Pupils keep in touch with French exchange peers

This week a group of 34 pupils from S3 were supposed to be spending 5 days in Paris staying with their French exchange partners. Unfortunately we have not been able to go on our annual visit to Collège Romain Rolland, but our pupils are still making the most of the Sporting Language Exchange by keeping up communication with their partners.

Jasmine (S3) said: "Speaking with Lorette, who is a native French speaker, has helped me improve my french skills immensely and make a really kind, new friend. It has been a really enlightening and wholesome experience to speak with her and get to know her through the means of social media. We try our best to talk regularly and have really gotten to know each other quite well. We talk about all sorts of things, from our family, to our schools and to even what we ate for breakfast!

"We decided at first to speak « franglais », which is when we try to speak the language we are learning to each other as much as possible, but we can switch back to our first language if we don’t know how to say something. At first, there were some things I was not able to say in French, likewise with Lorette, but now we are able to talk all the time without franglais ! I was really looking forward to meeting her in real life but with the COVID-19 situation right now, things are in the grey area. Regardless, we still keep in touch and I keep in touch with all of the other French people who are taking part in the exchange. They are incredibly funny, kind and such likeable people. I really hope to meet them someday!

"One thing I’ve learnt from this experience is how beautiful social media and communicating really are. We can form meaningful relationships with people when we are far apart and this shows that we can use the internet to do real good in this world. During quarantine, we should all try to reach out and stay in touch with one another, and maybe branch out and learn something new, like a language!"