leader in Quebec, was great with the kids. Last summer the kids had their own rooms and my daughter really enjoyed that. My daughter had taken three years of French before going on the trip and some of the kids had never taken any French. The program really seemed to stress getting out into the Quebec City community to practice French and my daughter really liked that as well. The people at Abbey Road in the LA office were very nice to deal with as well. I was very happy she traveled with Abbey Road last summer.