Lukion vaihto-ohjelma ”Mistral Boréal”

What is the exchange program MistralBoréal ?

MistralBoréal is a school exchange program between the academic region Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (France) and Finland. It allows French and Finnish high school students to experience linguistic, cultural and academic immersion. Each student goes to school with the paired-student and live in their family.

This individual exchange programme is therefore based on reciprocity between families and makes it possible to establish privileged relationship with a student of the same age. Each Finnish student participating in the program is paired with a French student studying at the same level and they shall spend their time together.

This program is three weeks long: the French students spend three weeks in Finland and reciprocally, Finnish students spend three weeks in France.

Why going?

  • To discover France and its culture or to deepen your knowledge on French culture.
  • To improve your French and discover France’s educational system.
  • To discover how young French people live.
  • To make French friends.

Who can participate?

To participate, the students must:

  • Be in class 10, 11 or 12 at the period of the exchange (16, 17 or 18 years old).
  • Have a B1 level in English and a A2 level in French minimum.
  • Be open-minded, independent, and responsible.
  • Have the parents’ and the school’s authorisation to go.
  • Have given the required documents in time.

When and how long?

  • For three weeks, from the 28/09/2024 to 19/10/2024: The Finnish student goes to Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
  • For three weeks, from 26/10/2024 to 16/11/2024: The French student goes to Finland.

How much does it cost?

As it is an exchange between families, the students will be accommodated and fed by the host family, on the principle of reciprocity.

The costs and organization of transportation for the departing student are the responsibility of their own family.

We advise the family to give their child some pocket money so that they can do activities with the host family. For information, a cinema ticket in France costs between 10 and 20 € and a coffee around 2 €.

Important dates

Students must fill in the online form that will be used for the matching (this is a confidential link that must be requested by the teacher at: mobilite@france.fi ).

  • March 1, 2024: deadline for the form intended for the referent teacher.
  • March 20, 2024: Message to the teachers with the results of the matching AND file swap between referent teachers.
  • April or May 2024: Online meeting with teachers to prepare the students’ mobility.

The Institut français communicates only with the referent teachers and head of schools, and not with students or families, except in case of serious problem or force majeure. The students and families are invited to interact with their school and their referent teacher.

How to apply?

Steps that must be done by the referent teacher (Finland) before March 1, 2024:

  1. File « Accord_etablissement_MB_2024.docx » *
  1. Fill in the form.
  2. Get your head teacher’s signature.
  1. Registration
  1. The teacher must register the student (one form per student) on the online platform made for teachers. The link has to be requested from: mobilite@france.fi
  2. Upload the file « Accord_etablissement_MB_2024.docx »* on the platform made for teachers.
    ⇒Then, the student’s family receives a registration link via email. This link sends them to the family’s platform.
    ⇒Once the family’s registration is done, you will receive a link to download the PDF file in which you can find all the information given by the family about the Finnish student.

Steps that must be done by the family (Finland) before March 10, 2024:

  1. File « Accord_famille_MB_2024.docx » *
  1. Fill in the form.
  2. The student must sign on page 3.
  3. The family must sign on page 5 and 9.
  1. Registration
  1. Register the student (one per child) on the link that goes to the online platform for families (the link is sent to the family when the teacher has completed the online form made for teachers).
  2. Upload the file « Accord_famille_MB_2024.docx » * on the online platform.

Steps that must be done by the referent teacher (Finland) from 20th march 2024

  1. Message to the teachers with the results of the matching and the French referent teacher’s email address.
  2. File swap
  3. You must send your student’s file to the French teacher.
  4. You will receive the French student’s file (sent by the French teacher).
  5. You must send the file « Dossiers complets MB2024.docx»* that summarises the names of the students you will look after to mobilite@france.fi

 

*You can download the files on the platforms or here :  MISTRAL BOREAL 2024.

What does the student and his family agree to?

The student agrees to:

  • Be assiduous in school in France and attend all the courses with their paired student.
  • Adapt to the cultural and educative differences that they can encounter.
  • Adapt to the way of life of the host family.
  • Take care of their French paired student during their stay in Finland.

The host family agrees to:

  • Host the student at home and provide for them during the stay.
  • Be responsible for the hosted student.

The referent teacher agrees to:

  • Follow the steps and deadlines for the student’s registration.
  • Prepare the students for all the cultural and educative differences they can encounter once in the hosting country. For example: more formal relationships between students and teachers, or the communication with the host family can be different (spending most of the stay in the room is not well received).

Health and insurance

In all French high schools, there is a school nurse to whom any student who is unwell can go. The school doctor intervenes if the student’s state of health requires it. In case of minor students’ hospitalization, parental authorization for a surgical intervention will be required.

Before going to France, students must provide the Institut français de Finlande with a copy of the travel insurance contract that must include the following guarantees:

  • Emergency medical and hospital expenses
  • sanitary repatriation
  • accident and death
  • Liability insurance

This insurance must cover the entire period of the exchange.

Students can, if they wish, underwrite an additional insurance (for example for luggage or personal effects).

Students will also need to ask for a European Health Insurance Card.

And how does it work concretely?

After being paired with his correspondent, the student must:

  • Contact their host family to organize their arrival.
  • Book their plane ticket (the student’s family is responsible for purchasing the ticket. In the context of the health crisis, we recommend the purchase of exchangeable tickets.)
  • Make sure you have an insurance and to have given to the host family all the necessary and relevant personal information regarding your health.
  • Pack their bags and study French! 

For more information, contact mobilite@france.fi

If you are in France, please contact the referent teacher