By Fatimah Nouilati
Staff Writer
Imagine welcoming a stranger from a whole other world into your home. Our own Westford Academy students are doing just that.
On October 14th, twenty high school students from Rumilly, France will be heading to Westford to start an exchange program adventure with twenty WA students.
WA French teachers, Amy Moran and Jenn Conti, are the coordinators of this French Exchange program and are both very excited for the experience to start. Of course, in all experiences in life, there is going to be challenges, especially when traveling.
Moran thinks that the French students’ biggest expected difficulty will come into place when communicating, like it has in the past exchange programs. The French students are coming here to work on their English but are definitely not fluent, which will cause barriers when communicating with their host family and other students.
Along with the language barrier, there are cultural differences between Westford, Massachusetts and Rumilly, France. Conti and Moran have not been to this specific part of France, but have an idea of common differences in the cultures. For example, Westford is a lot more modern and spread out than towns in France.
The French students are also used to very unstructured school schedules while we have each class, lunch, and activities at a specific time each day.
Some of the WA students, especially seniors, are worried that their busy schedules will not allow for them to provide the best experiences for their guests.
Aside from the differences and obstacles within this experience, there is so much to look forward to. Some of the hosting students have come up with some American fun-filled activities for the French students. As a group they plan to provide a taste of New England fall by apple picking, pumpkin carving, going to a corn maze, and of course showing them some classic American football. The group of students will definitely be doing a shopping trip or two, and hope to make it into Boston or the Wrentham Outlets. Many of the French students have asked about shopping and what prices they should be expecting.
The students from WA and the students from Rumilly have been in contact since they were assigned a partner in the exchange program.
On the academic side of things, the French students will be attending school with their host every weekday they are here. They do have the choice to attend a different class that interests them more.
For the WA students who are in clubs and sports, they will bring their exchange student with them unless the French students want to check out another activity during their time here. Along with the French students, one of their physical education teachers and their principal will be coming along for the experience. They will be sitting in some of our classes to learn about our learning and teaching methods.
Both the WA teachers and students are hoping not only to have a linguistic experience and to improve on their French, but also to develop friendships within the whole group. When the WA students take off for Rumilly in February, they hope to have a close friend waiting for them in France.
