French Exchange 2017

Shawnigan was the site of another successful French exchange with our annual visitors from Lycée Sacré-Coeur La Salle in Angers, a city situated in the Pays de la Loire region in the west of France.

“Our Angers guests come from a bustling metropolitan area,” explains Head of Modern Language Graham Linn.  “They are always struck by the nature, the rural surrounds and the wildlife we have here at Shawnigan.”

In addition to offering exposure to another culture, language, environment and school setting, Mr. Linn notes that being involved in an exchange program gives Shawnigan students the valuable opportunity to see themselves through other people’s eyes.

“At a time when the world is beset with people pushing for division and focusing on differences, it’s a good experience to engage in to maintain a global perspective,” he says.

The exchange program with Lycée Sacré-Coeur La Salle was originally established because of family connections that Carola Receveaux, wife of teacher Jean-Jacques Receveaux and member of the Shawnigan Modern Languages Department, shares with the Angers school. Since the establishment of the program in 2012, the French group have visited Shawnigan eight times.

During this year’s visit, the French students combined time in the boys’ and girls’ boarding houses with some time staying in Lecky House. As they have done for the past few years, they also balanced class time with local excursions and a trip to Tofino.

“For the past two years we have gone to the inlet at Tofino for bear watching,” says Mr. Receveaux. “We didn’t spot any bears last year, but were fortunate enough to see a few this time round.”

Locally, the French students visited Goldstream Park to view the salmon running, explored the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, and hiked up Mount Baldy. Mr. Receveaux explains that he believes it’s also important that the French students are exposed to First Nations’ culture during their time in Canada. This year the group went paddling in Cowichan Bay and then were shown some traditional cooking and tea-making techniques on the beach by a local First Nations chef.

The Shawnigan group will travel to Angers in March 2018 to undertake their fifth exchange to Lycée Sacré-Coeur La Salle.