WE ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT OUR FRENCH AFTER SCHOOL CLASSES!

EFBA offers a part-time school model centered around after-school classes and cultural outings during the academic year and camps during the summer. In our after school classes, we teach French as a Second Language for children who do not primarily speak French at home, and French as a Native Language (FLAM) for French native speakers, or Francophones. All our programs are accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). EFBA accepts total beginners as well. 

The EFBA after-school program includes 54 classes, spread out over the course of the school year (September through May). EFBA follows the school calendar of each participating School District. Classes take place twice per week. Each class is 1.5 hours long. Our after-school program progresses through the entire school year, so it is preferable to enroll as close as possible to the beginning of the school year. The student-teacher ratio is 9 students to one teacher, with a maximum of 15 students in a class!

That depends on the teacher. Generally, there is no homework assigned. However, if a child misses a class, the teacher might ask him or her to make up the work done in the class during his or her absence. If you would like your child to have homework assignments, you can ask the teacher directly. Be aware, however, that there can be too much of a good thing. The main goal of the program is to instill a love of bilingualism, and short term gains when force fed can create a counter productive effect in the long run. It is much more conducive to nurturing the love of learning for you to spend quality time speaking French to your child and/or reading to them in French and have a discussion in French about the story.

The teacher prepares the curriculum in a way that allows a child who has taken an entire year’s course to move up into the next level the following year. Of course, if the child misses too many classes or does not practice French over the summer, he or she may forget. In that case, he or she will need to review concepts that have been learned but are not fully mastered. Education is the art of repetition. Perseverance is essential to progress.

Any family wishing to enroll in EFBA’s after-school program has the right to do so, regardless of their place of residence.

For example, if your child lives or goes to school in Sunnyvale but you want to enroll him or her in the after-school program in Mountain view, you are free to do so.

EFBA is located in many different schools in the San Francisco Bay Area.

To find your nearest campus, please consult our list of sites here.

Please refer to our list of sites here. We try to keep our prices as low as possible without sacrificing quality in a very expensive part of the country. The tuition paid by parents only cover 75% of the total program cost. The rest is raised through cash and in-kind donations and probono work.

EFBA advocates the inclusion of all families in our part-time school. Children with special needs (learning differences or needing assistance) are welcome. In this case, please let us know about the child’s special needs during the enrollment process. Because we are a small nonprofit, we cannot come up with a plan at the last minute. Let us know in advance and we will work with you to understand your child’s needs and the reasonable accommodations that need to be made.

Yes, EFBA has a policy of social equity. Every year EFBA strives to help children and families in the community by offering partial scholarships to our afterschool program.

EFBA offers scholarships for children from K to 12th grade.

Please contact admissions@efba.us for more information

For legal and liability reasons, EFBA does not set up ride sharing. Families are on their own to organize a carpool if they wish.

At most sites, there is a playtime in French before and sometimes after class, supervised by a member of EFBA (free for members and at an extra charge for non members). To find out if there is a supervised playtime at your school, please visit this page and select your site.

EFBA requires for all educators (including volunteers) the following: criminal background check in their country of origin and in the US (FBI), fingerprinting with Livescan, Megan’s law verification, CPR & First Aid Certification, Child Abuse Mandated Reporter Training, sexual harassment prevention training, proof of measles immunization + TB Screening. Yes, it’s a long list but we prefer your children to be safe and sound.

EFBA relies partly on the excellent work of its volunteers but we do not require any volunteer hours. If you would like to become a volunteer for our organization, please contact us at apply@efba.us.

We open registrations as early as we can for the next school year. Space is limited and we need to be able to confirm our teachers continued employment to retain them so please register as soon as you can. We offer an early bird discount as an incentive and we thank you for helping us plan our academic year ahead of time.

In order to participate in the after-school program, your child must be at least in Kindergarten (K). EFBA accepts children enrolled in Transitional Kindergarten (TK), with a prior proof of schooling or an assessment at the beginning of the year in which the teacher shall test your child’s maturity level. After the assessment, please note that the teacher may refuse to accept the child in his or her class. In that case, any payments will be refunded.

A Francophone child is a child of French-speaking parents, growing up in a home where French is spoken by the family. The child thus has a good level of comprehension and is able to hold a conversation in French. Your child is not required to have attended French school. A French as Second Language speaker in our jargon is a child whose native language is not French. This is not a judgement we pass onto the education you gave your children but an objective assessment of proficiency. The following test here will help you to determine the best track for your child. All new students with prior knowledge of French will be assessed by our Academic Team and placed in the level in which they can succeed and love all things French and Francophone.

The child’s legal guardian agrees to bring the child on time. Frequent tardiness is disrespectful to the other students and the teacher. Once class has started, a recurrent late arrival disturbs the others and the lesson. Moreover, at the end of class, we ask that you pick up your child on time. Parents who arrive late to pick up their child will be charged a late fee of $1 per minute.

Yes, but only in special cases. Families who wish to enroll in the middle of the school year may attend a free trial class. We do not accept enrollment for French as Second Language classes after January 3rd. For Francophones, enrollment is still possible if there is space available and if the teacher agrees to include a new student in the class. If you wish to enroll mid-school year, please contact the Admissions Office at admissions@efba.us.

Yes, it is possible to try a class for a week before enrolling. To do so, please contact the Site Coordinator of the school you wish to attend, enroll the child online and note “trial class” during enrollment. For security and insurance reasons, online registration is mandatory before participating in any class. There will be no charge for the trial class. We do not accept a child in a class without online registration. 

Our goal is to set up your child for success, without negative pressure that would hinder his or her development. We test the children to steer them towards the right class for them to succeed and love French. For all new students with prior knowledge of French, an assessment will be conducted by our Academic Team. For all returning students, the placement test takes place during the second and third classes of the school year. It is based on games (written and oral) and does not require any advance preparation on the part of the child.