All your questions answered in the following list. If we forgot one, do not hesitate to contact us to ask! We will be happy to give you the answer you are looking for. 🙂
You can book directly through our website, by phone or directly at school.
Deposit is payable by bank transfer only. For outstanding balance, we accept payment by bank transfer, credit card (at school) or cash.
Students must be 18 to enroll.
It depends on your nationality. For a stay of less than 3 months, a tourist visa is usually sufficient. Please contact the French consulate or embassy in your country for more detailed information on this subject.
Yes! Our Qualité FLE accreditation gives the chance to our students to be able to get a student visa. As soon as we receive full payment for your stay, we will send you a stamped and signed booking confirmation as well as your host family information. These documents shall be presented with the invoice to the French Embassy. If your visa is refused, your money will be returned less the non-refundable process fee (50 euros).
Your first day at SOFI 64 will start at 9.00.
Please bring with you a pen and a notebook. If you registered to our « French & Surf » program, you should also bring some sunscreen, a beach towel and a bathing-suit.
French, English, Spanish, German and Basque.
We have 5 spacious and bright classrooms. Our school has a beautiful private terrace with tables, chairs and umbrellas. In our kitchen, there is a coffee machine and a kettle for your organic coffee and tea available at school. To practice your French skills after class, French books and French language DVDs are available in our small library.
Yes. You will have access to the Internet through our WIFI.
French and French!
Each class is limited to 8 students. Minimum number of students in a group is 2.
We welcome students of almost all ages (18 and +). However, the average age of our students is between 25-35.
You can start on any Monday. Full beginners must start on specific dates (one Monday per month).
Yes, subject to availability ! For instance, it is possible to book one week of “French & Surf” and another week of “French & Yoga“.
If you change your program during your stay, there will be a 25 euro-fee applied.
We are very often fortunate to welcome inspiring and inspired students in our school. Some of them sometimes want to share the remarkable time they had in Biarritz.
Last year, Emma gave us this wonderful gift after her visit to our school.
This year 2019, it is Mikko and Martin who decided to film the experience Martin had while with us. Martin comes from Germany. He is a professional sommelier whose family have been working in the wine industry for more than 130 years.
If you want to improve your French for professional or personal reasons, we are here to support you and help you achieve your goals!
We are incredibly well located, close to the beach yet in a quiet and peaceful environment.
When we are not teaching French or surfing (…) we enjoy spending time around. Students and teachers, we all have our favorite places to go to. That is why we asked this amazing artist to make this beautiful illustrated map of our neighborhood.
This map is to help our students better understand our district in a fun way featuring things to do and places to eat in our immediate surroundings.
Our stunning neighborhood and beaches will put you in the best mood to learn French!
First week of October, we gathered all together after our French lesson and headed to the beach for a good beach clean up!
We were nicely surprised to find a beach free of large garbage stuff. We had plenty to do with very small plastic parts though amongst which too many lollipops sticks and straws…
2 hours later, with 4 garbage bags full of plastic bits we can feel useful and happy to have contributed to maintaining our beach clean!
Merci à tous!
Your French classes are over and it is time for your daily surf lessons? You are ready to hit the beach, put your wetsuit / sunscreen on and enjoy a good surf session.
A glance at the weekly schedule and you realize that your surf lesson starts at 5pm?
Why wait another 4 hours? Why does your surf lessons’ schedule change every day?
Like almost all our students, you have done little or no surfing in your life and the best conditions, the safest conditions are at low tide. The ocean rises and falls +/- 6 hours apart. This variation (due to the moon, the sun and the Earth’s revolution…) determines the schedule of your surf lessons.
At low tide, surfing is more practicable for beginners for 2 reasons:
—> you won’t surf in deep water
—> waves and whitewater offer a longer distance to slide on
Surfing is almost all about fun! There are a few rules to follow when you go out:
Do not surf between flags reserved for swimmers –>
Respect priority rules –>
Now, let’s work on your vocabulary by associating the words in the right column with the left column:
| 1. Ramer | a. Surfboard |
| 2. Faire le canard | b. To pop up |
| 3. Une dérive | c. Foam / Whitewater |
| 4. Tomber | d. To duck dive |
| 5. Une planche (de surf) | e. Fin |
| 6. Se lever | f. Wave |
| 7. Un leash | g. Current |
| 8. Une vague | h. To fall |
| 9. La mousse | i. Paddle |
| 10. Le courant | j. Leg rope |
Surfing is also a commitment to the environment. Respect the ocean, collect your garbage, leave only your footsteps in the sand.
Aloha!
As you may already know, we love teaching French.
Here at SOFI 64, we do our best to make your experience unforgettable and worthy.
And when students reward us with reviews like this one, we are overjoyed. It motivates us to keep doing even more and keep students happy with their French experience!
https://waywardessence.com/review-sofi-64-french-language-institute/
As you may know, our French language school is luckily and strategically located a few steps away from beautiful beaches and waves. The school director, Stéphanie, was born and raised in Biarritz. She started surfing as a kid and naturally decided to provide students with a great program: “French & Surf“.
Following is a short movie made with a few students who registered to this program. They will tell you that you can still learn French efficiently AND have fun!
