Welcome to the French Prep School of Austin!

Thanks to a rich experience of its educational governing body more than a decade in Austin, the French school of Austin welcomes all children from age 3  to 13 years old in a warm and small atmosphere, from the Petite Section (PS), ‘the small section of the kindergarten’ to the Middle School level.

Like all French schools abroad, French School of Austin caters for the French children residing in Austin, but also American children and children of other nationalities wishing to follow the ‘true’ French curriculum of the French Ministry of National Education.

This is how each and every student benefits from the French education, as well as from an international environment and opening towards others. We insure to the French children living in abroad all education-related public service tasks, following the rhythms, rules and programs of the French Ministry of National Education.

The school offers a ‘true’ French curriculum supplemented by the essential elements advanced in American private-school education. This dual approach produces academically adept, bilingual students, proficient in both English and French, who can easily matriculate into either the French or the American educational systems.

Besides the French speaking children, who represents this year more than a third of all our students, we warmly welcome American children and children from other countries as well, this is all due to the fact that their parents recognize the quality of our teaching methods and the atmosphere at school. We are very proud of this cultural and linguistic social mix (7 different nationalities) that contributes to the richness of our establishment.

We are pleased to be able to take advantage of new premises with relocation since 2012. The school now occupies a larger space and new classrooms with modern equipment.

We are happy that our numbers increase every year and our projects multiply! But let the website present you the pedagogical dynamism of our school.

I hope you enjoy browsing our new website!

Congratulations for considering a bilingual program for your child. We are hoping that the following information will help you decide whether or not a bilingual French program in general and Ecole Jean-Jacques Rousseau in particular is the right fit for your child and your family.

Why should you choose immersion education for your child?

Parents want to make the best educational choices for their children, and many would like them to have the advantages of bilingualism. The ability to understand and speak more than one language is not the only benefit of immersion education. Research shows that students gain additional cognitive, academic and employment benefits.

How does immersion differ from other types of language instruction?

In traditional second language instruction, the target language is the subject of instruction. Immersion programs use the target language for instruction and as a means of communication. This authentic communication allows students to learn a second language in a similar manner to the way that they have learned their first.

How do international programs differ from French schools?

Both French International schools and French schools offer French as a language of instruction. The main difference lies into French schools offering more instructional hours into the French curriculum, therefore closer to the official number of French instructional hours required by the French Ministry of Education. This allows the students of French schools to receive a more complete French education while successfully combined with an American private-school education.

Reduced classroom size:

Reducing class size, particularly in the early grades, is one of the few educational strategies shown to increase learning and academic achievement. The Institute of Education Sciences, the research arm of the US Department of Education, concludes that class size reduction has proven to increase student achievement through rigorous, randomized experiments — the “gold standard” of research. Also, studies from Tennessee, Wisconsin, and elsewhere demonstrate that students who are assigned to smaller classes in grades K-3rd do better in every way that can be measured: they score higher on tests, receive better grades, and exhibit improved attendance. The maximum capacity of an EJJR classroom is 12.

One size does not fit it all:

In most of our public and private educational system available nowadays, students must fit the provisions of the school curriculum and not vice versa. At French School of Austin, we are proud to offer a flexibility that allows the school curriculum to fit the child’s learning style, type of intelligence and academic needs. This can only be accomplished in the reduced classroom size of our school.

A Music & Art Program:

As it has been well said by many artists and educational professionals, art may not solve problems; it does, however, make us be aware of their existence. On the other hand, it is common knowledge that arts education does solve problems. Years of research show that it’s closely linked to almost everything that we would like your children: academic achievement, social and emotional development, civic engagement, and equitable opportunity. Involvement in the arts is associated with gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill. Arts learning can also improve motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork.

The school offers a string music program with mandatory violin instruction with optional guitar and cello classes. Piano classes may be offered if the students and their families choose an additional optional instrument. In the performing arts program, our students have mandatory choir and performing arts sessions as well as optional private voice lessons, all working toward two school performances every year.

A Language Program:

French School of Austin is the only French school in Austin that not only offers a ‘true’ French education but also the instruction of one of the languages the U.S. State department has named as a “critical language”; Arabic.

French School of Austin is taking advantage of the very small ‘language window’ opportunity of our young students to allow to learn Arabic at an early age and starting First Grade level. This early study and teaching of Arabic, known as one of the critical languages of the world, will allow the students to, not only, learn a new way of moving their pen, a new way of reading and how to produce foreign sounds, but also learn to wrap, early on, their mind around a different way of thinking, a different worldview.

Neurophysiologists believe Chinese or Arabic could be described as world’s most difficult languages. While Specialists of linguistics say that complications in learning a foreign language depend on the language carried by the person who studies a foreign language, the study and learning of Arabic for native English speakers is listed as the most difficult task in the language difficulty ranking list of the Foreign Service Institute (FSI).

We strongly believe that the best gift parents can offer to their children is the gift of languages. The study of foreign languages is simply the gift that keeps on giving. It provides a person with multiple perspectives from which to view the world. This path of language learning will not only open your children’s mind and hearts to new cultures and worldview, while on their strong path of becoming global citizens, it also provides them with an undeniable edge in their academic pursuits and their future careers in fields such as diplomacy, intelligence, business, engineering, international development and academia.

• What speaking two languages does to the brain
• Being Bilingual May Boost Your Brain Power
• The Source of Enhanced Cognitive Control in Bilinguals
• Language and Cognition in Bilingual Children
• What Research Says About Immersion
• Brain-based Research on the Benefits of Bilingualism and Second Language Instruction