Au collège

Mercredi:

This was an exciting day for all. We spent the day in school and the afternoon/evening with host families and partners- a big step for the year 8s.

We started the day with a welcome from the headteacher, le Principal du Collège. He greeted all students and gave a brief description of Edouard Herriot (somehow my translation of 'there are 700 students of whom 50 board at school' became misconstrued as '700 students of whom 50 are bored at school'. Only 50?!). The French students had prepared activities for our guys from musical chairs to pictionary - Ben was crowned king of French pictionary. This was followed by a town trail around La Roche.

All students spent the rest of the day with their partners at the beach, shops, bowling etc. Lots of French was spoken and the year 8s were keen to share their experiences back at CREPs.

Puy du Fou

Dernier jour: Puy du Fou

Despite the wobbly weather (and wobbly food according to Theo and Tabby) we survived the week and headed off to le Puy du Fou for our final day en France.

Le Puy du Fou is a huge historical themed park with spectacular live shows, such as 'Les Vikings' featuring real life swordfighting, bison, horses and wolves (a big hit!).

We were tous ensemble - over 100 French and English students and teachers in all. This meant it was difficult to stay together throughout the day so the students explored the park for themselves with their French partners (well some mingling took place anyway...!). We did, however, watch the first show of the day all together: Les Oiseaux Fantômes. Certainly the most spectacular show of all. Hundreds of birds from owls to eagles and vultures swooping over, and occasionally sitting on, our heads (Mr Holgate!).

The day ended in the Roman Colosseum, another huge spectacle with tigers, lions and hyenas in the arena.

We're heading back to Sheldon now armed with baguettes (Lani and Abbie), café, Mean Girls and great memories from the week. What a great week. Thank you to all our students this year who have been absolutely fantastic throughout and a huge credit to us. Merci beaucoup à nos fantastiques élèves :)

Miss H, Miss L (Little Lang), Mr H

15676 steps through Nantes

Bonsoir tout le monde! 12 giant steel mechanical animals; 15676 steps (according to Miss Lang's pedometer);1 chateau and thousands of glaces, gaufres, bonbons et cafés later, and we have completed a great day 2 in Nantes.

We started off at the castle with a bit of free time up the ramparts (Harrison's highlight of the trip so far), then a bit more free time to explore Nantes itself and its cafés, ice cream shops and Galeries Lafayette.

The group were very stoic walking all the way across Nantes to the Machines de l'Ile, after a quick lunch stop in the castle moat. Unfortunately not all students were able to have a go on the carousel which was a shame, as they were in 'education mode' and not 'holiday mode', but they were fantastic about it. Some of the girls then got the chance to ride a huge mechanical spider!

We finished off the day with year 8 circle time and they shared their best moments of the trip so far: being on the spider, coach games, Dave the driver and his coach Capri Suns, making new friends in year 8 and year 9 too.

Tomorrow a day au collège and with French partners!

Miss Harris

Jour 1

Bonsoir à tous! Today we spent the day at La Rochelle, visiting the old town and port in the morning and the Aquarium in the afternoon. We woke up to pouring rain but enjoyed a great breakfast (when is breakfast not good in France? The year 8s tucked into croissants, fresh bread and hot chocs) and headed off to La Rochelle hoping it would clear and sure enough by lunchtime it was lovely- we had our picnics and had some time to enjoy the sun.

All students got practising their French ordering gifts and treats from La Rochelle, and spent many euros on every flavoured (from peach to smelly sock) jelly beans (including Miss Lang) and raw trout as a present for our driver Dave....

Time for lights out. Tomorrow we're heading to Nantes. Hopefully you'll next hear from the students themselves as they write the blog posts!

A demain!

Setting off

Bonjour! Welcome to the Sheldon French exchange 2016 blog! Up and running, log in to follow the latest from La Roche sur Yon. Currently waiting for the ferry to France,  lovely sunny day. Great way to start the trip! A plus!