Mount Roskill Grammar School
In September 2007, a group of students and staff traveled to Yvetot in Normandy to stay with families of senior high school students at Lycee Jean XXIII (J23). Principal, Greg Watson, described the trip as ‘a life changing experience that has taken place between two peoples and cultures’ as he detailed activities that he and his students took part in – language quiz competitions, learning how to cook French desserts, guided tours of the area, and even a grandmother’s 80th birthday celebration dinner! This was the fourth time students from Mount Roskill Grammar had visited Yvetot, and the final evening was a major event for the town, with everyone involved in present and past exchanges invited. ‘We hope that we are contributing in a small but positive and powerful way to the vibrancy that can exist between people when they make an effort to spent time with each other…’ Greg Watson said.
Rugby/French Exchange – St Catherine’s College, Wellington
During the Rugby World Cup in September/October 2007, 16 rugby players, 8 French language students and 4 staff members traveled to France as part of an on-going exchange between St Catherine’s and Lycée Robespierre in Arras, France. In 2006, 45 students and 6 staff from the French school visited NZ and were billeted for two weeks with students from St Catherine’s and St Patrick’s College. On this return visit, the NZ students played rugby, attended classes, visited battlefields, war cemeteries and other places of historical significance, attended ceremonies and receptions, and visited local primary schools.
Taneatua School Cultural Exchange
Pupils from Taneatua School in the Eastern Bay of Plenty made a beautiful book – L’Aventure Francais 2008 – about their trip to Marseilles. Full of stories and photographs, it details the experiences of 18 excited children as they explored a new country and got to know the families they were billeted with. Haka performances proved an ice-breaker, as Faith Teepa describes: “When we were performing I slowly watched the children’s faces begin to smile… It was now the boys’ Haka. The French children’s faces suddenly changed into shock as Maru screamed and poked his tongue at them. They slowly backed away from us, when it was over hundreds of kids rushed up towards us.
“Show me please,” they begged. They were all excited to learn.”
“For many of our children this was a trip of a lifetime,” wrote principal, Rob Shaw. “This adventure was a huge undertaking for our school and in many cases parents made big sacrifices to allow their children this experience…In two weeks time it is our turn to play host when we welcome a group of thirty from Marseilles for a 10 day stay in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.”
The Tahiti Exchange
This is an annual language and cultural exchange between NZ and French Polynesia that began in 1965. Tahitian pupils visit and stay with NZ families for a month in July, and NZ pupils visit Tahiti in December/January. NZ students have two weeks’ holiday, then two weeks in school. In answer to the question ‘What went really well for you?’ student Deb Palmer replied: “The French! I thought it would be really difficult but I feel so much more confident speaking in French now. Also the different food, we ate lots of yummy things. Again I thought it would be difficult to adjust to but I even learnt to cook a few things! I made really good friends with my host family as well.”
Cashmere High School Visit to Lycée St Michel
A group of 26 students and 3 teachers had a 21 day trip to France. The trip started with an overnight stay in Paris at the Kellerman hostel. The group then spent the day visiting Notre Dame, the Palais de Luxembourg and the Latin Quarter.
The following day we took a coach to Chateau-Gontier to spend 12 nights with our hosts from our sister school, Collège Lycée St Michel. Whilst we were there we spent a lot of time in school working with the English classes, showing them our presentations of New Zealand and giving them an insight into kiwi culture. Students also accompanied their hosts to class and they could then experience French schooling first hand.
It is French practice to welcome foreigners with an official welcome at the town hall, The Deputy Mayor gave us a welcome speech and one of our students replied with a well-rehearsed speech in French. Reporters from the local newspaper were there and a photo and article appeared in it the following day.
Our New Zealand students were very excited about trying and seeing new things. They learnt a lot about French life and culture by living with a French family. Student Larissa Ou wrote: “We learnt so much in France, like how to pronounce the little villages we stayed in (it’s Niafles, Nia-FLES, announciate the FLES), or how to order a takeaway hot chcoclate (je voudrais un chocolat chaud, emporter) or that le Mont ST Michel is actually a three story structured castle.”
In September 2007, a group of students and staff traveled to Yvetot in Normandy to stay with families of senior high school students at Lycee Jean XXIII (J23). Principal, Greg Watson, described the trip as ‘a life changing experience that has taken place between two peoples and cultures’ as he detailed activities that he and his students took part in – language quiz competitions, learning how to cook French desserts, guided tours of the area, and even a grandmother’s 80th birthday celebration dinner! This was the fourth time students from Mount Roskill Grammar had visited Yvetot, and the final evening was a major event for the town, with everyone involved in present and past exchanges invited. ‘We hope that we are contributing in a small but positive and powerful way to the vibrancy that can exist between people when they make an effort to spent time with each other…’ Greg Watson said.
Rugby/French Exchange – St Catherine’s College, Wellington
During the Rugby World Cup in September/October 2007, 16 rugby players, 8 French language students and 4 staff members traveled to France as part of an on-going exchange between St Catherine’s and Lycée Robespierre in Arras, France. In 2006, 45 students and 6 staff from the French school visited NZ and were billeted for two weeks with students from St Catherine’s and St Patrick’s College. On this return visit, the NZ students played rugby, attended classes, visited battlefields, war cemeteries and other places of historical significance, attended ceremonies and receptions, and visited local primary schools.
Taneatua School Cultural Exchange
Pupils from Taneatua School in the Eastern Bay of Plenty made a beautiful book – L’Aventure Francais 2008 – about their trip to Marseilles. Full of stories and photographs, it details the experiences of 18 excited children as they explored a new country and got to know the families they were billeted with. Haka performances proved an ice-breaker, as Faith Teepa describes: “When we were performing I slowly watched the children’s faces begin to smile… It was now the boys’ Haka. The French children’s faces suddenly changed into shock as Maru screamed and poked his tongue at them. They slowly backed away from us, when it was over hundreds of kids rushed up towards us.
“Show me please,” they begged. They were all excited to learn.”
“For many of our children this was a trip of a lifetime,” wrote principal, Rob Shaw. “This adventure was a huge undertaking for our school and in many cases parents made big sacrifices to allow their children this experience…In two weeks time it is our turn to play host when we welcome a group of thirty from Marseilles for a 10 day stay in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.”
The Tahiti Exchange
This is an annual language and cultural exchange between NZ and French Polynesia that began in 1965. Tahitian pupils visit and stay with NZ families for a month in July, and NZ pupils visit Tahiti in December/January. NZ students have two weeks’ holiday, then two weeks in school. In answer to the question ‘What went really well for you?’ student Deb Palmer replied: “The French! I thought it would be really difficult but I feel so much more confident speaking in French now. Also the different food, we ate lots of yummy things. Again I thought it would be difficult to adjust to but I even learnt to cook a few things! I made really good friends with my host family as well.”
Cashmere High School Visit to Lycée St Michel
A group of 26 students and 3 teachers had a 21 day trip to France. The trip started with an overnight stay in Paris at the Kellerman hostel. The group then spent the day visiting Notre Dame, the Palais de Luxembourg and the Latin Quarter.
The following day we took a coach to Chateau-Gontier to spend 12 nights with our hosts from our sister school, Collège Lycée St Michel. Whilst we were there we spent a lot of time in school working with the English classes, showing them our presentations of New Zealand and giving them an insight into kiwi culture. Students also accompanied their hosts to class and they could then experience French schooling first hand.
It is French practice to welcome foreigners with an official welcome at the town hall, The Deputy Mayor gave us a welcome speech and one of our students replied with a well-rehearsed speech in French. Reporters from the local newspaper were there and a photo and article appeared in it the following day.
Our New Zealand students were very excited about trying and seeing new things. They learnt a lot about French life and culture by living with a French family. Student Larissa Ou wrote: “We learnt so much in France, like how to pronounce the little villages we stayed in (it’s Niafles, Nia-FLES, announciate the FLES), or how to order a takeaway hot chcoclate (je voudrais un chocolat chaud, emporter) or that le Mont ST Michel is actually a three story structured castle.”
