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One of the ways to travel on a field trip in Europe |
Our teacher Stephanie Derrien-Guivarch, the English teacher at Chateaubriand College has became a close friend over the years. Stephanie not only encourages her pupils to do more she encourages to come up with new ideas to share with the pupils. After two years of planning our dream finally came true of visiting the school. We have three grades consisting of two classes for each grade or a total of about 120 students.
When I spoke to Stephanie about coming to France and meeting the pupils I could feel her excitement clear across the pond. After Christmas Stephanie told the students or pupils as they are called, we were coming to see them. There first assignment was to prepare a brochure to compare where we should stay and a few activities. The students took this assignment very seriously as they considered price, English speaking, free Wi-Fi and close to activities. Their brochures turned out fantastic.
Stephanie insisted that we stay at their home in the guest bedroom and we did not put up much of a fight. We knew that this would be a great opportunity to immerse ourselves in the French culture. We enjoyed meeting Stephanie’s husband Fred, and their two young children. This opportunity was a lot better then staying at a hotel.
We were very nervous about our first day and meeting everyone. Once Stephanie parked her car several students came running over to meet us and they were so excited that they passed on that excitement to us. The secretary as well as the principle, Mrs. Khellaf, greeted us at the school entrance. We then went to several of the offices to meet the staff as well as Eric the accountant who made all of our day trips possible.
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Mont Saint-Michel and our field trip with the 7th graders |
Stephanie planned activities for each day with each different grade. On the first day we were with the 8th graders and we toured Saint Malo and then a boat tour of Dinar along a canal. We learned many things about the area with the pupils pointing out items of interest. They would say what we were looking at in English and in French. I admit their grasp of English was much better then our grasp of French. During the morning we had a television crew walk with us asking everyone questions and taking lots of film shots. They were all amazed that we came to France to see the school and not to go to Paris. The TV show was aired in the evening and we have heard it turned out great but we have not seen it.
Link to TV Show
After we returned from out boat tour we met with one of our pupil’s father who drove a truck in France as for a short time in Canada. Over the years Gil has been a great asset to us as I ask him questions about trucking in France and also about customs. His wife passed away a few years ago and he gave up trucking to raise his two beautiful daughters. Gil has to speak the most rapid English and French of any person we have met here or over there. We talked about hours of service and after listening to him talk about France and their rules ours are very simple and easy to understand. He is a wealth of knowledge about trucking.
Gil, former truck driver with his daughters who are part of the Trucker Buddy Program
After meeting with Gil we were taken to the cafeteria to meet with the students and their parents. The Cafeteria was decorated with many of the things we have sent over the years and also a table with the brochures that the pupils had created. We were overwhelmed from the minute we walked into the mass of people and seeing the walls lined with postcards and letters. The cafeteria had made finger snacks that could have been served at a fine restaurant and several students had trays passing the hors d'oeuvre's around.
Parents as well as students stood in line to talk to us and many gave us small gifts from the area as well as an array of chocolate. Over and over parents talked about how much their sons or daughters had learned about the United States from our post cards and notes making it all seem real. One parent who worked for the Brittany Ferry made arraignments for us to be on the bridge as the boat left Saint Malo for England and Portsmouth.
The reporter for the local newspaper was also in attendance and wrote an article about the American Lorry Drivers who had came to visit the school. After an exhausting evening Stephanie took us back to her house for a well-deserved good nights sleep. Each day we had field trips with the students and I will share about this in the next blog.
Newspaper Article:
