What criteria does LEC use to select the host schools and families that will house the students?

How are schools, campuses, and dormitories selected?

Choosing to stay at a boarding school, campus, or residence allows young people to experience campus life, make lots of friends, and feel reassured by the presence of French and local staff around the clock.

LEC pays special attention to the selection of middle schools, dormitories, and campuses that host the students:

• For each school, we systematically assess the various facilities (classrooms, dormitories, restrooms, cafeteria, sports facilities, kitchens, etc.) to ensure they meet our standards—both in terms of safety and comfort—and to verify that everything complies with the regulations set forth by the AFNOR standard,which we strictly adhere to.
• At the end of each program, we carefully review the feedback provided by the students about their experience, as well as the reports from LEC’s on -site staff who were present during the programs. This allows us to ensure that we maintain the high standards we demand. Many of these schools are long-standing partners, and although the collaboration is ongoing, our teams regularly verify that the services provided continue to meet LEC’s standards.

How are families selected?

LEC works with local coordinators who live in the various host cities. Most of them have been working with us for many years and, as a result, have extensive experience in selecting hostfamilies.

• Living locally, they know the host families and visit them regularly. All local coordinators are interviewed, screened, and selected by our teams. In addition, through a series of meetings, they are trained in our hosting requirements as well as those of the AFNOR standard, which they commit to following. They thus select , with the utmost care, families eager to host one of our young people and visit them personally to ensure their hospitality, their motivation tohost a young person, and the comfort of their home.
• During these visits, families receive a comprehensive guide explaining LEC’s methods and requirements for its language immersion programs. Our host families also commit to encouraging the student to speak the local language and to sharing their daily lives with them. A large number of our families have been with us for many years and regularly host students on our behalf.
• At the end of each stay, the young people evaluate their host family, which allows us to closely monitor the quality of each family’s hospitality.