France
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Country Information
- AFS Country Code: FRA
- See http://www.usa.afs.org/usa_en/view/8006 for more information on France.
Placement
- Age requirement: 15.0-17.11 years for school programs.
- Language requirement: All programs require at least one year study of French (prefer 2-3 years). Except for summer programs.
- Health restrictions: No students with allergies to cats and dogs. Otherwise, candidates must be in good general health and meet the medical criteria. Need to have vaccinations BCG and Hepatitis B.
- Graduates: Yes. Graduate students must be ready to go back to high school, possibly not senior year, and to be committed to school work and attendance. Students who obviously don't do anything in school might be expelled from the program.
- Smoking: Students requiring a non-smoking environment are very difficult to place (many host families do smoke at home in France)
- Dietary Restrictions: No vegetarians; they are very difficult to place in France and can't be guaranteed if they don't accept eating at least fish and/or poultry. Meals are a very important time in any French families, there is little chance host families will accept that student cooks a special meal for himself. Not eating pork for religious reason is pretty well accepted, but it is also true that pork is the main element of many French traditional dishes. Wine is part of the French culture. Students will probably be offered wine or champagne on several occasions (dinners with family, Christmas, birthdays etc..). Students do not have to accept if they don't feel like it.
- Religion/Spirituality: Access to religious services other than Catholic, Protestant (majors denominations), Jewish and Muslim is difficult. The public school system doesn't accept the showy religious attributes
- Location: 80% of placements are in rural areas. It is very unlikely that students will be hosted downtown a big city.
- Dress:
- Other:
Travel Information
- Visa:
- Departure Preparation:
- Arrival & Orientation: There is a national survival orientation just upon arrival. It is a national survival orientation that should help students adaptation for the first weeks. The following subjects are discussed : family life in France, school, meals, AFS in France, what to do in case of problem. Then between 15 to 40 days after arrival, students will have amore detailed orientation in their chapter which includes group activities on adjusment, socialization, evaluation of first part of stay and also family life and school. There is also a mid-stay regional orientation and a national end of stay orientation.
- Departure:
Host Families
- Transportation:
- Hosted-in:
- Extracurricular:
Support Information
Information needed.
Academics
- Transcript/Diploma: For School-based Programs, France cannot guarantee an applicant who requires a diploma or a transcript. Students must follow-up on the transcripts themselves. However, students in senior year might be able to take the baccalauréat exam. It is not guaranteed that students will be able to register in senior year and/or to be able to take the baccalauréat exam.
- Language:
- Transportation:
Scholarships & Sponsored Programs
See Scholarships or Sponsored Programs for Sending for more information.
General Country Information
- Description:
- Religion: Many applicants mention they want to go to church. In France, we have few families with a regular religious practice. It won't be a problem for student to go to church on their own since there are churches about everywhere in France. However, be aware that they are CATHOLIC churches. We have very few protestant churches, especially outside big cities, and if we do, they are definitely not Baptist/episcopal/evangelist churches which are very rare, mainly frequented by the African community and actually not very well seen by the French population. Among young people, very few are religious, especially in public high school, and your student might want to keep their beliefs for themselves if they want to be accepted at first. See, in France everyone is very very attached to the separation of church and state so people who talk about their faith openly and all the time might be perceived as people who try to convert others.
- Jewish students: We don't really have synagogues outside big cities and synagogues are really different here : it's very traditionalist, with a major separation between girls and boys. We only have a few liberal synagogues in Paris.
- For Muslim participants: no mosque outside big cities. Pork is one of the main meats eaten in France, but it is generally accepted by families not to eat pork for religious reasons. However, please mention on applications if you can not eat pork at all
- Climate:
- Politics:
- Language:
Return to the Country Information page.
For information, questions or concerns, contact the Program Information Specialist or countryinfo@afs.org.
