Study French in downtown Quebec City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of a historical and beautiful city in Canada.
Develop your French skills through full language and cultural immersion at Greenheart Travel’s summer language camp in Quebec City, Canada! You will live with a host family and study 15 hours of French per week in downtown Quebec City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of a historical and beautiful city in southeastern Canada. You’ll have an exciting schedule of daily cultural and historical activities and excursions. We welcome teen students of all skills, including beginners, and you will not only be immersed in a new culture, but you’ll make international friends from around the world.
Picture Yourself Learning French in Quebec City!
6/30 | 7/07 | 7/14 | 7/21 | 7/28 | ||||
1 WEEK | ||||||||
2 WEEKS | ||||||||
3 WEEKS | ||||||||
4 WEEKS | ||||||||
5 WEEKS | ||||||||
Students can choose between a 1-5 week length program. Start dates are the days when your classes start. Please plan to arrive in Quebec the Sunday before to meet your host family.
*We will not be accepting applications less than a month before a program start date.
Please notes: All prices are in USD.
*There is a supplemental fee of $80 a week for students with gluten free or vegan diets. Please check with us if you have any questions.
Worried about the program fee?
Our goal is to help make travel accessible to everyone and we are here to help when you are deciding if this experience is financially do-able. Each year we offer scholarships for high school study abroad students! We also have a guide to fundraising your program fee, and many high school students fundraise in their hometowns ahead of their program.
We also offer discounts for applying early (plus there are many other benefits to applying early!) for each start date and for US families that have hosted an exchange student with Greenheart Exchange.
Please inquire here if you have questions about the program fee, scholarships, or fundraising for your program.
Eligibility Requirements for Quebec Language Camp
*What does it mean to be in good mental health?
Moving to a new culture and staying in unfamiliar surroundings without your normal support structure can be very stressful, even to a well-adjusted student. Sending a student with pre-existing conditions on a long-term exchange program could exacerbate whatever challenges the student was previously facing. In order to ensure the safety of our participants, we must be rigorous in our pre-screening of all high school abroad applicants.
Therefore, we may not be able to accept students who have struggled with any kind of mental illness, specifically within the last 2 years and/or are reliant on medication to address their existing mental health condition. Each student will be addressed on a case by case basis and ultimately it is Greenheart Travel’s in-country partner who holds the right to accept or decline a student based on their individual policy.
These include, but are not limited to:
All students who currently experience one or more of these conditions will be required to submit an addendum to the terms and conditions as well as a letter of support from their current mental health specialist. If the student’s mental health issue has been managed (post-medication) for over 2 years, we will still require a note from his/her relevant practitioner (psychologist, therapist, psychiatrist, etc) as part of the application process. We encourage you to discuss your specific situation with us directly, before securing these documents.
There are 7 skill levels at the language school ranging from “complete beginner” to “advanced.” To find the class that best matches your skill level, you will take a placement test on your first day. You will be placed appropriately based on your test results and should expect to be studying with students who are at the same point in their language practice.
French Courses
School Location and Classrooms:
Quebec City, a city of half a million people, is a very safe and beautiful city, making it an excellent place for teens. The school is located very close to central park and museum campus in the city which is a convenient walk for students arriving via public transportation from their host families. The school has air-conditioned classrooms with WIFI internet access in the lounge and common areas.
Educational visits and excursions form an important part of the program. An exciting day-by-day program will be given to the participants upon arrival. There will be weekly visits to museums and parks, as well as sports activities like archery, bowling or rock climbing!
Here are some of the activities typically planned:
And so much more!
During the excursions, students are expected to speak and practice their French as well as do some educational activities like take quizzes, take notes of what they see or interview local people. Leisure activities are all run and supervised by experienced activity leaders.
Please note: Participants are not allowed to go out at night outside the homestay unless accompanied by a chaperone.
All students fly on their own to Canada. A representative from the language school will pick them up and take them to their host family.
All classes start on Monday, but students should:
Arriving or departing outside these designated windows will incur additional fees.
All students live with carefully selected local host families near the school – 10-30 minutes via public transportation or walking distance. Prospective host families undergo a rigorous screening process. Participants can rest assured that only suitable host families will be selected.
A quick look at why living with a host family is a great way to practice your French:
In order to qualify as a host family, the prospective hosts must:
Usually one or two students will share a room with one host family depending on the size of the family’s home. They will only share rooms with students of the same sex and will be closely supervised by their hosts.
Even though this program is heavily structured by the school, living with a local family means that you have the unique experience of eating home-cooked meals, watching Canadian TV shows together and doing other activities as a part of their family. Living with a host family is one of the most effective ways to become fully immersed in a country’s language and culture.
Students are supervised and chaperoned at all times unless commuting between school and their host family.
Greenheart Travel does not recommend this service because the “additional” services advertised by the airlines are already provided to all travelers and are not worth the money invested by you the traveler. At any time, a student can ask an airlines professional for help finding their gate or for connecting flight information, and paying for this add-on UM service is not necessary. We have sent hundreds of semester abroad students internationally, for whom we book their flights, and we never use unaccompanied minor services. If you would like the peace of mind a UM service provides, Greenheart Travel offers more self-empowering alternatives (such as reviewing airport maps, mapping connections, etc.) that we believe teach teenagers relevant life skills about traveling independently. Please refer to our webinar about navigating international airports.
Students come from the U.S., Canada, and around the world and are between 12-18 years old. Since there are students participating from around the world, your child will have a cross-cultural setting both in the classroom and out. While the number of students does vary by start date and there are nearly 500 students over the course of the summer, we like to keep small classes with no more than 12-15 students.
Language practice and immersion are the main priority of this program. While we do not require the students to sign a contract stating they will only speak in the local language, it is highly encouraged that they use their language skills when talking to friends, partaking in the daily excursions and at night in the host family home. Program staff and chaperones primarily communicate and answer questions in the local language to encourage this immersion culture.
In a traditional classroom, students may learn language skills; however, they are not forced to practice these skills in real-world situations. Through language immersion, your child will both learn the practical language skills in a classroom while also being forced to use them with local, native speakers during the excursions and/or host family experience. Studies show that 4 weeks of a full language immersion experience can be equivalent to a yearlong college language course because of the intensity of use.
Greenheart Travel cannot award high school credit. Please talk to your school about earning credit for your child’s time abroad. Refer to this blog post for tips on transferring credit.
We can cater to vegetarian needs quite easily. Any other specific diets should be discussed with us to see if we can arrange to have your needs met. Additional fees may apply to cover the cost of additional food items.
Greenheart Travel strongly recommends that all program participants be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before arriving to their destination country. If you will not be vaccinated against COVID-19 by the start of your program, please contact a Program Manager to confirm that your destination country will accept non-vaccinated participants.
They will be covered by mandatory health insurance. You will receive a policy brochure and insurance card via email 1-2 weeks prior to their departure, as well as supplementary materials in your child’s comprehensive program handbook.
Absolutely! We are happy to accept friends and groups. If both your child and their friend go together, each of them will receive a discount! However, keep in mind your primary purpose of attending this program is to immerse themselves in the language and culture – so make sure your child and their friend commit to speaking French!
Absolutely! If you are an educator who would like to organize a group trip, please inquire here to speak about dates, pricing, and special requests.
A great next step is doing our High School Abroad France program! You’ll go to a local French high school for a trimester, semester, or academic year.
Flights not included in the program fee. Students are responsible for booking their round-trip airfare to Canada. We will collect your itinerary to organize your arrival and airport pickup.
Yes! Check out our blog or you can join our exclusive teen programs Facebook group to talk to current and past students.
We also have a list of mentors (teens and parents) that are past participants open to chatting about their experience with potential new participants. Please inquire here if you want to be put in touch with a mentor.
Committing to a language camp program can feel a bit daunting, but we are here every step of the way to make the application process as simple as possible. Below are the steps you’ll need to take to be accepted on a Greenheart Travel program.
1. Ensure Your Eligibility: The eligibility requirements, such as age or language proficiency, may be required for certain destinations.
2. Start Your Application Here. You will be sent more information as well as the link to our application portal to begin your formal application. You’ll be able to save your progress along the way.
3. Sign the Terms & Conditions: After you complete the first part of your application, you (and your parent(s) if you’re under 18) will be asked to read through and sign our Terms and Conditions which outline the requirements and policies of the program.
4. Submit your application fee: You will need to submit your $300 application fee at this point in the process. This is required in order to reserve your spot on the program and is subtracted from your total program fee.
5. In-Depth Questionnaire: This is the most in-depth part of the application process as it helps us get to know you better. You will need to provide detailed information about yourself, why you want to go abroad, and what you hope to gain from your experience. You will also need to upload your passport.
6. Acceptance: Greenheart Travel will thoroughly review your application and will contact you within 1-2 weeks to confirm your acceptance. If we find something in your application that we have concerns about, we will let you know immediately. 95% of applicants are accepted on the program they apply for.
You’re Accepted – now what?
Your program manager will be in touch with you directly about your acceptance. At this point you will be required to submit a second $300 commitment payment that also goes towards the total amount (it’s not extra). This is your commitment to your start date and once we receive it is when details will start to be booked on your behalf.
You’ll then be able to download the program handbook from the portal, which talks more about your program, as well as supplemental information about dealing with culture shock and our insurance program. We will also schedule an online pre-departure orientation to answer any lingering questions you may have. You can expect to receive your host family placement 1-2 weeks prior to your start date.
Greenheart Travel has been sending teens to Canada for many years, and there are advantages of applying for this program through us:
We also have some unique offerings to our Greenheart Travel students and alumni!
Greenheart Global Impact Grants (GIGs)
Greenheart GIG Grants are funds awarded to Greenheart Travel participants to use for community development projects in their host or home country after they return home. A GIG is the opportunity to create, improve, or maintain an impactful, community-focused project abroad or at home. Grant funds could be applied to supporting women’s cooperatives, schools, community centers, or health clinics, for example. Grant winners will be featured on our website, social media, and blog. You can see our past winners on our blog here.
Greenheart Alumni Program
We created the Greenheart Travel Alumni Program to provide resources and a community to support alumni in their advancement as global leaders, and a way to celebrate and reward our participants for being ambitious, inspiring catalysts of cultural exchange!
Junior Greenheart Global Leaders Conference
Each May Greenheart offers full-ride scholarships to around 10 teen alumni to attend our annual conference in Chicago. You can see more about what Jr. GGLC is and what you could do at the conference here.
Take a glimpse into life in Canada through some student’s photos. Make sure to also check out #greenhearttravel on Instagram for more
Have questions and want to chat with a program advisor? Set up a time here: