BYU students traveled to France to befriend older individuals who face isolation, forming meaningful relationships and honing their language skills in the process.
The loss of mobility and autonomy are well-known consequences of aging—but a lesser-known effect is the loss of friendship and connection. The Fédération Internationale des Petits Frères des Pauvres is a French organization that works to remedy that loneliness and create “a world without elders isolated.” The BYU French program regularly sends student interns, such as Ellie Pollard (Family Life and French Studies ’26) and Addison Abel (French Teaching and Anthropology ’27), to work with the organization. Pollard and Abel participated in the internship during the summer of 2025. As they made lifelong connections and friendships, they also deepened their fluency in French and received a unique glimpse into French culture.
Part One: The Chateau
When they learned about the internship, both Pollard and Abel were excited by the opportunity to hone their language skills. Abel had been looking for an immersive experience to participate in before taking her French Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI), and Pollard thought the internship was “a great middle ground between my two majors that would give me great experience in both French and family life.”
The six-week program was divided into two parts. For the first week or so, the interns and les membres (the elderly participants) spent time at a chateau vacationing together. Each intern was responsible for an elder—making sure they got to meals on time, helping them pack bags for outings, and simply spending time in their company. Pollard says that the woman she cared for at the chateau was “so witty and funny.” Pollard continues, “She reminded me a lot of my best friend, which made me attached to her.”
While the interns cared for les membres, they also gained valuable language practice. Before the internship, most of Pollard’s language learning had been more academic, which she says “can only get you to a certain level. An immersive experience just takes it to that next level.”
Part Two: Off to Versailles
For the second part of the program, interns lived with host families in Paris, Marseille, and other locations across France. Pollard and Abel were stationed in Versailles, and every afternoon they visited a few isolated elderly people in the community. They would sometimes play games—“We played a lot of dominoes,” says Pollard—go on walks, go grocery shopping, or just sit and talk. “They had cool stories,” Abel says. “Quite a few of them had done a lot of traveling, and so they liked showing us things that they had bought when they were in different places.” Les membres always appreciated the visits, which were meant to help fight their feelings of loneliness. Abel says, “When we showed up, they would give us a little snack and something to drink.”
In turn, Abel enjoyed learning the vocabulary and colloquialisms that the native French speakers used. She says, “I think every language learner can relate to this, that you learn the language and then you use it in an immersive, native context and realize you know the language but you don’t speak it how natives speak it.” Communicating with native speakers in normal, everyday contexts helped Abel begin to bridge the gap between her study of the language and her goal of fluency.
Abel and Pollard both made connections that turned into lasting relationships. Abel says, “I just got a letter from one of les membres, and she was talking about how much she missed Ellie and me, and how she hopes we’re doing well. These connections we made matter.” Abel says that this love relates to the baptismal covenant. The internship helped her to better understand how to mourn with and comfort those in need. “Loving someone how Jesus would creates the connection that helps us to build fulfilling relationships,” she says.
Experiencing French Culture
Staying with a host family allowed the pair to have an up-close experience with daily life in France. Pollard says, “We got to see what their day-to-day life looked like, how they interact with their kids, and slang that they use in the home.” Abel observed that the couple that they stayed with were both learning new hobbies—from this, she learned that “it’s okay to just be and to just enjoy things. You don’t always have to be checking something off the list.” This more carefree outlook on life, she notes, is an attitude that is common in French culture.
Pollard says, “People have these stereotypes about French people being mean, but they’re really not. Their culture is different than ours, and so it comes across as them being mean, but they’re actually thenicest people in the world.” Pollard added, “It’s such a special experience being able to go to a country and live there—it just helps you learn to love the people so much more.”
Click here to learn more about BYU’s French internships.