Please note that some sites have to abide by the policy of their school. Please check with your site coordinator. For the vast majority of our sites, the following policy applies.

Should I pre-register my child?
Registration
Can I register my child mid-year?
Late fee
How much is the tuition?
Annual registration fee & Security Deposit
Discounts
Parent Volunteers
What will happen if I am late to pick up my child?
How do I withdraw my child from a class?
Class cancellations
Trial Classes
Feedback

Should I pre-register my child?

Pre-registration allows us to better plan classes for the following year. It also allows you to reserve a spot for your child in the class next Fall. We will start taking pre-registrations in July, while formal registration will be offered when school starts in the Fall. In order to pre-register, please fill out the pre-registration form and submit a non-refundable registration fee of $50 per family. If you decide to wait to register in the Fall, the same registration fee will be required and your child may be placed on a waiting list should the class you desire be full.
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Registration

Registration will take place once a year, a few weeks after the beginning of the school year. Tuition payments are due prior to the start of the semester. A waiting list will be created as needed. If you have not already pre-registered, EFBA will require that you pay a $50 registration fee in addition to the tuition fee. We strongly encourage you to pre-register your children prior to the start of the school year in order to ensure space for them in the class. Please contact us for further information.
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Can I register my child mid-year?

We strongly encourage you to register your child at the start of the school year to give them the best chance for success in learning French. If your child starts mid-year when the rest of the students have already covered a certain amount of curriculum, he or she may be unable to catch up and feel discouraged. However, if your child switches schools mid-year or if he or she already has some French exposure, it may be possible to register mid-year. Please contact your local site coordinator to discuss. Tuition payments will be pro-rated, but the registration fee will remain $50 per family.
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Late fee

EFBA is not a money-making enterprise. The site coordinators and the board members are all volunteers who use their free time and sometimes their sleep time to help run this organization. We cannot reasonably ask the same sacrifice from our teachers or teaching assistants, nor our suppliers. Consequently, we ask that you do your best to make tuition payments on time. A late fee of $25 per week will be applied if your payment is late and your child may not be allowed to participate in the class. If you are facing serious financial difficulties, please do communicate your situation to your local site coordinator so we may discuss a solution.
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How much is the tuition?

Being a non-profit, we are aiming to price our classes as affordably as we can, without sacrificing quality or our financial sustainability. Prices fluctuate between $13 and $21 per hour depending on each site's structural cost. Thus, if your child's class meets twice a week 1.5 hours each time, you will pay tuition for 3 hours of classtime. Please contact your local site coordinator for the exact tuition rate.
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Annual registration fee & Security Deposit

We will begin taking registrations for EFBA classes starting in July. Please fill out the registration form and submit the non-refundable registration fee of $50 per family. This fee will act as a security deposit for your child and will hold his or her spot in the EFBA class. Tuition payments for the following term will be taken 4 weeks prior to the start of your site's academic term. (Please see your site's calendar for specific dates.) The deadline for the tuition payment is 2 weeks prior to the start of your site's academic term. We do not ask for the entire year's tuition up front, but we strongly encourage you and your child to make a year-long commitment to this EFBA class. Learning a foreign language is very fun and enriching, but does require time to expose your child to the language. If you enroll in an EFBA class, we are sincerely planning on having your child acquire some degree of French fluency. We want to set your child up for success in French by asking you and your child to carefully consider whether or not you can make that commitment to plan on attending class regularly for the entire school year.
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Discounts

If you enroll multiple children from a single family, we will offer a 10% discount to each child. Parents who meet certain criteria and commit to volunteer in an EFBA class on a regular basis will be offered a discount of up to 50% off their child's tuition. The Parent Helper discount may not be combined with the Multiple Children discount. Please contact your local site coordinator for more details.
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Parent Volunteers

We are looking for Francophone parent volunteers to assist teachers in managing the classes. We ask you to come at least 30 minutes before the class, stay for the duration of the class to help with such things as bathroom breaks, and help tidy the classroom. Parents who are able to help regularly will be eligible for a 50% discount on their child's tuition.
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What will happen if I am late to pick up my child?

Please plan on picking up your child on time. The teacher has the right to collect a late fee of $5 for each 5 minutes that you are late. A child will not be discharged to anyone other than a custodial parent without prior advance notice to the teacher.
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How do I withdraw my child from a class?

If you withdraw your child from an EFBA class during course of the school year, any tuition paid for the current trimester will not be refunded. Your child will not receive priority if you decide to re-enroll. If the class is full, his or her name will be put on the waiting list. However, no additional registration fee will be required upon re-enrollment.
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Class cancellations

Certain situations might occur where a class may need to be canceled: One-time Cancellation: If a teacher is unable to teach a class, we will make every effort to find a qualified substitute French teacher to teach the class. If we cannot, we will cancel the class and offer either a make-up class or a credit with EFBA. While we never expect any last minute cancellations of class to occur, emergencies do happen. In those instances, either a parent helper or a representative of EFBA will be sent to supervise the children and contact parents for early pick-up. Please ensure that your contact information is up-to-date and accurate so we may reach you. Permanent Cancellation: We plan out our classes and staffing based on expected demand. If we are unable to meet the minimum enrollment for your child,s class, we will cancel your child,s class and attempt to merge their class with another class of similar skill-level or age. If we are unable to do this, the class may need to be canceled. Or you may have a scheduling conflict with the new class to which your child has been assigned. In these circumstances, we will offer a tuition refund. All changes to the class schedule will be finalized 1 week prior to the start of EFBA classes at your site. Tuition refund requests must be received by the start of the EFBA term at your local school site. Though we do not anticipate a class cancellation mid-term, if one does occur, you will be refunded the unused tuition. Please refer to the "Tuition refunds" section above.
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Trial Classes

If you would like to observe or schedule a trial class for your child, please contact your site coordinator. In order for your child to attend a trial class, we request that you enroll your child. This means, paying the $50 non-refundable registration fee, as well as the tuition fee. We will also need you to fill-in the registration form. Should you choose to NOT keep your child in the class, we will then process a tuition refund after your site coordinator receives an explicit cancellation notice from you. This notice must be received, up to one week after the class starts. Please read the "Tuition refund" section above.
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Visiting the Classroom

While we welcome parents into the classroom for short periods of observation, we ask for your understanding that EFBA classes are by necessity not set up for parent participation. We seek to create an immersion learning experience with only French language being spoken in the classroom. Please also be aware your presence may be a distraction to the students, especially your own child, so you may not be able to see the typical behavior or teaching that would go on in a normal class. If you would like to visit the classroom, we ask you that follow your school's standard process for school visitors, usually signing in at the office. Please also arrive early to the classroom in order to introduce yourself to the teacher before class starts. If you arrive after class starts, the teacher will need to interrupt his or her instruction in French in order to determine who you are. Please also be aware that the teacher will not be able to stop the class to answer your questions. You may contact your local site coordinator afterwards if you'd like to discuss the class you observed. If you'd like more feedback on how your own child is doing in the class, please speak with the French teacher after class or send a note along with your child to give to his or her teacher. The EFBA teacher will be happy to email you feedback on how your child is doing in the class. If you'd like to be present in your child's class on a regular basis, speak French with some degree of fluency and are able to commit to attending class for an entire term, we suggest that you contact your local site coordinator concerning the possibility of becoming a parent volunteer for the class. There are many other ways that you as a parent can encourage your student in their study of French. Ask your child to read to you any handouts or reading materials they received from class. Have them teach you any songs they learned. Checkout French reading materials from the library. Turn on the French language audio track the next time your child watches his or her favorite DVD. Hearing French in different situations outside the classroom will reinforce the lessons your child is learning and will help him or her understand that learning a foreign language is important to you. Most and foremost, if French is your mother tongue, always speak French to your child.
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Feedback

If you have any feedback on our program, teachers or curriculum, please contact your site coordinator first. If you feel your concerns have not been sufficiently addressed, you may contact the EFBA Board at board@efba.us.
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