102918 - | | |   131778 -  Réponse de Viviane (France) - 2024-07-15
| My name is Viviane. I teach English in a catholic secondary school, Collège St Joseph, in Libourne, a small town close to Bordeaux (South West of France) and St Emilion (a vineyard area) and not far from Arcachon, on the seaside.
My students are 14-15 years old and they have been studying English for four years. We have had exchanges for a long time, with Germany (almost 40 years with the same school!), Spain, Switzerland and Alaska. I must say that the foreign students staying in our school and families have always appreciated their stays with us.
I would personally love to do an exchange with an Irish secondary school. I know how to organize an exchange as I have already done it. I think it is important for a language department to have this sort of experience for the students.
The idea is to exchange letters during the school year so that the students can know one another and practice the foreign language they study.
Irish students would be hosted at their partners’, at the time of your choice. They would share our every day life: attending some lessons at school, spending time with their French families, visiting places. When we have foreign students, we usually visit Saint Emilion, a medieval village known for its vineyards, we spend a whole day in Bordeaux and another whole day in the Bassin d’Arcachon, on the seaside where there is the highest sand dune in Europe, a very beautiful place!
As for the foreign teachers exchanging with us, we usually book rooms for them in a nice hotel that is next door to our school, which is very convenient for them and their students, but they can also stay at the teachers’ if they prefer to do so.
Concerning my class, I have 30 students: 18 girls and 12 boys, aged 14, some will be 15 next Spring. This is a class with a special project centered on the study of the Irish culture (society, literature, music ….). Exchanging ideas with the teachers is another point of interest.
I hope you and one of the French teachers in your school will be interested and will answer me!
I thank you for your attention.
Best regards,
Viviane Mendez |
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