Nineteen students of Jamnabai Narsee International School (IGCSE and IBDP) went for the second half of the French Exchange Programme to Brest, in France, from 4th to 14th June 2019. The exchange was with the school 'Lycée Sainte Anne de Brest'. This being a linguistic and cultural exchange, our students had the opportunity of attending school and witnessing the similarities and differences be it in the teaching, the subjects or the ambiance of the school. The students performed a folk dance and showed a PowerPoint presentation accompanied by an explanation of various aspects of the Indian culture in French. This was highly appreciated by the French students. Our school was honoured by an official welcome in Brest by the Deputy Mayor at the Town Hall and coverage of the Exchange Programme in the next day's local newspaper. Not only did they visit the city of Brest but also had a guided tour of the historical closed city of Concarneau, a guided tour of Quimper and visited the Island of Batz, which enhanced the cultural aspect of this exchange. As sports is a very important factor in the lives of the French, one afternoon was devoted to, and volleyball tournaments and rock climbing at the school gymnasium.They also took part in adventurous sports activities such as kayaking,zip lining and rock climbing in the open. Apart from these activities there was a voluntary communitytrek of nine kilometers to raise funds for the local cancer association in which most of our students participated.

This was a brilliant experience for the students as they had the opportunity to live with a French family, whereby they were able to understand their way of life and it also enabled them to learn to make adjustments and adapt to a different way of life and cuisine. However, the most important outcome was that they all made an effort to converse in French over the ten days and hopefully have made lifelong friends.