Young people
I know that lots of young French people would like to get involved in twinning with the UK as it's a good way of being able to have a "cheap" language exchange. The French need to improve their English and I know that the English don't need to learn French....
I can understand as Dave has said in the past that spending a long weekend with a group of retired people visiting tourist attractions might not seem too exciting for youngsters an 30 somethings. So the only way round that is to adapt.
The director of the language school where I work in France has had an idea about linking families up and then you go and stay with them for a weekend and vice versa; you don't have to go on an organized trip.
I think that young people are interested in finding out what real life is like in different countries and many take a year out to travel. Voluntary work is also interesting. I know that in a town in the vendée there is a sort of agreement to find young British girls to work in primary schools for a year. Many things are possible but they need to be organized.
I know that Cholet has a link with an African village. It would be great if French and British students could go there together....why not!
I've been told that there has been a high school exchange this year....so that's a good start
We can also link up interest groups; football and youth groups.
I've been in contact with a youth group but never got a reply....if they'd like to come and do an activity week in France with watersport it's possible in Cholet. Could you pass on the message for me?
I think younger families like camping why not have a twinning camping holiday weekend/week.
Lots of beer and BBQ fun. We can recommend sites in/near Cholet and near the coast too. It could always be the start to a camping holiday and cheap French lessons could be included too.
As far as I'm concerned the sky is the limit......however I know that we must be realistic....
I'm a dreamer!!
Let's see if there are any other dreamers out there.
Juliet
posted by Mandin Music Mix @ 6:17 AM
3 Comments:
What an interesting post Juliet - full of good ideas.
I had never thought about the camping one before. It sounds like an excellent idea.
The one about the African village sounds even better. How exciting that would be!! We need to get a school teacher from Solihull involved - but I personally don't know one as I live in Moseley
Only two weeks now until our friends from Cholet arrive here. We are becoming very excited and looking forward very much to seeing them again.
Juliet,
I spoke to other committee members of the twinning Association regarding contacting schools in Solihull. As far as they were aware there is no central point of contact within the Solihull Local Education Authority for exchange visits. It would appear that all initiatives are taken at a school level.
I am happy to write to all the school in South Solihull but would need to know what we would like to tell them and to whom they should get in touch with in Cholet if they are in a position to do anything.
It’s my understanding that the schools have to organize certain things themselves in terms of supervision of visits as we live in ‘political correctness gone mad’ society in England and all people involved in trips for children have to be registered and checked. I know from experience that this happen with all teachers as a matter of course but it also needs to be done for any perspective helpers. Still this is a problem for the Solihull schools.
You mentioned that you had been in contact with a youth group. Is there anything that I can do to help with that?
I like the idea put forward by your director regarding the linking up of families. My initial thoughts are that this could be achieved by either contacting schools or by using the local press in Solihull via an article. It would be interesting to see what response we could get.
We may find that there are logistical problems in getting to and from Cholet in a weekend but nevertheless it is an excellent idea and would work for a long weekend during vacations.
Gap years for 18 year olds prior to going to university have become very popular in England at the moment. Often they go to fairly exotic or unusual places.
Also the 17 year old who sits next to me in French did a week’s work experience in Dijon in February via an organisation that was introduced by our teacher.
I have never been too sure how popular camping is with the English. I think that the problem is with the English weather which put people off. Having experienced this in their youth they cannot see how enjoyable camping can be when it doesn’t rain quite as much! This could all be opinion on my part. Personally, I enjoyed camping in my youth, even when we got flooded out!
Dave
Juliet,
Sorry to be bumping up the number of comments on this thread but I missed a couple of things in my last entry.
I think that the first response was from Richard. I’m sure that he will remember to put his name at the bottom of his next post.
Contrary to popular belief, in my opinion the English do need to learn a language, not necessarily French but nonetheless a second language. In fact in yet another U-turn, by our government, it is now considering making a foreign language compulsory for eight year olds in UK primary schools.
Next I’m expecting a quiet admission that maybe the teaching of grammar is also a good idea – especially if they you want to learn a new language. How on earth we expect our children to conjugate verbs if they don’t know what a verb is!
Nouns, adjectives and adverbs anyone!
Dave
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