French and Japanese Long Exchange

By Ms Michele Sharp, Head of Languages

During the summer break, three Year 11 Language students undertook the Long Exchange to our sister schools. The French students, Bella Schofield and Petra Belgun, visited Lycée Blaise Pascal in Segré in western France, and Nicholas Race attended Konko Gakuen in Okayama, Japan.

During the program the students studied at one of our sister schools and lived with a host family for a period of six to eight weeks. The Long Exchange program is an opportunity for which languages students can apply at the end of Year 11. It is a reciprocal program, meaning those who participate must be willing to host in return.

The aims of the program are to gain first-hand insight into other cultures to develop tolerance, understanding and respect for different ways of life and different values; improve foreign language skills through practical use of the language in a native speaking country; widen perspectives and social experience and gain experience as a host to an overseas visitor both at home and at school.

We are thankful to the schools we have relationships with and the host families our students stayed with for their care of our students. We look forward to welcoming their partner students this year. Below are some student reflections on their experiences.

Bella Scofield

Over the summer holidays Petra Belgun and I had the opportunity to go on exchange to Segré in France for two months.

The two months started with both of us being just a little bit scared at Sydney airport, questioning if we were fluent enough in French to understand French school. This fear was quickly overtaken by boredom when our first flight was delayed in Sydney for three hours due to storms, making the journey to Paris 30 hours in total.

We arrived in France on a Sunday and were told that we had to go to school the next day. The biggest surprise was the length of the school day which started at 7.00 am and finished at 6.00 pm. This meant a few calls home at midnight from two home-sick girls! For me, while we were in a year 11 class, I found the course work to be similar to what was being taught in year nine. However, the long school days made it harder and so did the constant examinations. We both found the way that English was being taught to be surprising. It often including worksheets about Ireland or watching movies like Fahrenheit 451.

One of the biggest surprises were the misconceptions people had about Australia. Believing that we have spiders bigger than our hands in our homes and kangaroos as pets. One of the biggest cultural shocks I found about France was the smoking culture which often made it hard to breathe and BeReal being the main social media that was used by everyone.

While we were at school there were other exchange students there from Spain, the Czech Republic, Norway and the United States. This made the experience more fun as we both had the opportunity to speak French to others who were also learning (although it often ended in us using Google Translate).

Before we knew it Christmas had come. We both loved the various Christmas activities, from trying snails for the first time, visiting new family members and trying all the different French deserts. While on the two-week Christmas holidays, we also had the opportunity to visit Mr Tom Paquier (the French assistant teacher from last year) and together we visited the city Angers, explored a museum and visited a local bakery.

For both of us visiting Paris was the highlight of the trip. Finally getting to see the Eiffel Tower in person after staring at the photos in the French classrooms for years. Visiting the Louvre was another highlight, but we found it a bit strange that there was a Starbucks inside and a Pandora shop below the Louvre. However, the art collections both in the Museum of Angers and at the Louvre were amazing.

After two months in France, we got the 30-hour flight back to Australia – this time because of a delay in Paris which resulted in us running through Dubai Airport. We both made so many friends in France and learned a lot about the French culture and the lifestyle. We are both so grateful to Radford, our French teacher Mme Lefevre for offering us the opportunity to visit France, and to our exchanges Lena and Soline who will be visiting Radford in Term 3.

Petra Belgun

During the school summer holidays I took the opportunity of going on a long exchange trip to France. I lived in a region called Le Louroux-Béconnais with my host family of five and went to school at Lycée Blaise Pascal in Segré.
I discovered a lot of new things, and my experience was peppered with both ups and downs.

My most noteworthy culture shocks were:
The extremely long days. Sometimes my day was from 6.00 am – 6.00 pm
Sitting down to have an actual meal at the canteen for lunch
Lots of bread and cheese – actually just a lot of food in general
The school busses were quiet. This one was a nice surprise.

The awesome stuff:
Improving my French
Being so warmly welcomed by my host family and spending lots of fun and memorable moments together
Visiting the Louvre
Meeting new people, making new friends and visiting new places
Learning more about the French way of life
Exploring the gastronomy that is so deeply ingrained into French culture (I know it’s very cliché, but I especially liked the croissants).

Some memorable moments:
Spending New Year’s Eve at a party with my exchange and her friends. We talked, we laughed, we played billiards, we danced, we didn’t sleep, we had fun.
My first time eating snails.
One evening at dinner, the parents told me a plethora of jokes about Belgian people. Apparently, the French and the Belgians like to make fun of each other and have been doing so since the dawn of time. They are so ridiculous which is why I find them funny: “Why does a Belgian have a full and an empty glass of water next to their bed when they go to sleep? Because sometimes they’re thirsty and sometimes they’re not."

Overall, this exchange was incredible and I’m thankful everyone who helped make it happen. From my parents, the organisers at both Radford and Lycée Blaise Pascal, my host family, my exchange partner Bella, the friends that I made and everyone in between.
Having an open mind not only helped me to try new things but also enriched my understanding of the different cultures and ways of life in other parts of the world. On top of that, my French improved exponentially alongside my self-confidence. There were just so many positive things that came out of this experience and if I could, I would do it all over again.

If you ever have a chance to go on a long exchange trip, take it. You won't regret it!

Nicholas Race

My six-week stay in Japan was an unforgettable experience that gained me invaluable insight into the Japanese way of life and thinking.

My trip started on 10 December when I flew into Okayama airport after a rather rough flight into Tokyo. I was greeted by my first host family, the Nambas who enthusiastically greeted me and offered me ice-cream before embarking on the one-and-a-half-hour journey to their house. After unpacking my luggage in my host brother's room, we decided to go for a walk to take in the surrounding sights. After that it was back home to rest up for the next day of school.

On the first day of school, I met the teaching staff for the Konko Gakuen Senior School. I vaguely remember when arriving at the airport one of the teachers who was there to meet me instructing me to prepare a speech to give at this very moment. It was nerve-racking, but I improvised and apparently, did well.

There were many highlights from my time at Konko Gakuen, namely judo, playing guitar with some other guitarists, trying out kendo (modern Japanese martial arts) for the first time, visiting the Kibitsujinja Temple and Himeji Castle with my host brother, playing basketball and meeting tons of new people.

Overall, the long exchange was an unforgettable experience which gained me invaluable insight into Japanese culture. For anyone who is thinking of taking up this opportunity, you will not enjoy it all the time and there will be times where you are challenged, but if you are enthusiastic, confident and amicable, you are sure to have a great time and make many friends. I would highly recommend this experience to anyone who wants to increase their cultural knowledge and grasp of the Japanese language.

My personal tips for long exchange are the following:

• Make lots of plans and make them early.
• Start researching even before you go and decide what you would like to see. Going out on an outing with your host family is also a surefire way to build a connection with them. And if there is no time or they can’t provide transport, go by yourself. There is nothing stopping you from booking a bullet train ticket, taking the local line, bus, ferry or plane – the sky’s the limit. But make sure you know where you're going and know when your hosts want you back by.
• Don’t weigh yourself down by your mistakes – the sooner you ask for help, the sooner you’re going to start enjoying your time there.

Best of luck to anyone thinking of applying for an exchange.