Online networking tool launched, in Beta version

While this blog contains my ramblings on about living in the Aix Marseille region with children, our newly launched online networking tool, in French and in Beta ( i.e ‘test) mode at this point, is designed to help you all get in touch and exchange the joys, fears and experiences of internationally minded parents! This site is visible here, but one needs to be a member ( and logged in) to access anything significant. This is by invitation only.
If necessary, use the Comments feature here to ask for your sign up link!

International Children’s Education in Aix Marseille

Here’s a quick listing of schools with an international or at minimum, a bilingual French -English curriculum:

PRIVATE SCHOOLS:

-> IRIS: English-French Pre-K in Aix en Provence. Same site as for Europipole.

-> Europipole:Nursery to Primary levels. See our post, and the very interesting comments, here. Tuition is the most reasonable, at 3 000 euros a year. Centre de Loisirs Municipal Parc Club de l’arbois 13480 CABRIES . About 30 km south of Aix, 15 km north of Marseille. PreK and Primary. Tél. / Fax : 04 42 315 315.

-> CIPEC: Luynes, 10 km south of Aix.pre-K and primary.
Domaine de Fontvieille - Luynes 13080 AIX EN PROVENCE - FRANCE Tél: +33 (0)4 42 60 84 25 - Fax: + 33 (0)4 42 60 84 26 Email: info @ c-i-p-e-c.com

-> IBS, International Bilingual School of Provence: Domaine des Pins- 500 Petite Route de Bouc-Bel-Air, Luynes. 10km south of Aix. Secondary level. Tél : (33)(0)4 42 24 03 40 Fax : (33)(0)4 42 24 09 81

-> EPIM: PreK (Nursery) and Primary school with campuses in Luynes and Marseille. Very free handed approach to education, totally bilingual French and English, with fees in the 7 000 to 10 000 Euro range! They also offer Wednesday afternoon English language activities for outside students.

-> Val St André, in Aix en Provence: Offers the traditional French curriculum for High School, with special arrangements for bilingual students, as well as a full International section for the High School level. Tuition is about 5 000 euros a year in 2009.

FRENCH PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS

- Collège Mignet, in Aix en provence: French , public system Junior High School with an English international section. This means students in that section get a litle more classes in English than those in the purely French section, but its not a real bilingual education. Very competitive for this section. The rest of the school has a poor reputation in terms of student body. It drains students from the low income Jas de Bouffan population.

- Lycée George Duby, in Luynes, just south of Aix en Provence: French , public system senior High School with international sections in various languages ( English, German, among the ones I know of). Again, this means students in that section get a litle more classes in English than those in the purely French section, but its not a real bilingual education. No particular comments on student population here. It drains students from Luynes and further south ( Cabriès, Bouc Bel Air, Simiane, etc…). The link is to the active parents association.

- Ecole Internationale de Manosque, 60 km north of Aix: Created in 2008 in reaction to the big ITER industrial project, this school covers all levels of education, from preK to High School. Difficult to comment here on its educational value and student body.

Great Horse Riding and Swimming camp near Aix

To follow up on my post on places for children and adolescents to take riding lessons, one of the places mentioned is offered what I find a great summer camp offering for 2009.

The Domaine de La Garde, near Eguilles, is under renovation during the summer. The team there will however be holding all day, week long summer camps at the Haras de la Buissone, in Meyreuil, South East of Aix en provence, starting the week of July 6th.

Hours will be 9 am to 6 PM, with riding in the morning, access to a nice swimming pool all afternoon, and some riding or care of horses after 4 PM. Lunch can be provided or kids can bring their own.
A child can come for one day, 3 or 5 days. The 3 day fee is 135 euros, the 5 day fee is 210 euros.

Severine is the young woman who manages the riding school. She can be reached at: 06 18 78 32 02.

Horse riding for Children and teens in Aix en provence

Here’s my limited experience with horseback riding establishments near Aix en provence, notably North of Aix:

• Les Pinchinats:
  in les Platanes, 10 minutes from Aix. 1811 Route Pinchinats 13100 Aix En Provence
  Téléphone : 04 42 23 26 97

• For a laid back, slightly unkept riding experience, but a lot of cautions is taken with the children, at least the beginners. For the more advanced, caution is still the rule but the teacher-owner has a taste for shouting and bad words… As we say : ‘ Au Pinchinats ça sent le caca - mais on aime ça!’. I’ll let you translate…
  – > So a good place to start I’d say.

• Domaine de la Garde - Eguilles
  I haven’t found a specific address for them. They’re not far from the Set Club, but on Route de Berre, on the left after the big Bovero store. Turn let onto a tree lined dirt road. Its at the end.
• The Domaine de la Garde has just changed management in 2009, for the best. Its also planned to be completely renovated during the summer of 2009. The young woman who manages it now is great, cautious, attentionate. They’re not equipped yet with any leaflets and to reach them the best thing is to call Severine’s cell phone, which I can provide if you comment on this post.
  – > My favorite so far. Its a club good for all levels, with a true interest in teaching, unlike the one below, where horses are given more consideration than students…

• Les Ecuries de venelles: In a very different style, set more north of Les Pinchinats, between Venelles and St Cannat, are les Ecuries de Venelles. Once you’ve managed the terrible, pothole-filled dirt road that constitutes the last 1.5 kilometers to reach it, the setting is gorgeous. Its a wide open space with horses quietly eating or running in the grass fields. The stables are spotless. But the feel is not as warm as Les Pinchinats. Its more competitive in a way and more pricy than les Pinchinats.
  – > I’ve heard a few stories of children falling unnecessarily, because of the carelessness and irresponsable attitude of some of the teachers there. My own child fell quite hard when a teacher had her galop outside, on a horse ( she’s been on poneys before), and asked her to jump over a branch and then magically stop her horse, I stopped going there.

UK National Cyclist Organization offers Tour maps of Provence

I discovered the CTC, the UK National Cyclist Organization’s web site recently and am impressed!
The site is chock full of information and includes cycling routes (complete with Google maps) for the UK, but also for quite a few countries and regions, including France and Provence.

One must be a member to access the detailed cycling tour information, logically. The normal membership is 36 pounds a year. The ‘ unwaged ‘, or, as we say in the US, the unemployed fee is 22 pounds a year.
I also like to ability for cyclists to post comments for any given tour.

— > CTC web site

– > CTC designated cycling tours by country

English Day at IBS - Saturday April 4th 2009

The IBS school in Luynes ( Aix en provence), along with other partners, is organizing its English day this year again on April 4th. Its a chance for children interested in the English language to bathe in it for a day, and get to meet many of those involved in the English culture in the area.

affiche-englishday09

Great travel service for traveling families - Answer their survey

A friend of mine, a French journalist here in France , maried to a Spaniard, with two teenage children, is working on developping a unique web based travel guide service for us, traveling families!

Finally, she’s proposing to offer, for major cities worldwide:

• Travel info suited to families
  IE, not your typical: best restaurants and great museums, but rather, restaurants, outings and activites children or teenagers wil enjoy.
• Text guides we can print out or have on our mobile devices with child-specific content, to give children and teenagers information and games they’ll be interested in, at last…

She’s asking all international families to answer this survey to help her assess your needs better. It’s here- and its in French. Thanks for taking 5 minutes to respond!

Buying ski outfits for kids in Aix-Marseille

So it’s ski season, and you’re realizing little Arthur’s ski outfit is too small since last time he wore it, a year ago! Where does one go to find good, good looking ski outfits in the area?

Inescapable Decathlon

One option is the omnipresent Decathlon stores of course.

That’s if you appreciate the design of their kids’ outfits. To me they’ve really lost in stylishness this year. Most have an oblique stripe across the chest and dull colors for boys which I do not really take to.

One great event Decathlon has twice a year is the Trocathlon, ie a second hand sale, right at the store itself. It’s an opportunity to bring in your lightly used sports equipment and clothes to the store and buy used sporting goods as well. You get a Decathlon voucher when your items sell rather than cash.
We bought a complete horse riding outfit for a ridiculous sum there one year. They have it in March and in October. The next one of March 14 to the 21st. Note you can deposit your items during the week prior to the event. See below for a link to Trocathlon details.

Second Hand kids’ clothing Stores ( Depots-ventes in French)

Another option is the ‘ depots-ventes‘ (second hand clothes stores).

There you can find barely used Decathlon outfits from past seasons, when they still had a stylist on staff, or even better, real deals with high end brands like Poivre Blanc.

In Aix, there’s a ‘Depot-Vente’ speacialized in kids’ clothes up to age 10 which is not listed in the Yellow Pages to date. Its rue Granet, behind city hall, and its called Frimousse.

You’ll otherwise find quite a few of them in Marseille and some in Aubagne.

Online second hand destinations: eBay and le Bon Coin

Then you have EBay, or Le Bon Coin, a thriving French native want ads site.

Good luck with your search, and merry skiing, in the nearby Alps or the southern Pyrénées.

– > Trocathlon information
–> Le Bon Coin free want ads site

Test a new English Practice program for kids 7-12

Here’ s a link to try out a new online language practice program for kids, between 7 and 12 I’d say, who are learning English in school in France or in a French speaking country:

Rich Morning Show kids’ English language program

It’s an animated program, based on a talk show format, the ‘ Rich Morning Show ‘. The children are contestants who answer questions based on short animated video sequences they watch.

There’ s two free sessions for all, and five 21 session programs to win for the first five who sign up.

CityVox is your friend in France to find where to get out about town

Here’s a great site, available in 260 cities in France, when you’re looking for a great place to go eat, see a play, hear music, for you and your children.  It’s called CityVox and their headquarters are in Marseille, believe it or not! They’re also present in 300 other cities throughout Europe.

It’s a smart blend of Web 1.0 and 2.0 approaches.  It provides a list of  all restaurants, hotels, theatres, clubs and other venues in your town, with useful information on the style and the location.  There’s a special Children section with shows and some activities. It also allows members to post comments on all events and restaurants, so you get that web 2.0 flavour that makes it that much more useful.

It’s also available in other languages, although with quite erratic ‘localizations’, ie, be prepared for a steady mix of English and French in the English version. Also, since there are few comments in other languages, the site first pulls up those venues with comments in the language you’re surfing in but then shows comments in French.

So surfing in French is the way to get the best access to user insight because it pulls up first the venues with the most positive comments in French, therefore drawing from the largest sample, but then again, contributing to the other language sites will only make them more useful… Tough choice for the international parent in you!

– > Cityvox in English
–> Cityvox en Espanol
–> CityVox en Italiano
– > Cityvox en Deutsch