Every other year, students taking French 2 and above have the option of taking a once in a lifetime trip to France. They stay with host families speaking only French, and they take language classes in the mornings. The students are supervised by Lakeridge French teacher Lisa Grimm.

“The trip costs $4500,” said Grimm. “They will be staying in Tours, a small town in France.” Tours is one of the towns with the most castles in all of France. They will also be a main attraction for the students while they are in France.

“They [the students] will be staying with their host families for two and a half weeks,” said Grimm. “We will then all go to Paris for the last four days and stay at the Hôtel Americain.” In past years, they stayed at youth hostels; however, the program liked this place better.

“The students will take language classes in the mornings, and we will then have afternoon excursions,” said Grimm. “We will go to the chateau’s [castles] or go on a bike ride, we will do something that is very common to the French.”

The students attending the trip will have many opportunities to socialize with French and practice their language skills during these excursions.

“The trip is available to anyone taking French 2 or above,” said  Grimm. “But for the French 2 students, it will take more effort and they have to be higher level students.” French 2 is still a somewhat beginner course and they still have a lot to learn. “I think that the French 3 and 4 students will get more benefits from going and it will be a richer experience they have,” said Grimm.

“I’m really excited to go,” said French 2 student Marin Daraee. “I think it’s going to be so fun and I’m really excited to spend time in a foreign country with my friends.”

The students are extremely excited to go to France as many of them have never been.

“It is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am so grateful to be going.” said Daraee.