Year 8 French Trip

Twenty-one pupils in Year 8 and three members of staff, spent a week in the heart of the Normandy countryside speaking French. Although it was St Bede’s fifth visit to the Château de la Baudonnière, it was this group’s first experience of immersion-style language-learning – and they loved it.

A long day’s travelling brought us to the beautiful old Château, nestling in its own extensive grounds of sloping lawns and woodland.

The Château has a tried and trusted programme for keeping English school children busy and interested as they become involved in all sorts of things via the medium of French. Each day had a morning, afternoon and evening activity different from the day before. Breadmaking after breakfast might lead on to fencing after lunch and be followed up by team games in the evening. Teams met in a familiar place for every session and were introduced to their ‘animateur’ or ‘animatrice’ for the next few hours.

These young French men and women are true professionals with a friendly manner, sound discipline, excellent communication skills and, occasionally, a wicked sense of fun. Whilst they are happy to check understanding by asking the children to explain instructions back to them in English, they will never themselves speak anything other than French. The children quickly got used to the rules, learnt the routine, felt at home and began to use French naturally.

Mealtimes were an equally enlightening experience. An ‘animateur’ was on hand to ‘present’ the meal on every occasion. It was, of course, the perfect opportunity to learn the names of items on the table as well as all the elements of the menu for this particular meal. If children wished to replenish the bread basket or the water jug, they had to use the correct French phrase. Everyone took a turn as ‘volontaire’ to clear the table at the end of the meal and then the next activity was outlined – in French.

Gentle reinforcement of routines and expectations was a part of every encounter with the ‘animateurs’. For the teachers observing, this ‘team-building’ element of the Baudonnière experience is perhaps one of the most appealing.

Our visit to Mont St Michel included a tour of the ramparts with commentary from Alison, our ‘animatrice’ for the afternoon, totally in French. She was very complimentary afterwards about the standard of French of our pupils and, at the end of the week, another ‘animatrice’ asked if we could leave the children there as everyone had enjoyed working with them so much!

Highlights of the trip usually include the visit to the French market town of Villedieu, canoeing on the Château’s very own lake and the assault course. This year was no different and as interesting as ever. The euros came out in the market and the ‘bonbons’ stall did a roaring trade. There was a lot of screaming on the lake when the launching of canoes involved a closer encounter with the lake than had been anticipated. Finally, the assault course left a lasting impression on the children of the importance of correct pronunciation. When faced with a bucket of cold, muddy water, they were miraculously able to produce those difficult phrases that told the ‘animateur’ what it was they were about to do. It’s perhaps not a technique we will introduce into the classroom but the memory of that experience – as of the entire week - will no doubt live on in the children’s imaginations for many years to come.

Louise Galletly