Enjoy the Broadstairs ’09 Experience

Pour ceux qui ne la connaissent pas, l’Expérience Broadstairs, c’est le grand plongeon de nos élèves de 5^ème dans le bain de l’immersion linguistique  dans une petite ville côtière du Kent : Broadstairs.  Une semaine de découvertes multiples, de belles rencontres, d’un autre mode de vie : une  famille d’accueil, des cours de langue pas comme chez nous…

Voici un « best of » des impressions de quelques élèves, prises à chaud quelques semaines après avoir vécu cette expérience unique.  Au programme : angoisse, doutes, mais surtout situations cocasses,  fous rires, plaisir, émerveillement, bonheur.  Que d’émotions et que de beaux souvenirs !!  Have fun!

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Great Expectations …: before the trip

“All the time we hear the pupils of the 6^th form speak about their trip to England, now it’s our turn!! I hope I will learn a lot of things and we will learn to know each other and perhaps speak to people who are shy at school. It’s also interesting to leave with our teachers because you can see them differently, not just like teachers.”

“I had been waiting for this day to come for months..We were all so excited to go to England and to be together (even if we  see each other every day… but now it’s different)!!”

“The fact that we were going to live with strangers made me anxious because in this case it’s just about chance!”

“It was the first time I went to a foreign country like England to learn their language and I felt very happy because after the trip I would be better at English than before and It was all I wanted.”

“I think my parents were happy to see me leave for a week.”

Gone with the wind…

“After two hours of running all around my house to find a toothbrush, some socks, an alarm clock, the t-shirt of my life… I finally arrived at school. The atmosphere was tense… I was becoming very excited and eager to go. With my roommate,  we were talking about  ‘Imagine if the family…’ or ‘do you think it’s a good idea if…’ and ‘ have you taken this or that with you’? “

“While waiting for the ferry, I felt worried because it was the first time I was taking a boat and I didn’t know if I was going to be sick.”

“In the ferry, everyone ran everywhere, went up and down the stairs, and discovered everything. I was on the deck of the boat to breathe the air of the sea. It was amazing and different from the air of the city. There was so much wind that my hair flew everywhere.”

“When we were in the ferry, we visited the different floors, played UNO and also hide-and-seek with Manon, Bilal and Mohammed.”

“I saw the ferry moving away from the French coast.  It was funny to see how the boat was making a white trail. The weather was very windy and it was nice to feel it with the fresh air from the sea.”

Meet The Parents…

“We arrived on a car park and my heart beat more and more. The bus stopped and I hear that we shout my name because my host family was there, I said hello and I got in the car…”

“I was stressed…In a few minutes I was going to THE family! And what if they are mean?? What if it’s dirty? There was a list with our names and our names were underlined in pink… what did it mean? That the family wasn’t going to pick us up! And then, a little Asian woman came to us with a paper and our names were on that paper ! She was very nice! We had a lot of fun with her that evening. We watched tv, talked a lot, she made us tea and brought cookies… The best evening ever!”

“I arrived in my host family. It was a very big house with a Jacuzzi.”

“When we discovered our bedroom, we became mad! We began to spring, we were so happy to see that our family and the house were so cool!”

“My room was very clean when we arrived but after two days, it was dirty… I was glad because there was a guitar and I could play the guitar before going to bed.”

“We play football In the garden with the children of the family and talk with them, we learn that Ned wants to become a football player and Mabel a topmodel. It’s very funny because it reminds me of my childhood!”

“It was great because during our breaks we always had a lot of fun and our “mom” was making dinner. The best part was when she called us: ‘GIIIRLS ’!! or ‘ DAARLING’!  I have always dreamed that my mom would call me like this… but we don’t speak English at home!!”

The beach…: Oh I like to be by the seaside !

“Every day we met in a shelter on the beach during the lunch break. It was a religious moment. We bought a big burger and we talked about the English teachers because they were very different, they always said “You have to be polite”… after that everybody repeated this sentence all the time for the whole week ! It’s Bilal’s sentence which represents the trip to Broadstairs for a lot of us.”

“In the afternoon, we had to make a survey in the streets, asking people a few questions about a topic. As we had finished one hour ahead, we went to a pub just like in the fifties. It was a cool place and we decided to meet there every day. The hot chocolate was so good and funny with a sweet heart in the middle…”

“The beach:  there is nothing to do there but the scenery is very beautiful.  I went there every morning to go jogging. I think it’s very important to be fit.”

“The beach is maybe my favourite place in Broadstairs. I find it very beautiful and different from the other coasts I could see. “

Fried Green Tomatoes…: eating in England

“The Chinese restaurant is a good memory of Broadstairs. We were hungry and we decided to go to this restaurant. The Chinese woman asked me what I would like to drink but I answered ‘I want to eat someone’…!! She looked at me as if I was crazy and everybody was laughing…”

“During the lunch break, we discovered different kinds of foods in the various restaurants of Broadstairs. I ate a fish and chips, it was very tasteful. With the others, I shared my impressions about this new kind of life, my host family, etc. We had the time for it.”

“In town we ate at the KFC.  Everyone took his order. We waited for Vicky but he had disappeared. Then he came back with a huge meal, I had never seen that!! It was at least for 10 people but he ate everything…”

The Kent School of English

“We had a test to know in which level of English you are, I was in the third, like almost all the Jean 23 people (except those who had cheated with a kind German girl, for suuure)…”

“For the first day, I was in a class with a lovely German girl but after the test we were separated for a few time. “

“There was a teacher, she was my favourite teacher at the KSE. She always said: ‘How do you say I love you in French’? And we always answered: ‘je t’aime’. Then, she said ‘Oh thank you’! She was very nice because she told me I was handsome.”

“I had class with my favourite teacher, she did some games to make us speak about our lives. It was interesting because I know Beverley but I didn’t know some things about her.”

“I think it’s a good thing that we were mixed with the other people from the other countries. I spoke with a German boy and I discovered that they learned French too. It was funny to hear a German talk French with his accent!”

“The activities are very funny with the teachers of the KSE, they’re so cool!”

“IN my class, they was a German and an Estonian student.The German doesn’t speak, but shouts, it’s a better word!”

“Swing your Partner”, Gallop with your Partner, Doe si Doe…

“The barn dance: it was my favourite activity in Broadstairs! Everybody was dancing because nobody had danced this kind of dance before. So, nobody was shy.”

“I think I have never danced and laughed so much. My face was completely red!”

“It was my favourite activity because nobody could dance this kind of dance. So everybody danced without thinking what people could say.”

“I’m happy I have had this activity once in my life. I am sad that I will never do it again…”

“I didn’t dance a lot but I really wanted to!!”

“Harry Potter and the order of Jean XXIII…”: a visit to Canterbury

“IN Canterbury, we had some free time for some town sightseeing. It’s a small village but full of history and I felt like being centuries ago from now… To walk between these narrow streets is like a knights experience!”

“The Cathedral is very impressing! It’s a place full of history and I love it!  But I didn’t like the questionnaire. I like art and history but I prefer to see what I want.”

“The cloister was, according to me, the most beautiful part of the cathedral. With the thin rain, it created a mystical atmosphere, like in Harry Potter’s films.”

“I was impressed by this Cathedral because it’s a huge, massive construction. You feel small when you are next to it.”

“In the cathedral, my team found a great guide who showed the answers and the secret places like Thomas Becket’s ghost. The story is the shade on the pillar that appeared after his death. People say it’s his ghost.”

“I looked above and I didn’t see the top of the cathedral!!”

Wednesday Night Fever

“The party was very cool, we had fun and we saw people dance, even some teachers and nobody had imagined they could dance like that!!”

“On Wednesday night we went to a disco. I had imagined boring, old fashioned music but I was wrong! We all immediately started to dance  on the podium. After 20 min, everybody was totally wet! It was disgusting! But it was cool!!”

“All the jean 23 people were on the podium, we were the kings of the party!!”

London

“I had never been to London before, so you can understand that I couldn’t wait for this day!”

“I felt extremely enthusiastic to find out this gorgeous city. I felt its power and its diversity. It was an incredible feeling to look at monuments I had only seen in picture.”

“We wanted to take a picture with the famous guards but the guard was moving away all the time or he shouted strongly and he even struck Zine-Eddine!! We were shocked but we laughed a lot!”

“Our guide in London was very handsome… He was very friendly but when he spoke to me, I didn’t understand. It was very embarrassing.”

“At the National Gallery, everybody made the quiz quickly to have more free time in London. For me, I discovered and answered the questions correctly. There were paintings that were really beautiful. I know nothing about art but it was very beautiful…”

“The National Gallery was wonderful. I had never seen so many paintings. I didn’t know where to watch. Fortunately, I saw the painting I wanted, the Arnolfini’s portrait. I didn’t know why, but I like it. “

“The musical ‘We’ll rock you’ was great. It was a good moment to try to understand a real English person talking. I liked the songs. When I came back to Belgium, I downloaded some of their songs.”

Bye Bye Broadstairs!

“The last day with my class. We began to know the other people, but unfortunately, we had to go. That was a great class, we learned and laughed at the same time. I left this class with regret. I was absent-minded and forgot to ask their e-mail address. “

“It was our last day; Manon and I cried when we left Lianne, our mom.  And just before leaving, Lewis told us ‘don’t go, don’t go’!!”

Titanic… The journey back

“On the journey back to France, there was a storm and many people were sick but it’s one of the best moments of the trip for me. We put the boat on fire!! People were singing, dancing, happy. It was crazy to see people dance while others were sick.”

“So this was the moment when I felt so anxious, frightened and sick. I thought that we were going to die, here, on this boat! There were big waves so I thought about the Titanic… I was so scared!”

“I was sitting alone  next to the window listening to Eminem and looking at the ragging sea. I was admiring its power and the waves which were shaking the boat.”

Final words

“It was the best trip I had ever done before. I really loved it!”

“Julie was part of a group of people that I didn’t know before the trip.. It’s one of the positive things that the trip brought us: everybody is talking to each other now!!”

“I want to say I spent a great week in Broadstairs, It’s probably what everyone said, but I’m honest! The activities were diversified, and if we wanted to communicate ( and even if we didn’t want, by the way) we had only one solution; speak English with the people.”

“In the very end I was sad because the whole great experience of being in England and discovering the local way of living was going to be over. It was a pity me and my family didn’t have more time to get to know each other better. However I’m glad I had the opportunity to live this and I will remember it all my life.”

“The dream is finished, I’m leaving England on that boat, and, all these wonderful memories in mind… It was a terrific trip, I met a lot of people, I was myself, I discovered the English way of life…”

“I think I improved my English by having fun and I think this is the best way to learn a language.”

“We have learned so many things during this trip! And we had the opportunity to meet nice people from other countries. It was an amazing experience. I had never had a trip like this one and I will never forget it. “

“With this experience, I made my decisions about my future. I just regret my family but the activities were great and interactive.”

Propos de Yasser,  Chiara, Beverley, Christophe,  Vincent, Brice, Karim, Daniel, Kim, Ruslan, Frujina, Maria, Adeline, Morgane, Eline, Emilie, Deborah, Martin, Bilal; Compilés par Mme Cloespin

A tous nos élèves de la promotion 2009, merci et bravo pour votre enthousiasme  et votre belle énergie qui ont fait de ce voyage une belle réussite de groupe !

A tous les nouveaux élèves de 5^ème, rendez-vous début mai prochain pour une nouvelle édition du projet !

B. Cloespin