2025 Immersion Trip to Bordeaux

AF Charlottesville Executive Director and FAFUSA Board Member Murielle de Wekker was delighted to lead a group of 25 AF members for a 10-day language immersion program in Bordeaux, France. The participants from 8 different AF chapters in the U.S. took group lessons at the AF Bordeaux-Nouvelle Aquitaine every morning from 9am-1pm. During their lessons, they learned French and exchanged with other students from all over the world. They experienced the AF teaching method with highly experienced and qualified teachers in high-tech AFB classrooms. In the afternoons, they practiced what they learned in their classroom with fun activities such as a baking class, a wine tasting session, guided tours of the medieval village of Saint Emilion and of Bordeaux and a day-long outing to Arcachon, la Dune du Pilat and a fisherman's village where they tasted oysters with a nice glass of white wine.

All of this in French, bien sûr!

The participants improved their language skills very quickly and for those who were shy with speaking, it allowed them to practice and grow their oral competency by leaps and bounds. A real disinhibitor for sure!

17 students opted to stay with French host families. They loved their experience and shared how much of a deeper understanding of French culture they acquired by talking to their hosts over dinner. Murielle loved every minute of this trip as all the participants were fun, interesting, kind and so eager to learn and experience the French way of life. The general strike of September 18 did not put a damper on their spirit (as it forced us to cancel our visit to Château Pape Clément)...au contraire, they viewed it as a cross-cultural experience: they watched French people march and even asked them questions.Talk about an immersion experience!