Boy following the French example (6)
I believe the answer is:
lesson
'example' is the definition.
(I know that example can be written as lesson)
'boy following the french' is the wordplay.
'boy' becomes 'son' (male child).
'following' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'the french' becomes 'les' (plural form of 'the' in French).
'son' put after 'les' is 'LESSON'.
(Other definitions for lesson that I've seen before include "Teaching session or reading from Bible" , "Spell of instruction" , "Teaching session or Bible passage" , "Sermon or lecture" , "Seminar" .)