Préparons notre séjour à Paris ! (Let’s Prepare for Our Stay in Paris!)
Every Spring, 8th grade students have the opportunity to go on a week-long cultural immersion trip with their World Language class to either France or Spain. This experience is the culmination of years of study in the language, during which time students not only learn vocabulary and grammar, but also history and culture. When students travel, they get to put together all of the pieces they’ve been learning throughout the years, and become fully immersed in the target language and culture.
During the second trimester, 8th grade French students are divided into départements (committees) based on their interests, and these groups help plan our trip to Paris on designated Département days. There are four départements: Transport (how we get from Point A to Point B on the métro or RER), Restauration (where we’ll eat a bunch of delicious food), Logement (hotel information, room list, and packing suggestions), and Tourisme (construction of the entire itinerary, as determined by what the group wants to see and do). Committees survey the group, do research, work together, and are intimately involved in planning many details of our trip (with teacher guidance and oversight, of course!) Students feel a sense of ownership, responsibility, and pride in making decisions about how and where we spend our time. On other class days, we also study historical events, time periods, and figures as well as famous sites and typical French food. In the Spring, watching the students experience in person what they’ve learned about and planned is a beautiful sight!