Intensive French Immersion Programs in Quebec City

The academic aspect was very good- the teaching staff gets 4 out of 5 stars. But, from the school failing to advise the volunteer driver that I needed to be picked up and taken to the airport, to them failing to find or let me know about my accommodations until the afternoon before I left to fly there, I found the organization and management very poor. I am a senior citizen with mobility issues, and most of there local activities were geared toward young people and adolescents. When I wrote a letter about being owed $500 by them, they never even acknowledged receiving my letter, and when I phoned to complain, nobody called back. Overall I am forced to give the school 4 out of 10.

My wife and I just spent a week at Edu-Inter, an intensive, full immersion French school located in Québec City. My wife was almost a rank beginner, while I was placed into an advanced class. (I’m not sure, but I think many schools do not have beginner and advanced classes in the same week.) We both elected the Super-Intensive option, which is 27 1/2 hours per week and both learned a LOT! I’d guess my wife learned as much in the week as she had in a semester in her introductory college course. My self-confidence increased dramatically. The only problem we had during the week was that many of the teachers and staff members had Québec accents, ranging from very slight to fairly thick. We’re used to the Parisian accent, so we really had to concentrate to understand the Québec accent. We chose the “home stay” option and the school placed us with a wonderful family. Both the food and the conversation were great, (I heard from some other students that not everyone has such a wonderful experience with their host family, but ours was really great.) Just FYI, we’re both senior citizens, while most of the students appeared to be in their 20’s or 30’s, but this didn’t present a problem to them or to us.

I have 'studied' french in the classroom or with apps for years. I can conjugate the living daylights out of a verb...but I can"t communicate very well. Enter Edu Inter! While still a classroom setting, we spend most of our time in conversation with the Prof or the other students (we even go outside to chat with 'les Quebecois' too). Yes it was uncomfortable to speak, I made so many mistakes and it was at times embarrassing especially for a grown adult. But the placement test had me in the right class and after day 2 I began to relax my perfectionism and I started to embrace being a learner. I absolutely recommend this school for both teens and adults. You will not regret coming to Quebec City and Edu Inter to learn to speak french!!