Rivers Students Host French Counterparts
For a dozen Rivers students, the past two weeks were exceptionally busy, as they welcomed French exchange students from Aix-en-Provence into their homes and daily lives. Arriving on April 5, the students from the Lycée Georges Duby alternated days at Rivers attending classes with their host students with days touring Boston with their chaperone, Yves Régent. In June, 10 of the Rivers hosts will go to Aix for homestays with the same French students. This is the third exchange between Rivers and Lycée Georges Duby, which is offered every other year.
During their stay, the French students walked the Freedom Trail, attended a hands-on workshop at MIT, went on a whale watch, volunteered at Cradles to Crayons, and visited the JFK Museum. They spent the long weekend with their host families, enjoying one of the great Boston traditions, Patriot’s Day aka Marathon Day.
Hosting the visitors were Nathalie Ahn ’19, Nora Brown ’19, Zoë Brown ’19, Maren Durant ’19, Theo Haviland ’19, Phie Jacobs ’18, Ryan Johnsen ’20, Aidan McAnena ’18, Adam Naddaff-Slocum ’18, Ashley Shegog ’19, Sara Stephenson ’18, and Abi Warwick ’19.
“I really enjoyed having my exchange student staying with me,” said Nora Brown. “It was really fun to have her around, although sometimes it was hard for time management. I noticed some interesting cultural differences between the two of us, from how we act to what we eat. I loved getting to know her over these two weeks, and I think that will definitely be helpful to already know my host when I go to France in June. Overall it was a really great experience!”
The Lycée Georges Duby in Luynes, just outside the city of Aix-en-Provence, has an active international exchange program and a particular interest in English-speaking countries, with an “English option,” allowing students to pursue their studies in a French-English bilingual program. In order to maintain the essence of a true exchange program, every effort is made to pair up Rivers students with the same French students on the return trip to France.
“Because they stay with people they already know, we’ve found that our students feel comfortable as soon as they arrive in Aix, and are able to fully enjoy the experience of being part of another family and culture,” said French teacher Elisa Goldsmith who will chaperone the Rivers students in June, along with colleague Andrea Villagran. “We want our French students to see their French studies come to life and to understand personally, culturally, and emotionally what it is like to live in a French-speaking country.”
Like the exchange at Rivers, the French stay is a balance of formal FLE classes (French as a foreign language) and visits to nearby historical and cultural sites. While there Rivers students have opportunities to visit the surrounding area of Provence and nearby Mediterranean, including Les Baux-de-Provence, Cassis, the Callanques, Marseille, and Roussillon.
“We firmly believe that this is the best way for students to learn the language and to connect with another culture,” said Goldsmith. “We hope that our students will appreciate the different ways in which people live around the world, and see real-world applications of their French studies at Rivers.”
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