Bexley Grammar

LC-SE Bilingual Exchange Project: 

LC-SE Bilingual Exchange Project By Penny McLaren & Johanna Williams

Bexley Grammar School: Welling, Kent: 

Bexley Grammar School: Welling, Kent Collège Louis le prince Ringuet: La Fare les Oliviers, Aix-Marseille

Our Project details…: 

Our Project details… The project involves two Year nine French groups from England and one class of Troisième and one class of Quatrième from France. There are approximately forty pupils involved in the exchange. The other pupils are also involved in the letter exchange project and have been finding out more about the Loire Valley. The staff are mostly language teachers but we have also recruited the help of our International Links Co-ordinator who is also an English teacher.

Aims and Objectives: 

Aims and Objectives Foster an appreciation of the culture of the country of the partner school Improve the proficiency of their linguistic skills in the target language Develop confidence in using the target language-particularly in Speaking Develop a strong partnership with the link school in order for the pupils to create a web-site by the end of the 2 year project To make language-learning more real and enjoyable!

Project Agenda-2003: 

Project Agenda-2003 September Exchange of CVs to start up pen-friend links First exchange on the topic of holidays in native language. November= Bexley Grammar pupils write a letter in French about Halloween and Guy Fawkes Le Collège Louis le prince Ringuet compile a project about festivals and the regional tradition of Olive oil & Wine production in English

Project Agenda 2003-2004: 

Project Agenda 2003-2004 December Exchange of Christmas cards in foreign language January Pupils in both schools write about Christmas traditions in England and France in the foreign language

Bilingual Exchange Project based at Le Château de Chambord 2004: 

Bilingual Exchange Project based at Le Château de Chambord 2004 April 1st-5th Pupils from both schools meet! They all stay at the C.I.S in Blois April 1st Arrival April 2nd seminar on Architecture at the chateau in English April 3rd workshop on Chambord and the Renaissance in French April 4th seminar on Landscape April 5th seminar on understanding the Renaissance

The Year Ahead…: 

The Year Ahead… In order to extend the project we will continue to correspond with our French partners and organise a trip to England We will continue with the theme of Castles and the pupils will work together to create a website. The website will improve their ICT skills as well as their cultural awareness.This will be the final product of the two year project.

What do our students think?: 

What do our students think? “I found that exchanging letters was very interesting as we can find out what French students are like” “I liked knowing what the French people’s lives are like and how they compared to ours” “ I think that writing to the French person has improved my French”

What do our students think?: 

What do our students think? “I think I’ve benefited as I now understand more French and their ideas and celebrations” “ I have benefited from exchanging letters with the French school because it has helped me to learn new words and understand French a bit more” “I feel I find French a bit more fun because of the pen-pals” “I feel privileged that I get to have my own friend from France!” “When I go to the Loire valley I am looking forward to practising my French on actual French people. The project to the Château de Chambord will definitely benefit my French and maybe what I know of French life”

We’ll see….!: 

We’ll see….!