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French school trips to UK


Lehaut
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Two years ago I went as an "Aide" on our son's College,  5 day visit to the UK.  It was all arranged through a French company and that included accommodation in Bath.  This was with host families who were paid by the French company to lodge the children (aged 12/13), give them breakfast, dinner and a packed meal for lunch.

I stayed with a delightful elderly lady and her two other foreign students and was well looked after.  Unfortunately the same could not be said of many of the children.  Putting aside the normal "home sickness" elements of any child away from home, the combined experience was sufficient to put the school off the idea of repeating it!

The "twin town" school has decided not to offer the usual exchange visits for several years now as they now exchange students with India.  Our college here has an exchange system with Germany which works fine.  We have had a German student here for 8 days and our son goes off to stay with his family next month for 8 days.

Wondered if any other parents have been invovled with organsing/taking part in taking French students to the UK to improve their english/taste of UK etc?  If so could they recommend a better system.  Being a British family in France, we are keen that the UK has a better impression on French children.  Have to say that only the accommodation/food was a problem.  The visits to Bath and Bristol were well appreciated.

 

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I used to be the statutory woman on our school’s French exchanges where both children and staff stayed in each other’s homes.

Both sides had problems about food, largely because both the French and English children had such strong preconceptions about the cuisine of the other country and because of the natural conservatism of many adolescents. School always provided lunch while the other meals were taken in each others homes. We had a few problems from unusual (to the English kids) toilet arrangements. The worst upsets we had were to do with overt racism in the French school. Some of our children, and their friends too, were hurt and shocked by the casual use of ‘noir’ and such like.

It took a great deal of commonsense and staff commitment on both sides, but over the years a good relationship was built up between the two schools. Of course you want it to be enjoyable but I think it’s important to remember that it’s a learning experience and that feathers will be ruffled. If you are travelling to another country for the first time everything is strange. I well remember one of our pupils asking me why they didn’t have ‘proper ‘ zebra crossings in France.

I wish you the best of luck.
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My 14 year old son is going to Barcelona/Tarragone in a couple of weeks time with the collège.  They are staying in pairs/threes with hosts families.  Reading your posts has got me worried now!! It doesn't help that he's vegetarian, I'm worried he's not going to eat properly!

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Lisleoise,

If the school has already engaged in exchanges with familes, I don't think you need to be worried.  The trip I went on was organised by a French commercial company.  The UK rep was supposed to have vetted all the UK families before the children got there.  Without going into specifics, the problems seemed to occur because the UK families we being paid and their aim in some (not all) cases was to feed the children as cheaply as possible to maximise their revenue.  The children were all warned before hand about the (to the French) bizzare eating habits of the British.

There will be meetings at the college to discuss the trip.  My advice would be to take the veretarian issue up with the teacher responsible for the visit and to make sure either the company responsible or the host family are aware.  Certainly when we hosted the German boy here as a host family, we were provided with a full list of like, dislikes, medical problems etc (he did not have any).  Our greatest difficulty was coming to terms with the fact that at 15 whilst at home, he was expected to be in his bedroom by 2000 on school nights, 2030 at weekends!!!  He also would not let my wife do any laundry for him and when pressed replied that he was taking it home because "my mother has nothing else to do"!

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Can't help with the vegetarian side of things but our chap went from France to Barcelona (same year as yours in college), stayed in the same sort of accomodation, had a wonderful time and seemed to eat nothing but churros!!!!!!  Suffice to say he had a good time and the family he was with seemed used to children from all races/countries/backgrounds and thoroughly enjoyed himself.   As Lehaut wrote, the colleges do use specialist companies and I am sure would not have any problem dealing with your request.  Hope he has a wonderful time.
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Forgot to add parents and children had a 'formal' meeting with the teachers accompanying them a couple of weeks before they went.  I would imagine you would have the same and any questions were answered (privately or during the meeting) - an ideal time to bring up the vegetarian query. 
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[quote user="JSA Aude"]Forgot to add parents and children had a 'formal' meeting with the teachers accompanying them a couple of weeks before they went.  I would imagine you would have the same and any questions were answered (privately or during the meeting) - an ideal time to bring up the vegetarian query. [/quote]

Yes, there was a meeting last week.  Unfortunately my son didn't show me the note until after the event [:@] . I'll speak to the collège after tomorrow (they're busy doing the brevet blanc today and tomorrow).

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I could write pages and pages on this subject, having organised so many exchanges.  It takes so much time and effort - and whatever you do- there will be a few students who are paired with somebody they don't particularly get on with. We had many problems in rural Normandy with families with very poor sanitation facilities- so had to ask colleagues there to check things properly. We also had problems with racism towards our students in the Vosges- which was very sad.

The exchanges I have started and run for years in several schools have all come to a halt, as both in France and in the UK, new staff have felt it was too time consuming- and also because of fear of litigation. VERY sad. Our exchanges were true exchanges as students hosted each other. When I did host students in the Summer for a French company - all the French ended up in my house visiting 'my' student- so they could get a good meal and a bit of fun! I would not rely on families being paid as most of them will do it for the money- and outings, conversation, effort and food will be geared to max. gain, as you have noticed.

Hope you find a solution - whatever you do though, some students will have more success than others, sometimes because of the hosts, sometimes because of their own attitude. Bonne chance.

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