Transcript of our interview with Stephane, Camps d’été francophones de l’AFRY - AFRY French Summer Camps: Parent Interview with Stephane Corre

How did you know AFRY French Summer Camps was the right fit?

Because my daughter is in French immersion, so that way that allows her to continue practicing French during the summer.

What’s unique about AFRY French Summer Camps?

There are not many French camps around. That's the only one I know, also because I work at AFRY.

Was there any personal growth you saw in your child?

She really enjoyed the fact that it was French, so she could actually dialogue in French with a counselor. Not necessarily with the kids because sometimes the kids talk in French and in English amongst themselves. But she really enjoyed it, so she wanted to keep going there too. So she wanted to go this year as well.

She likes the subject. I know that she was at the Renaissance camp, and she really liked it.

How can a parent support their child to get the most out of this experience?

We just drop them off at the right time and make sure that everything's going to be okay when they go on the outing. Other than that, we do speak in French a bit at home too, so it's about talking about what they've done during the day probably as well to encourage them and be supportive.

What would you tell other parents about the overall value of AFRY French Summer Camps?

The overall value of AFRY French Summer Camps is pretty good because you can actually speak French. That's a French camp. There are not many French camps around in this region.

Second of all, there's free before care and after care. So that's a big plus in terms of having the flexibility to drop off the kids when they need it for work purposes, and the pickup as well. So I was not necessarily picking up Amanda at the same time all the time, depending on the day. And sometimes she actually wanted, "Oh, Daddy, I want to stay longer that specific day." So okay, you can stay longer, that's okay. She asked actually to stay longer, that's the proof that she likes it and that's working.

What does your child say about their experience with AFRY?

She likes the different topics that they had that she went through. She didn't do the whole summer, but all the topics that she went through, like Harry Potter and LEGO, she liked. And she likes quite a lot the outings. There's an outing every week. So that's something she likes. And she likes the interaction with the counselors. The counselors are really, really nice at that camp, at Renaissance.

The thing is, she has ASD, autism. So there was one of the counselors that had a bit of experience in that because I think she has a brother or sister. So she essentially at some point told Amanda, "Well, if you need anything, you can come and see me." So the camp would adapt to when she needed a break, when there was too much noise and whatnot. And that was a really good thing.

They are really accommodating. And if, for some reason, she didn't want to go to the splash pad because that was too cold, she could have the option to stay on the playground or stay with one counselor or do something else. It's based on the kid essentially. So they were able to cater to that.

It's not necessarily mentioned on the AFRY camps that they can offer that. But she didn't necessarily need a specific counselor like she did in the other camps that she went to the previous years. Even though that was not there, they were adapting to her in a way and being able to support her in the right way for what she needed at the time. If she needed a break, she needed to do some coloring instead of doing an activity, she was able to do it.

Any final thoughts on AFRY French Summer Camps?

I already said that during a different interview, but it would be nice if AFRY would actually engage the kids from French immersion as well, because there was French immersion there, but engage the schools with French immersion. Right now it's not necessarily the case, but I know a friend of my daughter who was also in the French immersion school at St. Elizabeth's, Newmarket. She also went to the camp too, and she liked it too.

More of that would be even better. Market more towards French immersion to let them know, "Okay, AFRY exists." That specific friend knows because I told her that, essentially.