 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all,
I am planning on going on a solo trip to one of the UCPA centers next ski season, does anyone have any experience of of the centers and tuition as a non french speaker. I can speak a few words in french but definitely not fluently! Are there any particular centers that are better for non french speaker for tuition etc., or do they all depend season to season. Also regarding the social side, how easy is it to fit in and join in with everything (I do understand it is what you make of it).
Thanks in advance.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Welcome to SHs, @rh03,  I am much too old to go to UCPA but was introduced to them by my son in law. He is quite a shy person and (as he would be the first to admit) supremely untalented when it comes to speaking foreign languages. He did a couple of holidays in Chamonix (one winter, one summer) before he met my daughter and found them ideal. There were plenty of other english speakers (not necessarily English, but Scandinavians and others) and he found it more sociable than he'd feared. Since they got together he and my daughter have also done a holiday to the UCPA centre in Flaine, including lessons.
If you do a search on Snowheads you'll find lots of (mostly enthusiastic) reports from people who've been to the various centres, most of whom speak very little French.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@rh03, Welcome to snowHeads!
I'm lucky enough to speak french fluently, but having just come back from a week at the Flaine centre I can say confidently that you won't have any problems. Roughly 60% the people in the centre were french speakers, the rest were non french speakers - british, irish, antipodean, japanese, scandinavian, polish. Most of these people communicated in english. All the centre staff spoke english well (reception, managers, bar staff, cooks instructors), and all the notices were printed in both french and english
You;ll be absolutely fine. I highly recommend it.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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All the ones that action outdoors book at are totally fine for 100% English speakers, although obvs a few words will go a long way to being a bit friendly.
I've always been in a room with people who speak many languages and most people are very happy to speak in English with me. Honestly I have always been so bowled away with hoe friendly and inclusive and welcoming people are. It helps if you are a 'joiner inner' and can put yourself out there a bit.
Social side is super easy - you'll have your room mates and your lesson buddies to chat to at the start, and then it grows to your lesson buddies room mates, and their lesson buddies, and the random group you got chatting to last night etc People are really open to sitting with others for meals and in the bar.
I've been 6 times and mainly the instructors have spoken fantastic English and usually given more instructions in English than in French, which seems a bit unfair on the French people on holiday, in you know, France. One instructor was less keen (not sure why because he actually had a v good level of English). I pulled him up on it several times, but in general just found him a bit difficult all round. One of the other people in the group looked out for me and made sure I knew what was going on. Think this was just a bit of a personality clash as the group was pretty divided between thinking he was amazing and thinking he wasn't.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@pam w, @kat.ryb, @nbt, @N0rthernMonkey
Thanks, this is all really reassuring. I am planning this trip as part of a year off before starting university, so I don`t have much experience of travelling alone outside of the UK. This makes me feel more confident about going!
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Hope you have a good trip, am sure you'll love it. Personally I love the Serre Che centre and have had my best trips there.
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@rh03, have you chosen anywhere yet? My friends and I are looking at Flaine wc 4th March...
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Edit
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Sun 20-08-17 19:15; edited 2 times in total
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UCPA are brilliant and everyone (most) speak great English. The whole setup through them is great and the Val Thorens centre in particular is top notch. The Tignes centre was done up last year and is apparently looking good now too.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Ive just booked a short break to Flaine with them in jan, the whole thing costing £440 including flights and transfers! I'm also a solo skier and crap at languages but at that price I'm willing to give it a try!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I went to Tignes with them 2 years ago as a solo skier, didn't have any issues. It's definitely worth doing at least once.
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