Wednesday 1 July 2015

French Exchange Offers July 2015

Find your partners!

If you are looking for a school with which to do an exchange, French teachers are eagerly waiting for you to contact them!

Here is a live link to a google doc spreadsheet which I have set up personally to allow direct contact between teachers. Obviously it is up to the schools involved to use this as a first step and then to carry out all the usual official checks and arrangements.

The background

I am currently in the process of organising a French exchange partner school having been told at very late notice that our previous school could no longer exchange with us.

My experience has proved to me yet again how valuable it is to be in touch with people 'on the ground'.
I posted a message to the helpful and friendly yahoo mflresources forum for advice on finding a school. Within minutes one teacher put me in touch with a school with which she had had a great experience and another recommended I request to join a forum of French teachers.

I registered on British Council Schools Online and eTwinning, but to be honest, did not find it easy to search for what I needed.  I will be contacting them for guidance which I can then post here

I feel that I really want to help all these lovely keen French teachers of English who answered my message on Sunday. What dedication! I am setting up this spreadsheet hoping that someone will be interested and that there can be more fruitful exchanges.

An exchange is so incredibly rewarding. I will eventually put this post in a more 'permanent / official' place on a website and give links to resources we have used in the past, including a PowerPoint for the information evening, our video of a previous exchange, comments from participants, articles from our school magazine and the booklet we design to take with us.