Information for Teachers

On The Coach

The Staffordshire-Limousin Experience has been running since 1977 and so, what can this well-established exchange offer you and your students?

For the students:

It is a great opportunity to visit France and can be of immense value, not only from a language point-of-view, but also the experience of living abroad for two weeks.

It is brilliant value and includes travel, insurance, various activities in France, a disco in England and a day at Alton Towers! - and the committee will always consider requests for financial help for deserving cases.

There is the experience of being away from home and standing on one's own feet for once.

It's fun and can lead to lasting friendships.

For the schools and teachers:

You do not need your own exchange and the difficulty of finding a suitable school in France has been done for you.

A thorough risk assessment is in place and is updated every year.

You can send one or 31 students along, without worrying about minimum numbers.

From the organisational point of view, you can do as much or as little as you want - from simply sorting out the quite straightforward school end of the administration to helping out and benefiting from the experience yourself. Taking part in the visits is perhaps the best "refresher course" around - going along as an accompanying teacher, staying with French colleagues and taking advantage of the best that "La Belle France" has to offer. Invaluable Inset!

If you calculate that the average student is exposed to the language in the classroom for around 24 days over five years, allowing 8 hours sleep a day, and put this alongside 10 days in France, the benefits are apparent to all! We all remember the thrill of actually using a foreign language for the first time in an authentic situation, communicating and being understood! The more students experience this, the better for all of us!

If you would now like to know more about the Staffordshire-Limousin Experience, contact me at jim.fisher@staffordshire.gov.uk. I will be glad to answer any questions and also send you copies of our leaflets and brochures.