KLB School Languages Faculty - Exchanges and Trips
In its role as a language college, KLB is fully committed to a programme of
visits and exchanges to enable students to experience other cultures at first
hand. This takes the form of visits to France and Germany for our Y7 pupils,
annual exchanges with France, Germany and Spain for pupils in Years 9 and 10, a
biennial exchange with Japan, and work-experience exchanges with France and
Germany in Y12.
Year 7 Trips:
In Year 7 all pupils have the opportunity to take part in short trips to
France or Germany. These take place in the summer term and take place over the
week-end (Friday to Monday). The groups travel by coach to Ver-sur-Mer in
France or to Berlin in Germany and stay overnight in youth hostels.
The trip is, of course intended to support their language studies, but more
important it gives the students, especially those who have not travelled
overseas before, the opportunity to go abroad and experience for themselves the
real use of the languages they are learning.
Travelling abroad with the school is also a formative experience in itself
and these trips frequently boost pupils' confidence and feelings of achievement.
Exchanges:
Each year KLB runs exchanges with Collège Denecourt at Bois-le-Roi near Paris
in France, with the Raabeschule in Braunschweig in Northern Germany and with
Colegio Altair in Madrid in Spain. There is also an exchange with Japan - KLB
students visit Japan every other year, but host visitors every year.
Why go on an exchange?
Exchanges provide an opportunity not just to observe, but to live in an
environment where the language learnt in the classroom becomes real. But more
important participants in an exchange experience a foreign culture from the
inside and obtain an insight into their hosts' way of life.
Bois-le-Roi
The exchange with Bois-le-Roi has been running for 12 years. Bois-le-Roi is a
small town within easy reach of Paris. Pupils stay with their French partners
and join in family life at evenings and weekends. They also have the opportunity
to sample life in a French school, although much of the school week is taken up
with a programme of activities arranged for the English visitors. This usually
includes a visit to the capital and a trip to Disneyland Paris is also sometimes
possible. French students enjoy a similar programme of events when they visit
Wotton.
Braunschweig
The Braunschweig exchange has been running for the past 10 years Braunschweig
is a relatively large and prosperous city in Northern Germany situated between
Hanover and Berlin. The Raabeschule is situated on the southern edge of the
city, close to the historic town of Wolfenbüttel. Hamburg is two hours to the
north of the city and to the south are the fairy tale Harz Mountains.
The students spend evenings and weekends with their host families and take
part in normal family life. School time is divided between a programme of
lessons devised specifically for the visiting students, and trips to places of
interest, such as the silver mines in the Harz Mountains or the Volkswagen
Museum at Wolfsburg. The programme of activities for the German students when
they visit Wotton is organised on a similar basis.
Madrid
The Madrid Exchange has been running for 4 years. Colegio Altair, our partner
school, is situated right in the centre of the city with a nearby metro
station/bus stop. It is a private school with approximately 400 pupils. Most
pupils live near the school or a short metro ride away. The school begins at
09:00 with the older pupils remaining at school for afternoon lessons after a
two hour lunch break. Visits to Toledo and Segovia take place as well as visits
to art galleries and other places of cultural interest.
Japan
Our partner school is Hikawa High School in Yamanashi Prefecture which is
about 100km from Tokyo. We entertain the Japanese annually in March and travel
biennially. This exchange is slightly different from the others in that it is
not necessarily reciprocal. Families who host Japanese students do not
necessarily send their sons/daughters to Japan, though they may. The exchange
involves visits to Toyko, Fujikyu Highland (an amusement park in sight of Mt.
Fuji) and local places of interest such as a winery and a fruit farm which are
typical of this wine producing region. The students live with Japanese host
families and experience a way of life which is considerably different from our
own.
China
The annual school trip to Beijing, China is organised by the British Council
and sponsored by HSBC. Pupils spend three weeks staying at the Central
University for Nationalities, a centre for excellence where students from
China's 56 minorities study.
The mornings are spent studying Mandarin Chinese with a native lecturer, an
ideal opportunity for brushing up their communication skills. Some afternoons
the pupils study Chinese brush painting and calligraphy, others are spent
learning gong fu skills.
There are trips to the Great Wall at Badaling, the Forbidden City, Tiananmen
Square, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace and other less famous areas in
and around Beijing. Pupils experience Roast Duck, acrobatics, Beijing Opera and
spend a day with a Chinese family. In all a life-changing experience!
Y12 Work Experience Abroad
General Details
Each year KLB offers work experience in Brest in France and in Braunschweig
in Germany and supports work experience in Spain through a commercial company.
These exchanges are open to all Y12 students studying French, German or Spanish,
as an AS or NVQ course, and often to other VI form students, subject to
consultation with the language department.
If you have any questions about the exchange programme, please contact the
Languages Faculty.
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