Dominique Chasset, 40, has not lived in her native France since 1980, but French language, lifestyle and teaching fill her days. She met her French husband Christian after moving to Hong Kong 14 years ago, and they launched the Hong Kong Institute of Languages in Central when they found there was too much work for them as private tutors. The couple, who live in Discovery Bay, run lessons for all ages and summer camps in Europe. What's on your mind? Arranging summer schools for students - they go to France, England and Switzerland to study languages in the mornings and then play sport in the afternoon. We take children from seven to 18 years old and place them with host families. Is learning French popular in Hong Kong? At the school we have on average about 600 children learning French. Some are teenagers who have extra tuition as they need help before their exams but most of them are primary students. They don't have access to French at school and some may be going back to Europe or they are Chinese children who want to broaden their learning experience. Hong Kong people tend to think their children should always be learning something. Is it true that younger people find it easier to learn languages? Oh yes. If children start younger they don't have such a strong accent. The five and six-year-olds are the ones who have no accents at all. We don't spend so much time on grammar, we just say this is the way it is and by the time they get to secondary school and learn why it is that way, it is natural for them. We try to teach them from an early age to think of French as a means of communication rather than a language they study at school. Do you introduce French culture and food in the lessons? The culture is inherent to our courses and all our teachers are native French people so they bring culture with them. For the young students we will talk about Paris, the monuments and the shops. We have lots of plastic food, so we teach them about it and play at restaurants. It's common for French children to drink wine. Do you bring wine in for the students? For the children, no. But some of the adults have asked teachers to bring in cheese and wine and sometimes they ask teachers to go to French restaurants with them so they can learn how to order food.
