French Education in San Francisco

La Petite Ecole

2011-01-16T16:23:00.000-08:00

"La Petite Ecole" is a full-day preschool and after school program in Fremont.

Web: http://www.la-petite-ecole.com/
Phone: (510) 494-1835
Location: Glenmoor Area, Fremont
Type: Full day and after school
Tuition: See site
Language: French immersion upon request

La Marelle

2011-01-14T22:19:00.000-08:00

"La Marelle" is a full-day preschool starting in San Francisco.

Web: http://www.lamarellesf.com/
Phone: (415) 322-0278
Location: 278 Monterey Blvd., San Francisco
License no: pending
Type: Full day
Tuition: See site
Language: French immersion

Mama Lisa's World

2009-11-25T11:40:00.000-08:00

Mama Lisa's World is a website dedicated to children's songs from around the world. She has a large collection of songs from France with lyrics, sheet music, MIDI tunes and MP3 recordings of songs. This can really help add new French songs to sing at home.

Web: www.mamalisa.com

Les Petits Livres

2009-11-25T11:35:00.000-08:00

Les Petits Livres is an online French library for children's books. With a subscription, you will receive French language books in the mail on a regular basis. It's kind of like NetFlix for French children's books. They deliver anywhere in the US.

Web: www.lespetitslivres.com

Karine Leung's Children's Bubble

2009-11-25T11:30:00.000-08:00

Karine Leung runs an art workshop in the Richmond District of San Francisco. It's for kids aged 3 to 6 years old. She is French and does the lessons in French and English.

Web: http://www.karineleung.com/Mainchildrenpage.html

Les Petits Bleus

2009-11-24T16:07:00.001-08:00

Les Petits Bleus is a French-speaking soccer club in Sunnyvale. With multiple teams for kids between 6 and 10, this is an interesting way to encourage French-speaking kids to play together.

Web: http://www.lespetitsbleus.com/

French for Fun

2009-11-24T16:05:00.000-08:00

French for Fun is a long-running after school and preschool program in Lafayette.

Web: http://www.frenchforfun.com/

Jeu d'enfant

2009-11-24T16:00:00.000-08:00

Jeu d'enfant is a program in Redwood City. The site is a little unclear, but it seems to have a preschool half-day program and an after school program that uses the CNED materials.

Web: http://www.jeud-enfant.com/

French American Kids

2009-09-21T12:12:00.000-07:00

French American Kids is a French immersion preschool in Mountain View and/or Cupertino (the website is not clear). It seems that it has had a half-day program for a while and is now adding a full-day program in Cupertino.

Web: http://www.french-american-kids.com/
Phone: (408) 561-0585
Location: Mountain View and Cupertino
Type: Full-day program and half-day
Tuition: (2009-10)

about $60/day for 1-3 days a week for half-day
about $45/day for 4-5 days a week for half-day
$65/day for a new full-day program in Cupertino

Language: French immersion.

Helios New School

2009-09-21T11:59:00.000-07:00

Helios New School is a private PK-5 school in Palo Alto that has a French component. It's not an immersion school, but offers French on a regular basis.

Web: http://heliosnewschool.wordpress.com/
Phone: (650) 223-8690
Location: 3921 Fabian Way, Building C, Palo Alto, CA
Grades: PK-5
Tuition: unknown, not posted on the website
Language: Regular instruction in French, but it's not specified how often

Les Petits Canards

2009-05-08T22:10:00.000-07:00

"Les Petits Canards" is an excellent full-day preschool in San Francisco by a French woman. Care is full-day, 4 days a week (Monday - Thursday) for every child.

Web: http://www.lespetitscanards.com/
Phone: (415) 379-8624
Location: 2521-A McAllister, San Francisco
License no: #384001256
Type: Full day
Tuition: $1650 / month, so between $90 and $105 a day, depending on the month.
Language: French immersion

French in SFUSD

2009-03-30T11:54:00.000-07:00

So there's recently been some movement among San Francisco parents interested in a French program at SFUSD. As reported at the SF K Files in January, the district is preparing a Multilingual Master Plan, and the input gathering part of the process will be ending this April (2009). In order to focus the interest in a French program, I've created a Google group "French Education in SF Public Schools". If you're interested in the school district starting a program, please sign up for the group, but most of all, contact Maria Martinez. She's the point person collecting the information about language demand at the school district. Her email address is martinezm6@ sfusd.edu. She'll want to know where you live and how old your children are.

Universe of Colors (or, Le Monde des Couleurs)

2009-03-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

The Universe of Colors is a multi-lingual immersion preschool in San Mateo.

Web: http://www.universeofcolors.org/
Phone: (650) 401-8368
Location: The city of San Mateo
License no: It's apparently exempt from licensing
Type: Half-day programs, either morning or afternoon, with an add-on lunch possible
Tuition: (2008-09)

between $40-45/half-day. It's priced per month, but it works out to about that
lunch extra

Language: French immersion, but also Spanish, Mandarin and English

French in San Francisco Public Schools

2009-03-19T22:18:00.000-07:00

Something that gets brought up fairly often on the SF K Files is the idea of a French-immersion or enrichment in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). The idea is very attractive to us, but the main concern we have is whether the program would be just French exposure or real French proficiency.

I've tried to research the available programs within SFUSD. One interesting group is the San Francisco Advocates for Multilingual Excellence (SF AME). It's a Yahoo! group that concentrates on the different language programs in the SFUSD, specifically in elementary school. The school district doesn't have a listing of available language programs that includes extracurricular programs, but SF AME does. It's where I got the link to Paul Revere Elementary School having a French after-school program. Unfortunately, when I emailed the principal and the school's main email asking about the program, I got no response.

There have been some other rumors about schools like Feinstein ES and Grattan ES having a French extracurricular program, but I haven't seen anything confirming this.

PAFEA

2009-02-19T22:33:00.000-08:00

The Palo Alto French Education Association is an interesting program in Palo Alto. It started in 2002 or so as a kind of after school teaching cooperative founded by French-speaking parents. Parents sign up and pay for the CNED (kuh-ned) program from the French Ministry of Education, then the PAFEA will provide classrooms, insurance, teachers and administrative overhead to provide a structure to the students. It's mostly for kids with French-speaking parents in public school.

Web: http://www.pafea.org/
Phone: (650) 630-4319
Location: 275 Elliott Drive, Menlo Park (The German American International School)
Founded: 2002?
Grades: K-6
Tuition: 2008-09, when paid in advance

$2,700 (K to 6th)

Fees: $250 for materials, plus other fees on top
Financial aid: Some aid is provided by the program.
Language: 4 hours a week, after school. Follows the French program in France

Alliance Française

2009-02-17T21:08:00.000-08:00

The Alliance Française was established in Paris in 1883 to promote the French language and culture. There are now over 1,000 associations in 133 countries, including 130 in the United States. There are 5 associations in the San Francisco Bay Area:

Alliance Française de Berkeley
Alliance Française de Napa
Alliance Française de San Francisco
Alliance Française de Santa Clara Valley (Saratoga/Campbell)
Alliance Française de Santa Rosa

There are two problems with the Alliance Française. The first is that it isn't very well organized; each association seems to be very independent. There are two world-wide "head offices" (the original Alliance française Paris Ile-de-France and the Fondation Alliance française) and there are two US "head offices" (The Federation of Alliances Françaises USA and the Délégation générale de l’Alliance Française aux Etats-Unis).

The second problem for us is that the Alliances are focused on adult education than on children. ("Last, but not least," according to the AFSF.) They are aware of the problem and have published a first analysis (in French, from 2006). This report talks about the challenges faced by the different associations: lack of experienced staff, the lack of staff training, time constraints for students and teachers, and problems with the school districts (for appropriate space, teacher/student ratio, teacher qualification, etc.) These same problems have plagued the different associations for over 10 years, and the report raises the question as to why they haven't been resolved, but doesn't really give an answer (I think it's because the Alliance Française isn't very well organized. See above.)

This report proposes an "Alliance Enfance" pilot program for the US to find best practices and one of the three pilot programs happens at the Alliance Française de San Francisco, but the program is very new, and seems to target English-speaking families where the children don't have experience in French. The report includes a 3 year plan, which seems to have started in 2008. We'll see how it does.

Another report done by the Délégation générale is a report of the work done by the Alliance Française with public school districts in 5 districts: New York, Miami, Chicago, Washington and ... San Francisco. This is an interesting report. It mentions that the 5 programs had no coordination among them, and one (New York) has stopped due to budget constraints. The program in San Francisco is related to the Bayview Opera House and targets African-American neighborhoods. One of the perks of that program was a trip to Paris, France and Dakar, Senegal.

So one positive thing about these internal reports is that the Alliances Françaises in the US seem to be trying to improve the professionalism of their associations. We'll see if it happens fast enough for us to be confident of the results.

French-American School of Silicon Valley

2009-02-14T14:32:00.000-08:00

The French-American School of Silicon Valley is a bilingual school in Sunnyvale.

Web: http://www.fassv.org/
Phone: (408) 746-0460
Location: 1522 Lewiston Dr, Sunnyvale, CA
Founded: 1992?
Grades: PreK-5
Tuition: 2008-09, when paid in advance

$14,487.00 (pre-K to 5th)

Fees: On top of tuition
Financial aid: French government scholarships are available to French citizens.
Language: Bilingual. Full immersion in pre-K and kindergarten, but then English is added more and more to the curriculum with each grade.

International School of the Peninsula

2009-02-14T14:23:00.000-08:00

The International School of the Peninsula is a bilingual French-English school in Palo Alto. It also has a Chinese-English program.

Web: http://www.istp.org/
Phone: (650) 251-8500
Location:151 Laura Lane, Palo Alto, CA
Founded: 1979
Grades: PreK-8
Tuition: 2008-09, when paid in advance

$17,400 (pre-K to 5th)
$19,500 (6th to 8th)

Fees: On top of tuition
Financial aid: French government scholarships are available to French citizens.
The school also has its own scholarships.
Language: Bilingual. Full immersion in pre-K and kindergarten, but then English is added more and more to the curriculum with each grade.

The École Bilingue de Berkeley

2009-02-14T14:08:00.000-08:00

The École Bilingue de Berkeley is a school in the bilingual tradition in Berkeley. It's a K-8 school.

Web: http://www.eb.org/
Phone: (510) 549-3867
Location: 1009 Heinz Ave, Berkeley, CA
Founded: 1977
Grades: PreK-8
Tuition: 2008-09, when paid in advance

$17,930 (pre-K to 5th)
$20,550 (6th to 8th)

Au p'tit monde

2009-02-14T12:54:00.000-08:00

"Au p'tit monde" is a French immersion preschool run by an Moroccan in the Sunset district of San Francisco.

Web: http://auptitmonde.com/
Phone: (415) 742-0130
Location: Sunset district, San Francisco
License no: #384001566
Type: Full-day program
Tuition: (2008-09)

$95/day for 1-3 days a week
$90/day for 4-5 days a week

Language: French immersion. Most, but not all instructors, are native French speakers.

The Garden House / Le jardin enchantée

2009-02-14T12:35:00.000-08:00

"The Garden House / Le jardin enchantée" is a French immersion preschool run by an American in the inner Richmond of San Francisco.

Web: http://gardenhousesf.org/
Phone: (415) 845-7066
Location: Inner Richmond, San Francisco
License no: a "Recreation Program" which is apparently exempt from licensing
Type: Half-day programs, either morning or afternoon, with an add-on lunch possible
Tuition: (2008-09)

about $65/half-day. It's priced per session, but it works out to about that
lunch extra

Language: French immersion. Some, but not all instructors, are native French speakers.

Babar & Bécassine

2009-02-14T12:33:00.000-08:00

"Babar & Bécassine" is a French-immersion daycare run out of a French woman's home in the Sunset.

I haven't spoken with her and she has no website, but she posts often on the San Francisco childcare section of Craigslist. She often asks for a specific age of girl or boy.

Web: none. See Craigslist
Location: Sunset district, San Francisco
Phone: (415) 731-2861
License no: Claims to be licensed, but no number published
Type: Full-day
Tuition: unknown
Language: Unclear, but seems to be French immersion.

À la vanille

2009-02-14T11:01:00.000-08:00

"À la vanille" is a French immersion preschool run by an American in South San Francisco, on Hickey Boulevard.

Web: http://www.alavanille.com/
Phone: (415) 816-2235
Location: Hickey Blvd, South San Francisco
License no: #414001466
Type: Full-day only
Tuition: (2008-09)

$90/day for two days
$85/day for three or four days

Language: French immersion.

Before Kindergarten

2009-02-14T10:36:00.000-08:00

"School" used to start in the 1st grade. Everything before that was optional "pre-school." Now, kindergarten is academic and everything before that is "pre-school." But wait, now there's "pre-K" and "transitional" or "TK" which are jargon for an academically-oriented year just before kindergarten. So what's preschool now? Or daycare?

Here, all kinds of programs will be categorized as "preschool." So pre-K, TK, daycare and "recreation programs" that cater to kids younger than 5 will be tagged as "preschool." Any specific "academics" or other differentiation will be mentioned in the posting.

Notre Dame des Victoires (NDV)

2009-02-11T11:22:00.000-08:00

One school that isn't often mentioned is Notre Dame des Victoires (NDV). It's a parochial school downtown, near the French consulate and San Francisco's "French Quarter": Belden Place and Claude Lane. It's attached to the church of Notre Dame des Victoires, the French National Church in San Francisco, and is part of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. As I understand it, it is the only school in the Archdiocese to have a daily class in any foreign language. Starting in kindergarten, the students have daily French instruction.

Web: http://www.ndvsf.org/
Phone: (415) 421-0069
Location: 659 Pine St., San Francisco, CA
Founded: 1924
Grades: K-8
Tuition: 2008-09, when paid in advance

$6,615 (K to 8th)

Fees: On top of tuition, plus an annual pledge to the NDV church
Financial aid: The school has its own tuition assistance.
Language: Daily instruction in French. "Enhancement" is the term used by the SF public schools.

French American International School (FAIS)

2009-02-10T22:29:00.000-08:00

After La Pérouse, the next school mentioned is the French American International School (FAIS). It was started about 5 years before La Pérouse and shares a campus with the Chinese American International School (CAIS) near Civic Center. The school goes from pre-K (2½ years old) through high school, though the high school is a separate entity, the International High School.

Web: http://www.frenchamericansf.org/
Phone: (415) 558-2000
Location: 150 Oak Street, San Francisco, CA
Founded: 1962
Grades: PreK-12
Tuition: 2008-09, when paid in advance

$18,970 (pre-K to 5th)
$20,510 (6th - 8th)
$28,980 (9th - 12th at the International High School)

Fees: On top of tuition
Financial aid: French government scholarships are available to French citizens.
The school also has its own scholarships.
Language: "Balanced Bilingualism." Full immersion in pre-K and kindergarten, but then English is added more and more to the curriculum.
Notes: The SF K Files has a review.

The Lycée Français La Pérouse

2009-02-10T21:41:00.000-08:00

When starting research into French language education in San Francisco, the first place mentioned is invariably the Lycée Français La Pérouse. It was started about 40 years ago and now has 3 campuses: 2 in San Francisco and one in Marin. The school goes from pre-K (2½ years old) through high school. They typically only take kids who don't speak French until kindergarten.

Web: http://www.lelycee.org/
Phone: (415) 661-5232
Locations:

1201 Ortega St, San Francisco, CA (Junior High and High School)
755 Ashbury St, San Francisco, CA (preschool and Elementary)
330 Golden Hind Passage, Corte Madera, CA (preschool and Elementary)

‎‎Founded: 1967
Grades: PreK-12
Tuition: (2008-09 with rebates for early payment and siblings)

$15,720 (pre-K to 5th)
$16,670 (6th - 9th)
$18,570 (10th - 12th)

Fees: On top of tuition
Financial aid: French government scholarships are available to French citizens.
The school also has its own scholarships that are applied for via the School and Student Service for Financial Aid (SSS), a service of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS).
Language: All subjects are taught in French except for English and US History

Educating our kids in French

2009-02-10T21:28:00.000-08:00

So my wife & I recently moved from Europe back to San Francisco. My wife is bilingual in French and English, and I've learned French well, considering I'm an American who started classes at the age of 25. When we first met here in San Francisco, she mentioned that it was important to her that her kids would also speak both French and English. When we were living in Europe, it seemed like it was going to be easy: we'd speak English at home and our kids would learn French in the wider world.

Then we moved back to San Francisco.

Now we have two small kids, with the oldest to start kindergarten in 2010 or 2011, and it's time to figure out what our options are. San Francisco is infamous for its trying public school applications, and the private and parochial school applications are also pretty stressful. I've been doing a lot of research into what French-language options are available for kids in the City, and I'm starting this blog to share what I've found and (I hope) to get some more information from the other Francophile and Francophone people here.