Accelerate your students’ French with an unforgettable educational tour to the City of Light! This 8-day tour is an incredible opportunity for your students to walk through the city’s biggest sites, all while they become more fluent and confident in French.
As part of our language immersion collection, this tour features a daily three-hour language course, with each class focusing on a different topic, like art or food. After your morning class, your students will apply their vocabulary with activities related to that topic.
It’s the perfect combination of fun, travel and learning, and it’s never been easier to plan than with Explorica. Read on to learn more about this educational travel opportunity.
Language Immersion: Paris (8-10 days)
Welcome to Paris! Get your bearings in the City of Light before starting class. On the first day, you’ll meet your tour director, who will show you around Montmartre, the highest point of the city and site of the uprising of the Paris Commune in 1871.
Now, it’s most famous for the birth of cabaret and its reputation as an artists’ quarter in the 19th-20th centuries (Renoir once called it home). Today, the area still boasts some of the city’s best cafés and cabarets, including Le Chat Noir and Moulin Rouge.
Start at Sacre Coeur, a Roman Catholic church at the top of the hill. Completed in 1914, the beautiful domed basilica is considered national penance for the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
You can still see street artists at the nearby Place du Tertre, a colorful square in the area, and music and dance still thrive at the Moulin Rouge. You’ll notice the big red windmill (moulin rouge means “red windmill”), which was rebuilt in 1921 after being burned down in 1915.
French history
Now that you’re a bona fide Parisian, it’s time to start your French classes! Day one focuses on history — review your history vocabulary before seeing some of Paris’ biggest historical sites.
You’ll have plenty to talk about when you ascend the Eiffel Tower, the 1889 World’s Fair entry that was considered an eyesore at the time. Today, it’s a French icon and is one of the most-visited monuments in the world.
Named for designer Gustave Eiffel, the 1,000-foot tower has three levels, each containing shops and restaurants and excellent views of the city. The first balcony features a clear floor (for looking down) and the names of 72 French scientists and engineers appear around the perimeter.
Next, see the city from the water on an incredible hour-long cruise along the River Seine. The Seine cuts right through Paris, dividing the city in half. See the Musee d’Orsay and the Eiffel Tower rising up on the Left Bank, and the walls of the Louvre and the Arc de Troimphe on the Right Bank. A guide will point out other monuments and architectural marvels as you pass under beautiful arched bridges.
Finally, use your history vocabulary on a tour director-led treasure hunt in the Ile de la Cité, a natural island in the Seine and home of Notre-Dame Cathedral. Watch your students gain confidence in their French during this adventure, where they complete activities and solve clues in this city center.
French culture
Day two of class will help your students hone their culture vocabulary before diving deep into French culture at the beautiful Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte, a 17th-century chateau for a marquis under Louis XIV, who later used the architecture as inspiration for Versailles.
Walk through the ornately decorated grounds, and then step into the shoes of the French elite with a lesson in French dining etiquette, formal table-setting, and the norms for behavior at a formal soirée.
Once you have your etiquette chops, finish off your day with a homemade dinner with a local French family. Watch your students practice their French skills with Parisian locals.
French art
French art takes center stage in day three of class. Get a refresher in art vocabulary, then put your knowledge to use at the world’s largest art museum, the incredible Louvre.
Walk through the translucent pyramid that dominates the center of the Louvre. Though it’s become synonymous with the Louvre at this point, the giant clear pyramid wasn’t completed until 1989.
Then, head to the museum itself, home to over 35,000 works of art. Originally built in the 12th and 13th century, the museum began as a fortress, and became a place to display the royal collection after Louis XIV decided not to live there. Tour the enormous and majestic building, and see some of the world’s priceless works of art, including the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, La Liberté Guidant le Peuple, and Winged Victory.
Your tour director will guide you through the Louvre’s biggest sites, but you’ll also get to practice your French with a scavenger hunt that will put your students on the move with something new to find at every turn.
French gastronomy
Day four of class focuses on French food. Spend the rest of the day enjoying French’s famous culinary treats, like gourmet cheese and chocolate. Your tour director will take you through Parisian neighbourhoods where you’ll sample plenty of both, and then learn cooking in the French fashion with a class taught by a local chef.
French theater
Your final day of class focuses on french theater. After class, take part in a fun theater workshop. Starting with oral expression games, icebreakers and improvisation lessons with a professional bilingual actor, your group will quickly start directing and performing small scenes in front of their classmates. Then, join locals to enjoy a Parisian show.
Not ready to go home? Take an optional extension to London for a visit to Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly Circus, or head home to show off your language skills. View the full itinerary for Language Immersion: Paris, and contact us to start planning.