On October 10, 2019 and October 27, 2023, the American Camps Association met to classify EFBA Summer Camps as ACA accredited. In terms of Program Design and Activities, Safety, Staff Qualifications, Training, Supervision, Health and Wellness, Facilities and Administrations, EFBA has met over 200 standards with stellar scores! These are the highest standards of the industry nationwide.

This is the second accreditation for our unique French immersion summer camps. Since 2017, our camps have been accredited by WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) for their educational value. We are the only language camp in California accredited twice. And the only one which brings BAFA certified camp counselors directly from France and Canada!

We have the most qualified staff of any youth program in the Bay Area! Our Camp Counselors are selected for their warm, mature and caring personalities. They are responsible, enthusiastic and perfectly fluent in French.

All of our staff undergo a full background check, reference check and fingerprinting.

Our Camp Counselors are trained in:

• CPR, AED and First Aid
• Children’s Mental Health First Aid
• Mandated Reporter and child abuse prevention
• Socio-emotional learning
• Inclusion and learning differences
• Flighting subconscious biases and anti-bullying prevention
• Emergency response: Missing child, fire evacuation, active shooter and disaster preparedness

For safety reasons and for the purpose of maintaining a French immersion environment at all times in a very relaxed atmosphere, we have the highest supervision ratio of all language camps in the region: one adult (18 or older) for 6 to 8 children.

Indeed, we want your children to learn and use French in an immersive environment. Thus our staff comes directly from France and other French-speaking countries. They constantly speak French with your children and with their colleagues. (With non natives, they will use extra visual props.)

The program is designed to satisfy each child’s need for emotional safety, leisure, discovery, creativity, imagination and identity-building. Our counselors are specially trained to ensure that each child feels included and spends a wonderful vacation. Your children will become, in turn, explorers, adventurers, artists or investigators, in a relaxed and fun environment.

Our camp counselors are youth development professionals. The French counselors hold the BAFA (Certificate of Aptitude as an Activity Leader in Youth Camps), or an equivalent certification (DAFA for Quebec, “brevet d’animateur de centres de vacances” for Belgium). The leaders coming from overseas hold a BAFD (Certificate of Aptitude as a Lead Camp Counselor in Youth Camps).We also have a few local hires who are French-American with whom your children can identify. Most of them will have started with us as students and or campers!

Our camp counselors encourage the children to express themselves and have natural conversations in French. The children’s language mastery progresses and they enhance their knowledge of French and Francophone cultures while having fun and spending time outdoors.

In many ways, we work on the child’s perception and attitude towards the French language. In order to boost intrinsic motivation, we intentionally recruit a diverse and charismatic workforce which mirrors our young constituents. Personal motivation, self-identification and positive role models are essential to wanting to become bilingual.