Edcational visit to France
Every other year year the European Languages Department organises a 'Taste of France', a visit offered to pupils from years 7 and 8. A group of around 45 pupils accompanied by 5 staff, two of whom are from other curriculum departments, spends 5 days in Normandy. It has become customary to offer places to non-linguist staff, allowing other colleagues to share in and contribute to the work we do. We travel down by coach overnight to Portsmouth from where we catch the four and half-hour sailing to Caen.
Pupils are shown the Bayeux Tapestry preceded by a short film, which sets it in context and also included are a full size mock-up with translations into several languages, sound effects and, of course, the opportunity to make souvenir purchases using some of the French learnt at school. Further visits to the D-Day landing museum at Arromanches and a walk around the town walls of St. Malo are included as is a morning's visit to the island town of Mont St. Michel. Each visit offers the children sufficient time to explore, make purchases and to understand the nature of what they visit. As ever, staff are continually on hand to help and encourage them. Their tends to be included an element of fun too with trips to swimming pools. The centre is only accessible by coach and therefore has enough features for pupils to play safely in those awkward in between times such as arriving back from a visit but with more than enough time to wash and change before evening meal.
The accommodation is in chalet style with usually 2 separate dormitory corridors available plus shower and toilet facilities for both male and female. Main meals are offered within the main building and for convenience, tend to be in the evening. In both cases this tends to be adequate rather than 5 star. Pupils are made fully aware before they leave; that the 'cuisine' is French not English meals served on day visits are of the French stick variety and are always delicious.
At the end of each day, we ask the pupils to spend an hour writing an account of their day in their 'journal' and encouraging them to record the French they have seen heard or spoken.