In the case of the FLAM program in middle school, we encounter two very different situations:

1. Children approaching their pre-teen years may have very poor written French
   They have not had the opportunity to learn their maternal language in an academic setting. In this case, the FLAM program can offer your child the chance to catch up using a tailored curriculum taught by an experienced teacher familiar with the difficulties and advantages of bilingualism. The teacher will focus on teaching grammar or spelling rules typically taught in elementary school, all the while remaining cognizant of the tender pride of the teenager who, in shame, may be starting to reject bilingualism. For students this age, classes will run 90 minutes twice a week. The goal is to soften the effects of acculturation.  and to achieve a good command of the French language.
2. Children attending American public schools after years spent in the French school system.
   One alternative to this scenario: French children who have taken been taught individually by parents or private tutors, more or less following the CNED (distance learning) program. These children enter middle school with skills “weaker” than a student from Lille or Bourg-en-Bresse, but they have the advantage of speaking two languages. It is the happy side of bilingualism, even if attending the French school would sometimes have been the preferred choice. At this stage, many parents become discouraged because the children have moved into the dreaded rebellion stage.  The level of the French instruction also requires greater expertise, best taught by an experienced teacher who can impart to the students more complex French grammar, vocabulary and logical analysis, but while introducing them to great masterpieces of French literature, theater and cinema. In this case, the classes are held twice a week, lasting two hours each. This second group of children will be able to join the intensive French classes that exist in certain public high schools. That's right, from grade school French to high school French without any prerequisites! A exam to test your child's skill level is all that is required. If your local school district offers the international baccalaureate exam, as do several high schools in the Bay Area, or if he/she prepares a DELF Jr. B2 diploma with EFBA, one day your child can study in France.