Why organise a trip?
 To give students a first-hand experience of French culture
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and issues for local children
To enable to students to interact with students from
another culture and find ways to share with and support
these students
To improve language skills
To give students a real reason to use their language skills
To give students a motivation to continue with their
language
To broaden students’ horizons in a globalised world
Why New Caledonia?
 They speak French and despite the island context it
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has a very French feel
It is close – 2 ½ hours by plane
It is a safe environment
It is relatively cheap
It is a beautiful place and easy to organise interesting
outdoor activities
Why Year 9?
 In Year 9 the camp program is focussed on service:
 Local projects Blue Mountains area
 National projects in Ti-Tree in the Northern Territory
 The New Caledonia trip provides an international
perspective
Why Year 9?
 Students are old enough to have the maturity to deal
with the trip
 Students have developed reasonable language skills to
enable genuine communication – particularly those
who come through the Junior school.
 It is a good practice run for the exchange program to
Ferney-Voltaire in France at the end of Year 10.
 Year 9 is a time when we often lose a number of
students
Selecting a Partner School
 In our case it was a school that had approached us
some years ago – Ecole Louise Michel in Bourrail . This
made it easier to make contact as there was already a
history.
 The important thing is that there be a willing and
reliable member of staff to liaise with in New
Caledonia – we are very lucky to have Mme Laure
Delafenêtre!
 It was also more interesting to have a school in la
brousse in Bourrail – it was a very different context for
our urban students.
Service Aspect of this Project
 There are two important aspects to this:
 for our students to gain a genuine understanding of
the lives of students in a different culture
 For our students to make a positive contribution to
those students’ lives
 The language becomes the means to achieving these
objectives rather than the focus of the experience
Selecting a Partner School
 Able to visit the capital Nouméa– however were
accompanied by the students from Bourail – it was an
adventure for them too – we could share this.
 Unexpectedly it worked greatly in our favour that this
was a Primary school – our students felt more
comfortable interacting with the kids and weren’t so
worried about making mistakes – more like big sisters.
They developed quite close relationships without the
inevitable worries that this might entail if the
correspondants were older.
Where is Bourail?
Selecting a Partner School
 Students did have the chance to visit a collège. Our
students were much more inhibited. Although the
contact was a great experience and possibly we could
expand this aspect.
Activities prior to trip
 Email /letters– introducing themselves – photo - and
in subsequent ones responding to questions
 Skype
 Powerpoint presentations – interesting places in each
country / important facts and figures.
 Raise some money before going to purchase some
useful piece of equipment for the school (need to
consult the school to find out what might be useful)
Activities During Trip - Bourail
 Students getting to know each other – play a sports game /
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icebreaker (name game) / board games – Guess who?
Scatagories
Students could teach each other some games from their
respective cultures
Students could teach each other some songs from their
respective cultures
Students could prepare some typical food that they like to
eat.
students could give a little presentation about
Sydney/Australia – using photos etc. This would also give a
real opportunity for students with strong language skills to
make a contribution.
Activities During Trip - Bourail
 students could teach a few words of English and do
some activities to reinforce this.
 working with the school community to help improve
physical environment – some sort of artistic project, eg
create a mural
 Visit local Melanesian community to learn about this
aspect of the culture
Activities - Noumea
 visit beach at L’Anse-Vata (half a day)
 Visit l’ île aux canards (half a day) – swimming /
snorkelling
 visit Le Phare Amédée lighthouse on an island 1 hour
from Noumea by ferry. Lunch/walk around
island/swimming – there is a beautiful coral reef (a day
trip)
 The aquarium
 Le Parc Forestier – local zoo.
Activities - Noumea
 The Melanesian Cultural Centre – Centre Jean-Marie
Tjibaou – world class architecture by … You could
easily spend a day here. This world heritage Centre was
designed by internationally renowned architect Renzo
Piano (who designed the Pompidou Centre in Paris). It
is one of the great pieces of architecture of our time.
 la forêt bleue – a couple of hours from Noumea – this
would involve a bush walk (1 day)
 Waterslide and beach – (1/2-1 day)
Communication with parents
 We used a blog as both a way for students to document
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what they had been doing in English and French
It was also a good way for parents/the school peers to
fell like they knew what was going on.
Some students used their mobile phones – although
they need international roaming
We purchased a group phone card for use in public
phones
I also purchased a sim card for New Caledonia – useful
to have at least one mobile
Accommodation
 In Bourail we stayed in cabins near the beach – these
were next to the teacher’s house – run by her husband.
This was excellent – we were independent and cooked
for ourselves – great experience for the students as
they had to plan and prepare meals – as well as help
with the shopping etc.
 The cabins gave them some down time after being on
the go all day
 On the negative side they obviously spoke more
English
Accommodation
 Billeting is another possibility, however there are a lot
more risks and difficulties associated with this
 In Noumea we stayed in apartments – worked out the
cheapest option. The students from Bourail were in
the same apartments – this was an excellent solution.
 We ate out in Noumea as there was no time to prepare
food.