Turning Right on Red: April 2016

I am just getting home after about 9 days with students in France for an exchange trip to Sarreguemines. Being in France at a French high school gave me flashbacks to 14 years ago when I studied abroad in a Francophone high school. Things have really changed since I went to Belgium in 2012. I am dating myself talking this way but it really was a different type of exchange than what I remembered. Besides the fact that this was obviously different from my trip as it was a short-term group trip through school, there were other big elements of change. The big one was technology as all our students had smart phones and purchased international plans to always be connected. It was amazing to be walking on a several centuries old European fort and hear kids casually talking to their parents back in the U.S. as if they were right next store. There is no longer any separation in global travel and a certain element of surprise, wonder, getting lost, and exploration seems to be loss.

I probably am focusing on the negative with this but it also seemed like students very little French with this connectivity factor. Most of the students spoke to their host French family’s in English because 1)Most of their French isn’t that good and their hosts speak better English 2) (similar to 1) Communicating a point is much easier and faster for everyone in English 3)English surrounds daily life in France in a way that French does not in the U.S. If anything since I lived in Belgium the influence of the U.S. and the Anglophone world at large has only increased. More economic activity, art, government, and entertainment is conducted in English than ever before and therefore the French have much more of an impetus to learn another language than we do. When you miss all of the pins at the French bowling alley it say’s “gutterball” just like it does back home. 4)Language programs start earlier in France when it’s easier to learn and students can benefit in high school from an exchange in which they have more experience with the language under the belt. They also just seem to take language learning more seriously in Europe.

I don’t know that my expectations were so high for this trip as far as learning French and exchanging cultures but it seems very challenging as a group to have a truly authentic immersion experience. There is too much of a temptation to do what’s comfortable and not stretch yourself to meet new people, speak the local language, and push yourself to challenging things (like ask for a recommendation for a good restaurant to a stranger on the street).

Another thing about the trip was that it was also a bit lonely being there with just one other teacher and my own host family who while very welcoming and amazing to me, was much older. It’s amazing how as you age you become so uncool so quickly. Becoming a parent or teacher also especially makes you an authority figure and automatically uncool. I don’t want to be friends with my students but I also don’t want to be awkward with them. On a trip outside of school it’s kind of hard not to be though as there are more intimate situations and you have a different relationship with students.

All in all the trip was good but exhausting. Being around 19 teens every day almost all day long is tiring even if they are good kids. There was very little downtime and I think everybody wished we visited one less museum or historic place. I’d do this again, especially as the trip is paid for, but tough giving up a vacation for it. I needed this time to take a break and recharge and I didn’t really get that.