Stories

Hosting two foreign groups at the same time was a new experience and a challenge for our school, Lycée Elie Cartan in La Tour du Pin, France.

We welcomed 14 students from St Kliment Ohridski, Sofia, Bulgaria, with whom we have been collaborating for 5 years now, and to whom I owe my first participation in the ASEF Classroom Network Conference in 2015! At the Conference, I met Ms Berit ANDERSSON, who was in charge of the group of 16 students from Ebba Pettersson, Göteborg, Sweden.

Half of our 32 students hosted our Swedish partners while the other 16 welcomed our Bulgarian friends. All the French students follow a particular curriculum called European classes, in which they have extra English lessons as well as another subject taught in English (either PE or maths in our school).

This exchange was cultural, with an emphasis on food and cuisine. During the stay, pairs of students were asked to cook together, preferably some typically French dish. The first occasion was the ‘welcome do’ where the school served French delicatessen and cheese, and students brought all types of desserts, including apple tart, ‘brioche’, and chocolate cakes. At the farewell party there was another opportunity to share dishes prepared by the students and their family.

Parallel to that, the Franco-Swedish group continued the collaborative work started online prior to the meeting: it consisted of designing a calendar displaying, for each month, a French and a Swedish recipe. It will be printed by our Swedish partner and the students will work on its completion during our future visit to Sweden.

All groups of students were taken to Lyon, Annecy and Chambéry for a tour of the cities. They also took part in a volleyball tournament, at the beginning of which each group sang their national anthem. The bonds created between the students (and teachers!), regardless of their nationality, show the challenge was worth taking up!

Special thanks to my colleagues Ms Berit ANDERSSON, Ms Theres WIKEFJORD (SW), Ms Katia MILEVA, Ms Rumi NIKIFOROVA (BG), Mr Bruno BARBAN, Ms Carole Gandon et Flora VAILLAND (FR) for their involvement and friendship.