From the Head of Languages
On December 8, 2017 I departed Melbourne with Sarah Steven, Lucy Porter and Flynn O’Brien, headed for Cours Fénélon in Toulon.
During our first evening in Nice, the girls reflected upon their feelings and goals as they embarked upon a five week exchange program. I was hosted by my French colleagues with whom we have begun a new Sister School relationship. Monsieur Emmanuel Tilmont toured us through the school, with a stunning location perched high above the Mediterranean. We were warmly greeted by students and the easy relationships between staff and students was immediately evident.
The famous Mistral wind whistling through the pine trees was quite eerie and despite a cloudless sky, winter was clearly on its way. I was so proud of our students, who excitedly renewed the friendships commenced at St Catherine’s last July. As the weeks unfolded, I was heartened to see the positive manner in which our students responded to the challenge, viewing it as an opportunity to be embraced.
Below Flynn and Sarah recount their time spent in France:
My time in France was unbelievable. On the first afternoon, I was met with my exchange Clémence (Clem) who alleviated all my nerves about speaking French. Although I was so incredibly nervous and barely uttered a word for the first three days my amazing family kept encouraging me and their patience and understanding allowed me to finally mutter a few words. After I began there was no turning back, my love and interest in the language grew every day and the best thing I ever did was ask endless amounts of questions. From grammar to the culture and everyday life to schooling – I wanted to know it all.
Clem was amazing and made sure to speak slowly and make sure I understood what was happening. School was a whole new world into which I was thrown after thirty seconds. Within an hour of meeting Clem for the first time I was sitting next to her in class as the teacher talked about annotating a French novel as I stared back at him in complete bewilderment. Each class was a new challenge and it was so much fun! I sat tests in Economics, Physics, Biology and French as well as completing an English oral! I was proud of my 9/24 in Economics although the rest of the teachers didn’t think it necessary to return my tests from the other subjects so I’m assuming they were… exceptional! Learning Spanish in French was definitely something that I never imagined myself doing!
Completely immersing myself in the culture was incredible and I didn’t feel like I was on exchange or staying in a foreign country; rather, I felt comfortable and at home very quickly. The language barrier, although it made me nervous in the beginning, seemed to make situations more amusing. For example, we went kayaking on the Mediterranean with school and I couldn’t understand any of the instructions, so I assumed that Clem would help me if anything went horribly wrong. Two minutes later her friend paddled up to me and I looked behind to realise I had gone about 100 metres the wrong way as I hadn’t understood the instructor’s directions!
I never could have imagined how much I would have got out of this experience before I left. As well as improving my speech and understanding of French immensely, it has deepened my love for the language and all the interesting and intricate differences between two countries which seem so similar, yet are completely different.
Flynn O’Brien
And Sarah’s experience was equally powerful:
Last December, Flynn O’Brien, Lucy Porter and I headed to Toulon for our French exchange expecting crêpes for breakfast, people in striped red and blue clothing and armed with a well-planned sentence on how to refuse eating snails and frog legs.
However, although we did eat many crêpes, we were surprised to find that France is not just croissants and the Eiffel Tower. After stumbling through the first few weeks responding “oui” and smiling in response to every French question, I found myself beginning to pick up more and more French phrases. I even slipped in the shower one night after jumping for joy as I found myself thinking in French.
Experiencing a French Christmas was also amazing and very different to our classic Aussie barbeque, instead eating ‘foie gras’ and playing in the snow on Christmas morning. I also had the most incredible exchange family with four little sisters to play with, a big change from my life as the youngest. School proved a challenge at the start as teachers, not realising I was Australian, gave me Spanish tests in French and even asked me to write an essay in French about which teacher was the most positive influence in my religious experience. However, after a quick explanation from my exchange, the teachers always spoke slowly and tried to help me with my French whilst the other students completed their tasks. I was definitely the top student in my English class. Overall, I had the most amazing exchange and would definitely recommend this to anyone studying French. C’était une expérience incontournable !
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Flynn, Lucy and Sarah with their host sisters.
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