Belfort (Franche-Comté)

For my year abroad, I spent 7 months in the Territoire de Belfort in the Franche-Comté, a rural region in central eastern France. I worked as a language assistant for the British Council, helping students aged between 11 and 18 with their spoken English. I chose this option as I was considering a career in teaching and thought it would be invaluable experience if I could work in a school environment during the year. I worked with small groups of students and with entire classes to improve their knowledge of the language and of British culture in general.

I opted for the Franche-Comté region as it had fantastic travel opportunities with Germany and Switzerland as well as regular trains to Paris and being quite close to two major cities, Lyon and Strasbourg. I spent a lot of my free time visiting other places as the rail services were regular and inexpensive. I think that possibly the best part of my year was the Christmas period for the vast and numerous Christmas markets which appeared nearby; sipping a mug of glühwein in the snow whilst searching for Christmas presents in the various wooden huts has to be one of my favourite memories. As it snowed for almost the entire time I was there, I got the opportunity to try out skiing and snowboarding as well as spending lots of time making snowmen and having snowball fights. I am glad I invested in a good pair of warm boots and a thick coat though! The area I was in was full of tiny isolated villages and so I got to experience the real France, away from the tourism and bustle of the cities.

Aside from all this, I also improved remarkably in confidence and ability to converse in French and survive using a foreign language. My understanding of grammar clicked into place and through making friends with real French people, my cultural knowledge and slang improved too.

Being thrown into this environment where you are forced to get out there and experience the real way of life is by far the best way to remind yourself why you study a foreign language.
Sarah Bonser