Studies in an English boarding school

Manon                                                                 Lycée La Rochefoucauld

SAVY

Report of linguistic stay

At Rossall School in Fleetwood,England

Studies in an English boarding school

September 2022Gratitudes

Summary

Today, in our society, it is mandatory to  know how to speak English and the final goal is to be fluent in english. 

English is more than a national language it is an universal language. It is a way to communicate with people from all around the world.

In January of this year  I wanted to do a linguistic trip. I had to improve my English, to do make new experiences and to discover foreign people and cultures. To reach that goal my parents and I, had follow the necessary steps : I inquired with many organizations, I spoke to my guidance counselor Miss. Volcker and my level coordinator Miss. Pinard to do the good choice.

After many weeks of research we contacted the organism “My English School” and we gave my research criteria to choose the best adapted school. It was Rossall School which reached the main majority of my criteria : the students came from all over the world so there was a lot of diversity, the school proposed many activities and sports and on top the Rossall School was amazing because it looked like Hogwarts in Harry Potter’s stories. After  having focused on the Rossall, we had to prepare a lot of important documents. Ex doc, presente plus

Rossall which is located on the west coast of England in Fleetwood near Manchester, is a boarding school which welcomes many foreigners.

Basically by which way I wanted to do this experience faraway of my country and my family net?

At first I will detail my immersion and my installation in Rossall and in a second part I will present the difficulties I reached and overcame, the integration process and finally the way I improved my English.

As a conclusion I will strongly recommend this unique experience for all.

To spend Spending six weeks in England helped me not only to discover a new environment, foreign people but also new cultures because a lot of students came from all around the world.

The main task was for me to become familiar with English language and customs.

We reached Rossall by bus. And just after getting my subcase I discovered these buildings. Except the tramway station its seems that Rossall is located in the middle of no where, surrounded by a lot fields.

In Rossall Schhol there are eight houses, among which three of them are dedicated to girls and five over ones are dedicated to boys. However, all the buildings are identical but with just a blazon made it possible to distinguish between houses (as an example: Rose, Dolphin for girl’s buildings and Pelican, Dragon for boy’s buildings).
The house is both a place of life, a working place and at least a communication area.

When I arrived in my house, the girls were immediately warming, welcoming and friendly with me. Which I enjoyed very much and reassured me.

In my house we was five French girls to stay for six weeks in Rossall.

My houseparent decided the allocation of the rooms. At first I was scary to stay alone without my family in an unknow location. But little by little I felt comfortable in this area, because I personalized my room with my stuff to create my safe place.  

Then our houseparent communicated the main informations about the way of life in the house and in the school. And at least she gave us our own uniform. Having my uniform I understood that it was the beginning of an unique experience.

The uniform was composed of a white shirt, a Scottish blue and green pattern skirt, a blue tie with the blazon of the house (mine decorated with a little bird, a wren) and a pair of black city shoes.

Each day during the week (that is except the week-end) we had to wear the uniform at the breakfast and during all the day until the end of the class (which is normally around thirty past four PM). Sometimes during the week-end we had to wear the uniform for the official events like meeting with relatives or others students coming from others schools.

Then my guardin, Gracie Sutton ( the one who is in charge to give me all information on the house). Gracie showed me the different area: the kitchen, the living room, the music place, the houseparent accommodation, the bathroom… and more globally all the facilities of the house. We had also visited all the common places : librairy, dinning hall, school buildings, sports areas and the sea wall at boarder of the sea.

Immediately girls of my house came to me. They asked me a lot of questions (Where do you come from?, How long do you plane to stay here?, Why did you come at Rossall?, What are you first impression?...). They developed a lot of effort to facilitate my integration, which I really appreciate. From my side I also made my best to go and communicate with them. I didn’t want to stay only with French people or stay alone. That was my main objective. I tried to spend the a maximum of time with people who spoke English (foreign or native language) to improve my English level. That was not always easy for me. At the beginning I didn’t understand the main meaning of the sentences but I persist and keep staying with them even if I didn’t feel comfortable.

To make it easier my houseparent prioritized Wren House community life. She organized from time to time pizza parties, karaoke, babyfoot matches… All these activities were really funny and lovely. She was a strongly experimented person. She knew how to favorize our integration and the interpersonal relationships.

Weeks after weeks I realized that girls were not only students. Their house was not only a  life area. They became friend’s members of a big family sharing a common experience which they will remember for a long time. We could definitely rely on each other. We shared everything, whether we win or we lose.

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