Language comes alive with trip to Paris
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Language comes alive with trip to Paris
Posted: Wednesday, November 23, 2011 - 23:35
In the October Half Term, a few of the Year 13 girls taking French for their International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma got a chance to put skills learnt in the classroom into practice in the real world, taking a three day trip to Paris to sample the culture and language of one of the most famous cities in the world.
Accompanying French teacher and Head of the Languages Faculty, Mrs Barry gives her account of the trip.
“The Yr. 13 trip to Paris at half-term was very successful and enjoyable. Our hotel was in the heart of Paris, within five minutes walking distance of the Louvre. On arrival we went straight to the hotel for a quick change [we had had an early start] and then took the Métro to meet one of our international students who lives in Paris. Her mother had invited us to a delicious lunch which set us up for the first cultural visit of the trip, to the Louvre. The plan was to savour the grand Cour, the Pyramide, then walk through the Tuileries Gardens to visit the Orangerie to look at Monet’s Nymphéas – the water-lily paintings.
Autumn sunshine smiled on us the entire three days and so we were able to enjoy this beautiful city. Sunday morning took us to the flower and bird market, Notre-Dame and then lunch on a terrace on the the Île St. Louis. A boat-trip- coffee in the Latin Quarter followed before a delightful evening meal overlooking a sparkling Eiffel Tower. On Monday morning, our last, the girls returned to the Trocadéro to climb the Eiffel Tower, then sampled the elegant delights of the Champs Elysées.
Of course there was too much to see in just three days but we made the most of our time in this beautiful city combining culture with putting language skills to good use. A young Parisian friend organised a ‘rendez-vous social’ for our girls and of course, students Benedetta and Georgina, who live in Paris were able to support Maxi and Anna in their efforts to communicate in French. It is true to say that the girls now have a taste for Paris and will definitely return there in the future.
I would like to thank my colleague Mrs. Wilkinson for joining me on the trip and the girls for participating in our endeavour to introduce them to Paris, the city which could be said to be “at the very heart of the French culture”.”
There is a trip to Barcelona planned for the Spring Term for girls taking Spanish in the IB.
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