French exchange students reaching for the top

Inverness Royal Academy recently welcomed 22 students and 3 teachers from Collège Éric Tabarly in La Baule, France to Inverness on an educational exchange visit.

From 5 to 12 May the group followed a busy programme of lessons and activities, stayed with local families, and spoke a mixture of French and English throughout.

Current Inverness Royal Academy pupils in S2 will return to La Baule on their exchange visit at the start of their third year. The school hopes that the experience will be really motivating for them and their language skills will be improved within a real context. Exchange visits provide real curricular benefits and are organised to improve and extend pupils’ learning experiences.

This is the second time the school has run this programme, and they return to France in September (15 to 22). Great care is taken to try to match students, and this has proved successful as they are looking forward to meeting up again in France.

The aims of the programme are to improve language skills in a real context, and also to encourage good social skills. The process of hosting a young person is in itself a demanding and rewarding experience. The school has been delighted with the results so far and are delighted that the exchange is good example of the Scottish Government’s current 1 +2 Language Strategy.

The exchange week involved classes in school in Music, Geography, P.E., Modern Studies, and visits to Culloden Battlefield, Cairngorm Mountain Railway, Highland Folk Museum, and a Jacobite Cruise to Urqhuart Castle. The group was also welcomed to the Inverness Town House for a civic reception hosted by the Town Twinning Committee. At a ceilidh and disco in the Craigmonie Hotel the students were able to practice their newly acquired dancing skills.

Inverness Royal Academy Teacher, Peter McArthur said: “The great success of the visit is always due to the warmth of the welcome we are able to extend to our visitors, and we thank all the parents and families for their tremendous effort to make our young visitors feel welcome. We would also like to thank The Highland Council, and the Town Twinning Committee for their support and assistance.”