Eurolingua French Homestay - Montreal, Quebec

  Canada

• Quebec: 
Montreal

Dates: Year round

Description: One-to-One Homestay, living in the tutor's home, including private room, individual and customized tuition, full-board (all meals), participation in family life and activities, cultural visits and excursions. Pick-up/drop-off at the nearest airport/railway station. A fantastic linguistic and cultural experience!!

Eurolingua One-to-One Homestay Programmes are available all year and are suitable for students of any age (16 - 75 years) and language level (beginner to advanced). Ideal for personal interest, business, travel or examination revision purposes. All Eurolingua tutors are fully-qualified teachers and native speakers, experienced in teaching their mother tongue as a foreign language.

The unique Eurolingua One-to-One Homestay Programme will ensure that you make maximum progress in the shortest possible time, whatever your starting level, beginner to advanced. You live full-board in the home of your fully-qualified foreign language tutor, receiving 4 hours per day (20 hours per week) of individual language tuition, specifically adapted to your own level, learning pace and interests, whether for business or pleasure!! The rest of the time you benefit from lots of conversational practice by participating in the usual everyday family activities of your personal tutor and family and by meeting people in the local community. You may, of course, have as much independent time as you wish. You acquire an authentic accent, total confidence and real fluency in the language.

Highlights: I live within 30 minutes of Dorval Airport, Montreal's central passenger airport. My home is an old wooden cottage near the Ottawa and Saint Lawrence Rivers, now being renovated and modernized. This is a friendly, quiet, green neighbourhood. In summer you wake up to the sounds of birds outside your window. The bedrooms are finished being renovated, freshly painted, light and airy, fully furnished with antique beds and chests of drawers and polished wooden floors with movable rugs. The house is planned to reduce allergies. We have electric heat in winter with the most modern computer-programmed thermostats so you stay warm and cozy in your room. The rooms are well-ventilated in summer with lots of windows and ventilator fans; since nights are usually cool; we don't need air-conditioning most of the time so I don't have it. All electricity and plumbing have been replaced with modern safe systems in 2002. We have one shared bathroom with whirlpool bath and shower. There is a brand-new automatic washer and dryer in the house. We have a large country-style kitchen with microwave, etc. The decor is waiting to be finished in the kitchen and bath, but everything works well.

Downstairs there is a living room, an office/library, one bedroom, a large kitchen, the verandah, a small laundry room, and a small storage-room/workshop. Upstairs there are two large bedrooms and one small one, and the bathroom which we all share.

There's a verandah and yard with patio furniture to enjoy in summer. If you have a car, there is plenty of free parking in the yard. I have a large private library in the house (mostly in English, some French); you can walk five minutes to the public library (mostly in French). Enjoy country-style living with good access to the big city; walk or bike to shopping centres (1.5 km) and to the commuter train into the city (1.5 km); many bicycle paths, bike to the city bus (3-4 km) and to an English college; 30 minute drive or 50 minutes by bus or train to the centre of Montreal.

Close by, there is bicycling, boating and canoeing in the river, and a historical site at the old mill, as well as shopping in the malls. A short drive away there are swimming beaches, parks, and a small ski hill. Only thirty minutes away is the major metropolis of Montreal with every kind of store, theatre, film, shopping, museum, music, and other activity you may want. We also can easily travel to the scenic areas of the Laurentians, Appalachians, Eastern Townships, the capital in Quebec city and the capital of Canada at Ottawa.

This is an allergy-reduction house: absolutely no smoking at any time, and no perfumes, perfumed items, or volatiles. If you have asthma or respiratory problems you should find this a comfortable place to stay. Also I have food allergies (celiac) and I cook with no wheat or milk products; if you also have allergies I will easily be able to accommodate you, and if you don't the food is good anyway! You can have your own bread and milk and other foods available. I do plain Canadian-style country cooking which most people find good to eat -- lots of meat plus simple fresh foods, and country-style baking (adapted to rice flour).

The lifestyle here is relaxed and casual. I rent a few rooms to students and other young people. Each of us sets our own schedule and we all come and go as we wish. Breakfast and lunch are self-serve with open kitchen with a microwave oven, and you can ask for your preferred foods to be kept on hand. Supper is scheduled when we find it mutually convenient.

You may have heard of the climate in Montreal . . . Well, it is probably even more than you have heard. We have the most extreme climate of any major metropolitan area in the world: when it is cold it is very cold, which you have probably heard, and when it is hot it is very hot, which you may not have known. And when it storms it really storms; we just go on with our lives through major thunderstorms and blizzards. The weather may be difficult but it is never boring! In winter houses and other buildings are very well heated to over 20 degrees Celcius. (This house is getting more insulation as part of the renovations). In summer I am a traditionalist and just keep all the windows open, but there is air conditioning in many large buildings. Winter temperatures are around minus ten to minus twenty Celcius with occasional colder snaps, and you need a good ski or snowboarder's parka, hat, gloves, and boots. Summer temperatures are around twenty to thirty degrees Celcius in the afternoon and often terribly humid, five to ten degrees colder most nights, except for both hot spells and cold snaps, so you need both sleeveless shirts and shorts for day and a sweatshirt and jeans for the evenings. Spring and fall vary wildly between the two extremes and you have to be prepared for anything. Smile!

Minimum Education: High School

Cost in US$: 1600

Credit Available: yes

Experience Required: no

This Program is open to Worldwide Participants.

Participants Travel to Canada Independently

Typically Participants Work Independently

Application Process Involves:

• Written Application

Post-Program Services Include:

• Exit Debriefing Abroad
• Job and Internship Network

Eurolingua Institute's Mission Statement: The Eurolingua Institute provides group and individual customized tuition in modern languages, paid work experience programmes, internships, and unique immersion programmes living in the teacher's own home. The Eurolingua Institute currently teaches 11 languages at over 70 schools in 40 countries and at over 150 homestay locations worldwide.

Year Founded: 1993