Grover Middle School hosts 20 students from France.
By: Emily Craighead
WEST WINDSOR The phonetic difference between foreign words like the French "poisson" (with a soft "s," meaning fish) and "poison" (with a "z" sound) isn’t always apparent until you offer the latter to a dinner guest who is a French native.
Grover Middle School French students playing host to 20 students visiting from the College Joseph Collard near St. Etienne in France learned this lesson and many others in communication and culture during the past week.
The French students and their teachers arrived in New Jersey a week ago. They spent part of Wednesday in classes at the middle school before an afternoon tour of Princeton. They toured New York City on Thursday and Friday, and stayed with host families over the weekend.
Although the American students said they weren’t sure what to make of the French tradition of kissing on the cheek to greet someone, it didn’t take long for the French and American students to warm up to each other.
"At first they were really shy, but now they are all chatting together," said Evelyne Veyrard, one of the teachers who accompanied the students from France.
Grover French teacher Diane Chiocca coordinated the students’ visit to West Windsor and Plainsboro.
Both American and French students observed the difference between speaking a foreign language with their classmates and talking to native speakers.
"It is much easier to speak with people who speak English well," said Mariette Gay, a ninth-grade student from France.
Used to hearing French spoken with an American accent in class, Vivian Hou said her ear had to adapt to the French students’ accents.
"They have a real French accent, so it took me a while to understand, but eventually I got to understand," Vivian said.
There was culture shock on both sides, and some Grover students rediscovered their world through new eyes.
"Everything is bigger here," French ninth-grader Clement Dutel said Wednesday, less than 24 hours after stepping off the plane. "You feel freer, because there are no fences."
Mariette said the school and the houses were "just like in the movies."
Over the weekend, the American hosts introduced their guests to traditional American pastimes like baseball, golf and lacrosse, and they took them to visit historical sites in Philadelphia and Washington.
"I always thought of (New York City) as a fun place to hang out, but I never noticed the beauty of it," eighth-grade student Gary Kocharian said.
A favorite activity for many of the French students was shopping at Marshall’s, where they discovered inexpensive American clothes made even cheaper by a favorable exchange rate.
The French students boarded a flight to return to France on Monday night after one last shopping trip to the mall.
Back in her classroom, Ms. Chiocca has already seen positive results from the French students’ visit.
"Their French has become 10 to 20 percent better within five days," she said. "They’re stringing sentences together when before they couldn’t get two words together."
In class, she said, students do some group exercises to practice their French and answer questions, but the impact of classroom activities pales in comparison to the lasting lessons of real-life experiences.
"Now, they want to actually communicate their thoughts," Ms. Chiocca said. "Before, they never had a reason to learn the language besides a quiz. They are excited about the possibility of traveling."
This is the second time students from the College Joseph Collard have visited Grover Middle School, and Ms. Chiocca said she hopes the exchange will continue every other year. Citing liability issues, the school board hasn’t allowed Grover students to travel to France on a school trip.
"It’s not just these kids who benefit everyone in the school gets to host them," Ms. Chiocca said, adding that the Board of Education and Grover Principal Steve Mayer have been supportive of the program.
Ms. Chiocca’s eighth-grade students will have another opportunity to practice speaking French with natives on a trip to Quebec at the beginning of June.

