Philosophy of the Landon French Summer Program

The program was created in the 1989-1990 academic year and is now in its 18th year. Our co-ed program aims first and foremost at offering a fun, creative and productive time in France. Through our busy and diverse program we seek to reinforce a student’s French skills by offering him or her an opportunity to hear and speak French in the context of a French family where the language and the culture, studied in the classroom, come to life as a natural experience. We want the students to feel actively involved every day in a fun discovery of the country and the people who are hosting them.

The carefully selected French families offer a wonderful warm welcome to each student; they also host sports events, evening gatherings, dinners and dances for all involved; French and American, boys and girls, young and old meet for evenings of fun where all share in the joyous French summer life style and feel at home.

Additionally, History, Architecture, and the Arts are illustrated through many daily and weekly visits in Tours and the Loire Valley, as well as private guided tours in Chartres, Paris and Normandy. The students feel at ease with what they have learned, they gain fluency in the French language and enjoy a fun filled, enriching, co-ed summer experience.

Academic Component

Since 1994, thanks to the French Embassy in Washington, Landon has been introduced to and hosted by with the private Lycées Saint Grégoire in Tours, and Notre Dame La Riche. Classes are held in the morning for 3 periods, four days a week.

Native speakers teach French at 3 levels: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. Skills in listening comprehension, conversation, reading, grammar and writing are honed in every class. Cultural vignettes are studied every day and each student is encouraged to make daily entries, in French, in the cultural journal prepared for everyone’s cultural benefit.

Exchange Option

Each American student is placed in a French family where he or she shares the life of the family evenings and week ends which are the strongest times the students are given the opportunity to gain fluency and experience French culture.

The French host families are carefully selected by Doctor Veronique Lesage, a Pediatrics Anesthesiologist at the Children’s hospital, in Tours and Madame Catherine Daumont, a close friend of Dr. Lesage, a present parent at the private Lycée Notre Dame La Riche, a past host family for many years, and the main on-site contact. Veronique and Catherine will again co-ordinate the selection of the French families this year. In the winter, or early spring they visit the Landon school where they try to meet with all the registered students and their families, in order to have the best possible profile and successfully match each individual candidate with a French family.