Students from Year 9 have been working since January on a virtual exchange with the College Champollien in Dijon, writing and emailing each other on a range of topics, but concentrating on a project on cinema.
Report By Sean Harrison & John Griffiths
9H1 - Rainford-Dijon Exchange Project 2007
The Rainford-Dijon Exchange is a project that we started back in February, in which our class, 9H1, and another class from a school in Dijon, France had a chance to work together. Over the past 6 months we have shared thoughts and opinions on certain subjects such as opinions of film genres and questionnaires about attending cinemas both in France and in England.
Firstly we sent off short passages about ourselves to the English class over in France. In return they sent some information back to us about them. We attached our MSN addresses and our School E-Mail addresses to the information that we sent off and so did the class that we were linking up to over in France. This way, it was much easier to keep in contact with the French students at home rather than in school time. Another advantage of doing this is that you can get a much faster and much more personal response from the students.
Having read the information sent to us by the French students, we all picked a student that we would like to keep in contact with and took away their E-mail address.
We also produced pieces of work that we sent off to the French class. Both our class and the French class produced film reviews on two films: “La Haine” and “Billy Elliot.” We compared our cultures now and our lifestyles to what the ones in the film are like. So it is much easier to see how different teenagers in France live, compared to how teenagers in England live. One of the main pieces of work we did is when we created posters on a film of our choice, which we then sent off to our exchange class.
As well as sending work over to France, (with the help of our school web designer) we were able to post our comments, on the two films that we had both watched, on a special forum on our school website. We also posted questionnaires about cinemas here in England and over in France. We have also had a private page created on our school website which we posted pod casts with information about ourselves on, which only people who were involved in the Rainford-Dijon Exchange Project are able to see.
Comments on Rainford-Dijon exchange
Jonathan O’Brien - I liked:
- Reading the review they sent us, since they were quite good
- Writing my own review in French
- Communicating with someone who speaks a different language
Nicola Pilkington
- I enjoyed being able to chat to my French penpals through the internet at home
- I enjoyed being able to send my views on 2 different films and read other people’s views on the same 2 films
- I enjoyed sharing difficulties with the French and seeing how much we have progressed with our languages
- I think it would have been good to meet up with the French students
- I think a video conversation would have helped and been fun
Melissa Dootson
My overall impression of the Dijon exchange is, it was really good as we were in contact with a French school. I think it could be improved by us being in contact a bit more and receiving more work from the French school. I fully enjoyed the exchange.
Christopher King
Even though I was not in this class for most of the year, I think that it is a good idea to link up with a school from another country. The movie project was good because it allowed you to show the French school how much you understand their language. It would be good if we could go to France and meet them or if they could come to us. It gives you an insight on how French people live.
Sarah Liley
Overall, I enjoyed the experience and I think I would do it again but variable forums so we could get to know the French people more as friends. We have also seen an insight into their lives and how they go to school.
Tom Graves
The good points about the Dijon exchange was when we traded our film reviews as it was good to see their opinions on films and how good their English is. I also liked recording the voice messages and swapping pictures as it was good to see who we were sending to. To improve, I think you oculd do some sort of way of communication so we could talk to them live. Also it would be easier if there was one person for each member of the class as it was difficult when two people were writing to them. Overall I enjoyed the exchange.
Rebecca Pickavance
I enjoyed the exchange with Dijon, I particularly liked taking the pictures and looking at the pictures of the French people. I also enjoyed reading about their lives and filling out the questionnaire about the cinema. After watching the film “La Haine” I understand more about living in France.
Jack Hesketh
It is good because it gives an insight to a foreign culture even though it isn’t easy to communicate. This could be improved by giving additional contact details.
Laura Ball
Overall I think that the French exchange was a good idea as it improved my French skills. I also thought that it was fun getting to know different people with different lifestyles to my own. I really enjoyed watching the film that they chose for us to watch. Although I thought it wasn’t really relevant to learn about what films they enjoy. I thought that we should have learnt more about the French language and their lifestyle and not films.
Laura Barlow - Good points:
- Comparing a French film and an English film.
- Talking to them on MSN – improved French.
- Seeing which films they liked from their reviews.
- Improvements:
- Need to keep in contact throughout the whole year.
- Plan an exchange.
- Need to find out more about individual people – one English person talks to one French person instead of class talking to class.
- Overall I think the Dijon exchange was a good idea as talking to them on MSN has improved my French. Also it helped to realise why we learn French.
John Griffiths
I think that “Bonjour Dijon” is good as it helps students communicate with other people with different cultures and it helps to expand your ability to speak another language. Making posters such as the film review is good because it helps to share your opinions with people in a different country and it is good when they send you their reviews back. I think that “Bonjour Dijon” is good and the school should carry on doing it.