AN ORGANIZATION SERVING THE NEEDS OF FRENCH LEARNING AND BILINGUALISM
Our mission is to proffer a bilingual, multicultural French-language education, opening children’s minds to the world.
Through our structured yet flexible programs, children have the opportunity to acquire a better mastery of the French language (the levels offered vary by school). EFBA’s French courses are structured around perfecting the oral and written language, while adapting to ours students’ levels and environments.
Our vision: We imagine a world in which all children grow up multilingual and multicultural to live in peace, be their best self and protect the environment.
Our commitment to inclusion: EFBA is committed to respecting the dignity and well-being of each child by creating a respectful and positive environment in which each child can find his/her/their place and reach his/her/their full potential.
We provide an inclusive and welcome environment to the children and adults who participate in our programs, their families, our employees, staff members, and volunteers
It is particularly important for us to provide access to our programs for all children. Living together, accepting and respecting differences, and enriching the community through diversity are all part of our mission. We are committed to welcoming all children, regardless of ability, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, age, cultural, racial, ethnic or national origin, social origin, opinions or beliefs. We value and respect the entire Francophone world and beyond.
GOALS AND OUTCOMES: Expected Schoolwide Learners Results
At EFBA we strongly believe that each student is a unique individual with their own pace of development. Our goal is to introduce the students to as many positive experiences as possible. It is our hope that the experiences we provide will foster creativity and individuality in each student, encourage awareness of themselves and others and open their mind to the world.
EFBA requires continual supervision of all students at all times during the program, which ensures their safety and increases language exposure time.
EFBA has established the following academic and developmental goals for all students:
- To get to love the French language and its cultures.
- To learn and improve their command of the French language.
- To develop a curiosity and a respect for other people’s languages and cultures.
- To appreciate diversity.
- To grow personally and gain a greater sense of one’s own worth.
- To develop self-confidence and grit.
- To be inspired to lead a life of care, honesty, respect and responsibility.
- To experience improved personal relationships.
- To become better leaders.
- To have fun!
In order to help our students reach these goals, our educational team is committed to communicating with the children in French at all times. We do not force children to speak French. Instead, we encourage them and stimulate their curiosity so that they willingly become engaged in interactions that are meaningful to them. For that purpose, the staff uses various techniques and sets up a program that is interesting and student-centered. Such techniques follow our play-based and project-based learning philosophy.
GENERALIZING ACCESS TO FRENCH/ENGLISH BILINGUALISM
Since 2009, our organization, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, has developed an original model that is unique in the world in order to make a quality bilingual education accessible and affordable for all.
How can one learn a language and become bilingual without attending an international school full-time? Speaking the language at home and vacationing in the country where the language is spoken with grandparents and cousins are certainly pillars of a bilingual education, but this is not enough to master the written language and its cultural references, nor does it shape a plural identity. How, then, can we teach a language and its cultures when students are already attending school full-time, with homework, and a justifiable desire to partake in leisure activities and play with other neighborhood children?
At the center of our absolutely unique approach is a tripartite model of part-time school, which places the child at the heart of the system rather than asking the child to adapt to the academic institution.
Small group
French classes
Classes in small groups present social benefits for the participants, especially French native-language children. These children are developing and learning to accept the normality of growing up bilingual, as long as they can see that their hybrid situation is commonplace and not at all unusual, and especially that it is acknowledged and supported by the school establishment.
For all children, small group classes provide the motivation of meeting friends with whom they can share fun and laughter while learning fascinating things from a highly qualified, unforgettable teacher.
Gentle teaching
methods
Forcing kids to do something leads to rejection. It is much better to tap into their intrinsic motivation and their underlying desire to learn, which is ever-present if you know how to summon it.
Our teaching methods are play-based and adapted to the after-school period. We aim for a “joyful wisdom” and encourage intellectual curiosity, thanks to demanding and kind teachers with joyful personalities. Creating an “irreversibly” bilingual child takes time.
Learning French
while having fun
A school beyond the walls, where children are exposed to a second language outside of the “artificial” class setting, particularly through summer camps and cultural programs. Children thus develop their imagination, experience the language in its natural state and learn to create their own playthings or even play with words.
Our ambition is to provide children with a thousand opportunities to learn and use the second language, so that they can use it in life’s circumstances and grow up loving to speak several languages.
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