Students who live with French families not only greatly improve their French language skills, but also experience the unique Students eating lunch in the IES Center kitchen. In order to facilitate immersion, only one IES student is housed with a family. Two students may, on occasion, live with the same family, but only upon special request. The host family provides daily breakfast and five additional meals per week. The IES Center also has a kitchen which students can use to prepare light meals.
Some families allow students to cook in their kitchens with limitations.
All admitted students are sent a housing questionnaire that asks them to list their preferences and special needs. Special requests will be accommodated to the extent possible, but cannot be guaranteed. Every student has a private room, and usually only one student is placed per host family. If students submit their housing questionnaire by the announced deadline, they will receive contact information for the family with whom they will be living before they leave the United States. An IES Nantes student with her host parents.