Middle School grade 6, 7 & 8 coming soon
Middle School: grade 6, 7 & 8 coming soon
Our immersion programs currently run from early childhood through Grade 5, and we will offer middle school programs in the future.
Middle School Option
The French American School of Tampa Bay welcomes students seeking a program tailored to individual needs and situations. This option is particularly suited for expatriates and French military families who wish for their child to remain in the French educational system and is also appropriate for any Advanced students of French. An individualized curriculum will be designed to meet the criteria of American and French educational requirements. Utilizing a combination of resources, including The National Centre for Distance Education: Centre national d’enseignement à distance or CNED (a French public institution under the oversight of the French Ministry of Education dedicated to providing distance learning material), and our own educational priorities, a variety of academic subjects will be taught. The school endeavors to utilize local resources to enhance the experience through participation in local sports and extracurricular activities.
After School Enrichment Option
The French American School of Tampa Bay offers extracurricular Advanced French Classes for its students who wish to keep up their French after completing their immersion education at the Lower School. We offer this class primarily to meet our former school students’ needs, to keep challenging them, and to help them reach a higher level of fluency in French. Many of these students were enrolled in our French immersion program for many years or have demonstrated interest in the French language and culture. We also welcome outside students who have had a French experience at some point and who are looking to improve their proficiency in the French language.
The goal of the afterschool program is to provide an opportunity for our graduates and other advanced French students to converse in French on a regular basis and to keep up with written skills in a fun and challenging atmosphere. Regular attendance will be required to participate and benefit from the program. While there will be much to learn, there will be limited out-of-classroom assignments. We understand that students will already be carrying full academic loads in their current middle and high schools.
The classes prepare the students for the DELF exams. The Diplôme d’Etudes en Langue Française (DELF) (English: Diploma in French Studies) is a certification of French-language abilities for non-native speakers of French, administered by the France Éducation International (FEI) for France’s Ministry of Education.
DELF Exams
The DELF Exam (Diplôme d’Etudes en Langue Française), designed by the CIEP (Centre International d’Etudes Pédagogiques), is an official qualification awarded by the French Ministry of Education certifying a level of fluency in French. Such certifications are useful for school records, as well as college and job applications in French-speaking countries. Scores are valid for life.
The entire program includes six different units. Each unit leads to an exam and, if successfully passed, to a French diploma. The last levels of the program can give access to French universities without having to take another proficiency test before enrolling in a class.
The Diplôme d’Etude de Langue Française (DELF) includes four levels, four exams and four diplomas. Levels (A1, A2, B1, B2) go from basic user (A1, A2) to independent user (B1, B2). Each exam can be taken independently from one another. Two versions of the same level are offered: juniors (elementary, middle, and young high schoolers) and all audiences (older teenagers, college students, and adults). Each level (A, B, C) increases in difficulty and goes beyond linguistic proficiency after the B1 level. A cultural component is part of all exams. Analysis skills become increasingly important after the B1 level. A grade of 50/100 is required to pass the exam, in which students need to demonstrate proficiency in speaking, reading comprehension, listening comprehension and writing.
Typically, French majors in college seek the DELF at the university level, but thanks to their immersion education, our students will be positioned to pass this exam prior to attending university. This is an impressive accomplishment that could exempt the students from foreign language requirements, or allow them to be accepted into higher-level classes sooner than is typical. The institution itself will make the determination, but the DELF will provide the students with an official record of their advanced proficiency in French. Passing the B2/ C1 level should waive language proficiency exam if attending a French higher education institution.
