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"On the morning of the trip, I was mega excited and extremely hyper..."

Primary schools are increasingly considering taking their children abroad to experience culture first hand and to use language in the best of all contexts. In this article, the children of Parkroyal Primary School in Macclesfield offer their perspectives on a recent visit to France that combined language with culture and outdoor experiences!

“On the morning of the trip, I woke at 5:15am feeling slightly dazed but very soon I became mega excited and extremely hyper. I swiftly leapt out of bed and lunged for the sticky pad and pen I’d prepared the previous evening. I swiftly wrote: Older and very annoying sister feed the fish, or else, Bye! I did this because I knew there wasn’t a chance she’d wake up before I left for FRANCE.

I’d never been before… an hour later I was at school staring at the coach in awe… We arrived at school to be welcomed by children hugging their mums and dads until they were dragged away by the coach driver to be seated comfortably on the coach, turning the corner was either a chance to settle back to WELL NEEDED sleep or the more popular choice… SWEETFEST!!!!

Children from Parkroyal Primary School on their French trip

The coach was very plush, with flip down TVs (ooh fancy) DVD player (ooh expensive) and comfy seats (ooh, well that should be an essential). The only trouble was me and my partner, Stella, chose a chair right next to the emergency door, wind kept wafting through like a ghost sending a chilly draft, seeping through the door. I spent the rest of my journey to the Channel Tunnel lazing around and maybe occasionally taking a dip at my humungous lunch (which I still hadn’t finished by Friday!)

Finally we arrived en France to see… a road and lots and lots of other roads, did I mention even more roads? Although it looked quite ordinary, buildings in France are slightly different (understatement of the century), for instance the houses are colourful - I mean green and pink – brilliant. After a tormentingly long journey we eventually arrived at the Chateau at which we were going to stay. It had tall, sturdy trees all the way to the metal gates; the main building looked grand and mighty, and kind of old but renewed with a cool vintage look. My French experience was already great!

After we arrived we went for a walk and as we strolled through Rue (the French town, obviously not a road) I noticed Rue had a more, how would you say maybe, authentic image; everything was just so much more cosy, yet the houses and stores were very old, tilted and full of character.

We were kept very busy during our stay, amongst lots of games and outdoor activities we had language tasks to do, and were sent off in teams of girls and boys. Funny though, every time we passed the boys they appeared to be entering or exiting la boulangerie, la patisserie or la chocolaterie with a satisfactory grin on their faces – is there something you need to tell us boys? Although I couldn’t resist a quick nip in the bakery, I wanted to buy a big cream cake but I would have looked a very greedy person in front of all my mates, so I settled for a smaller (and slightly less messy pain au chocolat and it was half the price – it was only 50 cents)! I tried to speak as much French as I could. I managed bonjour, ça va? But it was my first time in France and I was still quite shy – can you blame me? I was in different country in which I didn’t speak completely fluent French, so when a group of French school children passed by and asked do you speak French I just replied un peu, which means a little. So as they say time flies and you have so much fun when you’re… in a country abroad!!!

Children from Parkroyal School at the market in France

The next morning we were heading down to the market or le marché at Etaples. Our first location in the town was le supermarché (or supermarket for all you non French speakers) which was like a basic shop selling groceries, meat, boys mags, girls mags and my personal favourite - chocolate. French food can be very different though, I saw chicken wrapped in a pancake – une crêpe! One boy even tried shredded lobster in a pancake – une crêpe à l’homard, apparently it was very nice but I trusted my instincts and stuck with sugar and lemon for mine!

At the market I felt like I’d just stepped in a parallel universe, as my French isn’t too brilliant, all I could understand from the stalls was oui, s’il vous plaît, euros, vingt euros; it’s like

being a red sock in a batch of white washing, even so I still tried my best to communicate with all the French I had learnt. It was kind of strange in a way, but huge fun. Maybe it was because I’d never been there before, but it seemed so much more different to an English market.

On Wednesday we had to get up very early. After our breakfast of croissant et pain au chocolat, we went to my favourite place of the week, la chocolaterie (the chocolate factory). It was very interesting and stimulating to learn how chocolate was actually made. It was most enjoyable to eat chocolate that had been made whilst we were there. It was so delicious that I bought some for my family.

When we got back to the Chateau we had another very nice lunch and then did the assault course, which was very hard and I got extremely muddy on most parts of it. We then had a snack and a change of clothes and did the zip wire, which was unbelievably good fun but I wished it had lasted a little longer because I enjoyed it so much and I had never done it before. For dinner we were allowed to try frogs’ legs or snails and I only tasted a frog’s leg and it tasted just like chicken. After tea we went to the beach and me and some people sculpted a mermaid in the sand.

After a delicious French breakfast we headed off to the local town where we were shown around and then we went off in little groups to do a quiz in English and French. In the café lots of

Zip wire

people bought hot chocolate (chocolat chaud) or ice cream (une glace) ordering in French of course but I just had people’s spare sugar lumps – very healthy NOT.

In the afternoon we went rifle shooting, the first time I hit the target twice but the second time I missed with all three bullets. After dinner we went to the beach where we had the option of beach games or beach sculpture. I made the Parkroyal School emblem.

All in all a lovely time!"