Arriving in Chartres on Monday 9 January 2023, twenty-four English schoolchildren, from the town of Bishop’s Stortford, located fifty kilometers north of London, will be touring the cultural and heritage riches of France throughout the week. They participate in an exchange with ninth and first year students of the Institut Notre-Dame (IND) in Chartres.
On Wednesday 11 January, French and English secondary school pupils were received in the halls of the administrative center of Chartres by Patrick Géroudet, delegate for international relations.
They will discover the Bateaux-Mouches, the Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles (Yvelines), as well as gastronomy.
The Notre-Dame de Chartres Institution offers two preparations for the medical exams
Galettes des rois and pancakes
“English middle school students have already tasted French gastronomy such as galette des rois, pancakes. The French mothers who host them cooked with the students,” explains Misun Park, an English teacher at IND.
“This weekend, some are going to laser tag with French families. It’s a really good time. »
Misun Park (Professor of English at the Institut Notre-Dame.)
The health crisis had put an end to international school exchanges. It is with ill-concealed joy that Frédéric Maillard, deputy director of the IND, welcomed “the resumption of these exchanges, which had not taken place since January 2020”.
Especially since it was he who launched this partnership in 2005 with the establishment of Bishop’s Stortford. “I have been a teacher of Spanish, Italian and French for twenty years at this institute in England. As I am from Chartres, I contacted the IND to set up an exchange. »
The alumni mentor the current ones
Twenty-seven ninth and two first graders from IND will travel to England in early February.
Claire Beguin
