Organising a trip to New Caledonia

Why organise a trip?To give students a first-hand experience of French

culture and issues for local childrenTo enable to students to interact with students

from another culture and find ways to share with and support these students

To improve language skillsTo give students a real reason to use their

language skillsTo give students a motivation to continue with their

languageTo broaden students’ horizons in a globalised world

Why New Caledonia?They speak French and despite the island

context it has a very French feelIt is close – 2 ½ hours by planeIt is a safe environmentIt is relatively cheapIt 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 tripStudents 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 SchoolIn 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 ProjectThere 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 SchoolAble 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 SchoolStudents 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 tripEmail /letters– introducing themselves –

photo - and in subsequent ones responding to questions

SkypePowerpoint 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 - BourailStudents getting to know each other – play a sports

game / 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 - Bourailstudents 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 - Noumeavisit beach at L’Anse-Vata (half a day)Visit l’ île aux canards (half a day) –

swimming / snorkellingvisit 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 aquariumLe Parc Forestier – local zoo.

Activities - NoumeaThe 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 parentsWe used a blog as both a way for students to

document 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

AccommodationIn 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

AccommodationBilleting 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.