French Immersion Homestay At Teacher’s In Tayrac, Nouvelle-Aquitaine

Pierre — Deuxieme fois!

September, 2022
In my comments last year, I noted that Pierre was not only a great tutor and resource, but a
friend!
This proved true again during my second opportunity to be with him in Tayrac. During the year
in between, we have stayed in touch with a series of Zoom conversations, all targeted at
building on the foundation for language learning that he established with me in three weeks of
lessons last year.
At the beginning, we identified and focused on the areas where I was weakest, and during our
time together, Pierre zeroed in on ways I could dig deeper and find ways to be more fluid in
daily conversations. The learning didn’t end with the three-hour sit-down sessions. It started
with petit dejeuner, continued with lunch and always grew at dinner conversations, and after a
selected number of films we watched in the evenings.
And another jewel was the daily excursions in the countryside of Lot-Garonne. There were
countless villages where Pierre explained the history, the geology, the culture, and the beauty
of the unique agricultural region. Tayrac is located within two hours of Bordeaux, St. Emilion,
and a number of other potential weekend excursions that I experienced.
Another of Pierre’s assets is his ability to support Sue’s experience, “en anglais” in the time she
was able to join in during my second week.
It was fun, and very stimulating. I recommend Pierre highly!

« I spent a week of immersion with Pierre in May 2023 and it was all worth it. Pierre is a very patient teacher and with his relaxed method of teaching, he made me feel very comfortable in speaking French. Pierre adapts to your level and we touched on many subjects. He is very approachable. Apart from our 3 hour lesson everyday, Pierre also took us to many excursions like Carcassonne, Gaillac, Saissac, Montholieu just to name a few. I even got a chance to pick cherries from his cherry trees in his garden. After a week of total immersion, I felt very confident in speaking with the natives and my French friends have even commented on my fluency in French. I would recommend Pierre anytime. If you don’t believe me, give him a try. You will not be disappointed.

I have just come back from my third immersion experience with Pierre. The fact that it was my third trip speaks volumes. As on my previous visits, I was hugely impressed by the warmth of Pierre’s welcome and his attention to detail when it comes to all things French. As well as being a natural teacher, he’s a kind and generous host who will cook you great meals, pour you whatever you want to drink, and bring you on fascinating excursions to beautiful country towns (or whatever else you want to do). I’ve learnt an enormous amount during these trips, most obviously about the French language, but also about culture, history, cinema, gardening, food – the list goes on and on. Thanks again, Pierre!

Ed and Shirley, his wife, went to Brittany. My parents kindly offered them their house since they wanted to visit this part of France that they didn’t know.

Our trip to Brittany to do immersion French with Pierre was nothing short of fabulous. First, Pierre is a scholar of language and has a way of teaching that provides a student with an understanding and insight into both French and English, not just the grammar and expressions but why the language is the way it is. He is very good at tailoring the lessons to a student’s level, making them fun and informative but also challenging.

 Second, he toured us around in the afternoon to see ports and landscapes around Brittany, and on the weekend we went to Quimper’s outdoor market, which was also amazing – like so many French markets on market day. We enjoyed typical foods such as andouille and traditional Kouign Amann – “Butter Cake” in Breton. Even the weather was almost perfect even though it was a little early in the Spring – the beginning of April. Pierre’s parents were fabulous hosts and went all out to teach us about Brittany and to feed us like kings – Cathy is an accomplished cook – not to mention that they added to the experience of immersion French by conversing in French with us. Everything, as they say, exceeded expectations. Bravo Pierre!

I’ve considered doing an immersion homestay with a French Today teacher for several years but they’re very popular and I previously didn’t plan far enough in advance. After booking two weeks with Pierre, I definitely wish I would have done this a lot earlier, even if it meant booking a year in advance! No matter your level, Pierre customizes his approach and you’ll make amazing progress! 

My level of French has historically made studying difficult and it turned out an immersion homestay was the answer. I initially studied for three years in high school, but that was a very long time ago. For the past several years, I’ve worked on and off with tutors online, used apps such as Duolingo, and practiced in person on a few trips to France. Most resources available are geared for beginners or advanced learners and I found it difficult (as someone at B1-B2) to find resources that could customize to my level. 

One of the most useful things I learned from Pierre is what I need to study and how I need to study to make it to the next level. I learned that I need to ask my tutors to correct me more often (I had several habits that were not correct French that tutors let slip because they could still make out what I was trying to say, even if it was very clumsy.) I appreciated that Pierre provided correction but did it in a patient and simple way. I also learned that I can’t avoid some of the trickier grammar and still make the progress I want.

Most days, our schedule was as follows: breakfast, 3 hours of highly customized instruction, lunch, break, an evening excursion, a break, dinner, and watching a French movie. Pierre devotes a significant amount of time to his students and each moment provides an opportunity to practice what we reviewed earlier in the day. If you want to make the most progress, I’d recommend using the breaks to review your notes, study further, and be prepared to practice what you learned during meals and excursions. If I gave advice to my former self, I’d also show up to the study time with questions and be more courageous in my conversation attempts. If I made errors, it simply provided learning opportunities, it was always a safe space.

I really enjoyed Pierre’s cooking. He’ll deflect your compliments saying it’s simple food but I found it to be really delicious and wholesome. Watching my resting heart rate on my Fitbit, I found out I was a lot healthier there and I tasted foods there i enjoyed enough that I’ve tried to replicate them at home. 

Pierre spends more time than average with his students and I appreciated the thought and attention he put into the evening excursions. We went on some hikes, we visited some Christmas markets, we saw a number of picturesque towns, and I felt like I really got to know the area. Pierre has a lot of knowledge to share and it was a great experience to learn about a variety of topics.

I can’t recommend Pierre enough! I look forward to booking again in the future and using what I learned to advance my level in between!

I cannot recommend Pierre highly enough!! An immersion in France was a dream of mine for a long time and with the Pandemic this dream had been delayed a few years. Of course I was a little nervous coming from Australia to stay in the French countryside with a tutor for a week of intensive French. From the moment my husband dropped me off at Pierre’s house I felt at ease.
I never felt embarrassed or ashamed to make conversation and he was very patient with my repeated mistakes. We spoke French from the time I got up to the time I went to bed, even watching French movies with me after dinner which he must have seen many times over.!!
The walks in the countryside were fantastic as each day Pierre would take me to a different village and we would walk on tracks for a couple of hours without ever getting lost! This is such a beautiful part of France with so much history and agriculture which he relayed to me in French.
Pierre cooked amazing meals for us. I am amazed at how organised he was to fit this all into our schedule!
After initial conversations with Pierre on my arrival, he was able to assess my level and adapted his teaching accordingly. I never felt like I was a pupil receiving lessons which had been preprogrammed.
I felt very empowered after my week and was able to converse at the wedding of my friends south of Toulouse and over the course of the next weeks holiday in France.
I highly recommend Pierre’s professionalism and his knowledge of the origins and structure of the French language. He made the lessons very interesting and varied.
Thankyou Pierre for an awesome week!! I am very inspired to continue with learning and speaking French!

First of all I want to assure you that my week in Tayrac was a wonderful experience is many, many ways.  Learning more French and hopefully improving a bit were of course important.  
In addition was learning about and gaining an understanding of the history of that region of France.  The afternoon hikes and excursions were so special for me.  
I learned a lot about myself and came to understand more and more those things that are challenging in one’s life.  
My week with you was a perfect preparation for the remaining weeks that I spent in my travels. I have so much to think about and for which I can be very thankful.  

Thanks again and again for the wonderful week you gave to me.  
I’ve ordered Farine de Sarrasin and I plan to master making the Galette.  Like all of you meals, that was great.  I cannot remember feeling so comfortable and healthy as I did having three well balanced meals, plenty of water and good exercise in the afternoon for an entire week.   
You’re the best, Pierre, and stay in touch.

We spent one week in a French immersion course with Pierre in his lovely home in Tayrac. We felt at ease straight away with his calm and patient demeanor. My husband and I are at different levels of French but Pierre figured a way to help us both progress. We thoroughly enjoyed the lessons, the hiking trips and the home cooked food ! We felt that we both made progress with our French and felt more confident in conversing in French. Many thanks Pierre !

I had been thinking of doing an in-home immersion for several
years. For over twenty years I have done French classes at
various schools, online tutors, and even a week of intense
private lessons at a boarding school. What I was missing was a
more organic experience. I contacted Pierre and he was kind
enough to accept a last minute booking and squeeze me in.
Initially hesitant about sharing personal space with somebody
that I did not know, plus having to communicate in French, I
was surprised how quickly I felt at ease.
Every day I was blown away at the beauty of the countryside
and history of the surrounding villages that we visited. For me it
was a nice balance of structured learning followed by visiting a
chateau and tasting wine, a miellerie and tasting honey, hiking
and more.
Pierre has crafted an environment that allows one to focus on
French 100% without any distractions. With the amazing meals

he prepared and planned activities I felt well taken care of. We
spent over 12 hours each day together and his patience never
wore thin.
To top things off and give Pierre a break from all of the cooking,
on my last evening we enjoyed dinner at a restaurant led by a
Michelin starred chef.
This homestay exceeded my expectations and I am already
making plans for another immersion with Pierre. An experience
of a lifetime!

French Immersion Course with Pierre May 2022
Martin Forth – Pattaya, Thailand
After a couple of years of French self-study, exclusively online, I decided to take a French immersion
course, with Pierre, however the Covid pandemic got in the way. I finally got to spend two weeks with
Pierre for my immersion course earlier this year. Never having done anything like this before and not
having had any formal French tuition since high school, I’m 71, I was a little bit nervous and
apprehensive how it would go. I shouldn’t have worried, Pierre and his family made me feel at home
from the first day and I thoroughly enjoyed my two weeks with him.
I arrived on a Saturday, and quickly settled in. From the first dinner I really enjoyed all the home cooked
food together with lots of cheeses and a variety of wines. The first Sunday I joined his father and some
of his friends for a three-hour hike. The formal training started on Monday morning and each weekday
we started with three hours of formal classes, tailored to my level of French, a little daunting at first but
the time passed quickly, Pierre carefully correcting me as we progressed. After lunch and a short rest,
we spent each weekday afternoon visiting local villages and the countryside where we generally went on
a hike for a couple of hours. I wasn’t aware before my trip of the very extensive and well-maintained
network of hiking trails in France. The small towns and villages gave me a taste of everyday French life
away from the big cities. Before returning home for dinner, we often stopped at a local cafe for a drink
and a chat about the day and the world in general. In the evening after dinner, we watched several
episodes of a French TV series about a French village during the second world war. That was challenging
to follow but with the sub-titles in French I was able to follow most of it.
Throughout the two weeks we spoke almost exclusively in French, but Pierre would always help and
encourage me when I got stuck for a word, phrase, or conjugation. My brain was tired at the end of each
day but encouraged to learn more the next day.
For me a very worthwhile experience and I think my French improved greatly especially my
comprehension and being able to follow everyday French conversation. Thanks to Pierre and his family I
would certainly recommend it to students to improve your French and experience French culture.

Having just returned to the United States from my 2 weeks with Pierre, I wanted to post a most positive review of my experience. Pierre is excellent in the many roles he played during my stay; Tutor, teacher, historian, tour guide, cook, and hiking companion. He is an incredibly patient, experienced and well-informed teacher who is very generous with his time managing to integrate learning into everything we did during the week. Each day, Pierre spent almost 12 hours with me!

            Our daily routine consisted of breakfast, 3 hours of instruction, lunch and then an afternoon activity. 3 hours formal instruction every morning seemed at the beginning to be a lot but amazingly those 3 hours flew by. Then it was a homemade lunch usually cooked by Pierre and off for a great afternoon activity. For us, Pierre and I hiked almost every day, exploring the bastides and the surrounding countryside and of course speaking French the whole time. The hikes provided added learning of new vocabulary as we hiked through meadows, paths, water puddles etc. Just like a child learns, seeing, touching and associating those things with a new word makes the learning both fun and effective. At the end of the day we enjoyed a fantastic dinner, again cooked by Pierre and then off to a much needed evening relaxing and trying to absorb all that I had learned.

            One of the highlights of my stay, as if there could be more, was spending 2 weekends with Pierre’s family. His Mother and Father are extremely welcoming along with his 2 sons and his lovely 2 year old daughter. They made me feel like part of the family very quickly as they took me on a wine tasting adventure and a tour of an Abbey. Since their English was quite limited the interaction taxed my French to the limit, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

            My time with Pierre was outstanding and I look forward to doing another course with him in the future. This course was described as an immersion and those expectations were met and exceeded. I could not be more happy with my experience and my learning of both the language and the culture! I feel I have a new friend in my life which is so valuable to me.

Thank you Pierre!!

I first made a booking with Pierre for Easter 2020. I was looking for language immersion for my son, ahead of his GCSE French exams, and to refresh my own spoken French by joining in the afternoon activities and chatting over meals. We were hugely disappointed that Covid lead to that original trip being cancelled, but thrilled that Pierre was able to allow us to rebook for this year – this time just ahead of my son’s A-level French exams. As he wants to study French at university it was all the more important now than 2 years ago that Pierre, as his teacher, was able to quickly tune in to my son’s level and requirements and encourage him to develop his fluency – a challenge for all students of a foreign language who have been unable to travel to practise their target language due to lockdown. Pierre’s calm and considered teaching style, along with his commitment not to resort to English at any time, had a hugely positive impact on my son’s French. He was also very patient in correcting my frequent mistakes so that I too came home with a renewed confidence in speaking French. The activities that Pierre suggested for the afternoons were always both educational and fun. We became students and then full converts to the French card game Tarot, and came home with several packs which we bought in the local town so that we can attempt to teach it to family and friends here. I would not hesitate to recommend Pierre as a teacher. Wishing all his future students a wonderful experience.

I have just had a most enjoyable time doing an immersion homestay with Pierre. He is an incredibly patient, experienced and well informed teacher who is very generous with his time managing to integrate learning into everything we did during the week.

A whole morning of a french lesson sounds intense but in reality the time flies by.  Pierre constantly adapted his teaching to my needs and questions and I absolutely know that I’m much more fluent than I was before and that I can understand spoken french better as a result of my stay. I can’t recommend an immersion homestay with Pierre too much!

In the afternoons we went on some beautiful treks into the stunning countryside near Pierre’s home.  He was always full of interesting facts and of course it was another opportunity to learn new vocabulary not to mention see some lovely places.  I also spent an afternoon in Agen, the county town.

Pierre only moved to Tayrac 2 months ago and I believe I am the 1st student to have stayed in this particular house with him.  The house is spacious and I had a very comfortable bedroom with TV and DVD player to watch french films in the evening if I could stay awake to do so!  It’s a very rural spot and I didn’t have transport which I didn’t mind but I can imagine that this might be helpful for some students to have.

I recently completed a one week immersion class with Pierre. I am a beginning French student, being self-taught, mostly via audio courses. The prospect of taking a week-long immersion class with my lack of skills was initially a bit intimidating; however any trepidation I felt immediately disappeared once I arrived and met Pierre. His patience and encouragement were evident from the start as I stumbled over phrases, and he quickly and tactfully corrected me, but in a way that allowed me to continue what I was trying to express. With Pierre, I felt motivated and encouraged to try to speak which helped my progress tremendously throughout the week. 

I was also concerned initially that a 3 hour French lesson every morning might be a bit too intensive for a beginner such as myself, but Pierre paced the lessons well and the mornings flew by. His ability to assess your level quickly and adapt the program to exactly where you are and what you need, will be invaluable to your progress.  

As a side note, Pierre is a highly knowledgeable and passionate historian, so our trips to some of the historical castles and villages were incredibly fun and interesting and provided yet another opportunity for practice. And although I came to the class to improve my French, Pierre is also a wonderful chef! I may forget a bit of the vocab from the week, but definitely not the wonderful galette and other French dishes he prepared during the week! 

Pierre clearly cares about his students and their goals and progress. I learned a tremendous amount in only one week, and I cannot recommend him highly enough. The only regret for me was that I did not sign up for at least two weeks due to my time restrictions, however, I do plan to return in the not too distant future for a longer immersion session. If you want to learn or improve your French in a fun and highly supportive environment with a gracious host, you should definitely consider an immersion stay with Pierre.  Bonne chance à tous! 

Immersion Program with Pierre Dagron

Gene Bergoffen, Fryeburg, ME, United States

In August and September 2021, I had the opportunity to spend three special weeks with Pierre, for an immersion program for the “langue française”.  It was an experience of a lifetime!

In my case, the program was in Quimper, at the site of Pierre’s parents, while he was in the process of changing his place of residence and teaching.  My wife, Sue, joined me, and was part of the daily life outside my lessons and studies.  While his parents were especially welcoming, the key was Pierre’s special talents and strong focus on my learning objectives, challenges, and goals.

We started with an assessment of my goals, and in identifying the areas where I could improve on the aspects of achievements thus far in my upper intermediate level, gained over the last several years.  Soon, the concentration was on pronunciation (sounds), structure of every day “street French”, common ways of expression, and integrating all the “learning” into speaking more at ease.  Pierre was especially attuned to my daily challenges in phrasing and use of correct tenses, elision, liaison, rhythms, and overall “faiblesses”.  He would use our daily three 

hours after petit déjeuner with practical steps to help me gain more confidence in all these areas.  And the lunches together added even more practical experience.

As promised, Pierre used our afternoons on excursions to relate lots of history, culture, personal experience, and practical ways of conversation about the world around us.  He was especially helpful in “translation” and sensitivity to Sue as she sought to be part of the time we all had together.

Three weeks with Pierre and, in this case, his family, left me with lots to do to reach the next levels of facility and ease with the language, but the key was his patience, and strong sense of how to help me build a foundation for improvement.  And, of course, I feel I left not only with a learning foundation, but with a friend.

I recommend Pierre without hesitation and with pleasure.