Students of French at San Andrea Senior School recently welcomed a group of French students from Collège Henri Ageron, a secondary school in Vallon Pont d'Arc, a small village in the southern French countryside of Ardèche.

The French students and teachers had the opportunity to experience Maltese family life and school, as well as visit a number of interesting sites around Malta and Gozo. After a week together in Malta, it was then time for the Maltese students to fly off to France together with their correspondent and spend seven days with a French family in the picturesque village of Vallon Pont d'Arc.

Apart from proving to be an ideal situation for students to practice the French language, it was also a challenge for the young teenagers to adapt to a different family lifestyle in a short span of time. Vallon Pont d'Arc, a village of 2,500 inhabitants, sought by thousands of tourists in summer, takes its name from a natural arch over the Ardèche river. Students had the opportunity to canoe down the river, beneath the Pont d'Arc. The area is also full of prehistoric caves and the Maltese students visited Grotte d'Orgnac and Grotte Chauvet, where cave paintings were found. The group also visited the roman Pont du Gard as well as the city of Avignon and its Palais des Papes.

All students remarked how culturally enriching this experience was, apart from deepening their knowledge of French. Going to school in plain clothes and eating a three course meal at the school cafétéria was definitely a first-time. Apart from experiencing the French way of life, students also experienced the country life in a small village where most families grow their own vegetables. Others commented on how coping with homesickness made them feel stronger character-wise.

This exchange also offered our students the possibility to make friends with fellow European teenagers. On bidding goodbye before the group's return to Malta, warm tears were shed and promises to meet up again were made.

It proved to be yet another positive and fruitful exchange, the fifth one to be organised by Marie Louise Kara, teacher of French and coordinator of the Department of Foreign Languages, assisted by Sharon Abela, teacher of French and Italian. The latter, together with Alison Curmi, teacher of Mathematics, accompanied the students to France.

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