Tour of London for Paris School

On 17th June 2010, students from Connaught's partner school in Paris met up with Connaught students for a guided tour of our capital city in scorching sunshine!

48 students from Collège de la Fontaine aux Bergers in Ollainvile, Paris travelled to London by Eurostar from Gare du Nord in Paris. Ms Ball met the French teachers and students at St Pancras International and escorted them to meet students from Connaught outside Tower Hill station. After some initial nervous reactions the students from both schools began to mingle, introduce themselves and find out who their partners were for the day.

Connaught students had spent many French lessons preparing to be tour guides of London for the day. They had made sure that they knew about each of the landmarks on the tour very well and they all had prepared to answer questions about each landmark in French! The first stop was the Tower of London and the French students began asking questions about the Tower in French and Connaught students answered them in French whilst the students from Paris made notes for their school project about London.

The main objective for the link between the two schools is to link the students and give them opportunities to communicate in the languages they are studying. It was a real pleasure for the teachers from both schools to see their students enjoying talking in the languages they are learning and to witness any preconception they may have had wiped away as they began to form friendships with each other.

The tour continued with stops at:

• Tower Bridge
• City Hall
• Hays Galleria
• Clink Street original prison
• Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
• Millennium Bridge
• St Paul’s Cathedral
• Covent Garden to enjoy the craft market and shops, souvenir stalls, street entertainers and have a well-earned lunch

After lunch the party walked to the British Museum where the French party was to spend some time completing their research for their project about London before going home on Eurostar. The students from both schools said au revoir on the steps to the grand entrance to the museum wishing they had more time to spend together.

The next partnership day-visit will be Connaught students travelling to Paris on 30th September 2010. The languages department will give out application letters for this visit at the start of the Autumn Term in September 2010.

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