My wife and I originally booked an immersion week with Pierre for 2020. However, much to our dispappointment, COVID ended up derailing those plans. As 2024 was approaching, we wanted to make spending a week with Pierre part of our 40 anniversary in France. It was worth the wait ! My wife is relatively new to French, whereas I am at a more experienced level. Despite the disparity of our levels of French, Pierre was able to make our learning time effective and interesting for both of us. Pierre’s knowledge of language and his ability to teach spoken French in an immersion style is exceptional. My wife was hoping to learn more of the basics of French and to establish a proper foundation upon which she could build. I was hoping to have the opportunity just to speak a lot of French, with the objective of correcting recurring mistakes of grammar, pronunciation, and accent so that French speakers would stop switching to English whenever I try to speak with them. We both got what we were hoping for ! After our week with Pierre, we spent a second week in France on a self-guided bike tour in the Dordogne/Lot area of Freance, and I can honestly say that among the dozens of interactions and conversations I had with francophones that week, there was only one person who preferred to speakin English with me (the front desk Clerk at the Mariott in Toulouse).
In addition to the excellent learning experience, staying at Pierre’s place was also just what we were hoping for. We prefer to experience France in the countryside closer to the people’s lives rather than in big, fancy, touristy cities. La Livinière was just what the doctor ordered.
Additionally, Pierre’s cooking was excellent. One of my wife’s favorite French dishes savory galettes, and Pierre’s were superb ! He even made sure we had them twice !
Pierre also took us on several excrusions and beautiful hikes. We saw ancient ruins, châteaux, beautiful hamlets and villages, just to name a few. Pierre is very knowledgeable about almost everything-culture, history, plants, birds, geography, you name it ! He is also a good tennis player. Knowing that we were tennis enthusiasts, Pierre made arrangements for us to play at his club. In addition to some fun tennis, he taught us a lot of tennis vocabulary. It will be a lot more fun the next time I watch the French Open !
Overall, our stay with Pierre was an outstanding experience and we would positively recommend an immersion stay with Pierre !