French and German students get cultural experience in Kildare

THE opportunity for Cross and Passion College (CPC) Kilcullen students to speak in French and German with counterparts was a key part of a recent visit by student groups from Caen in Normandy and Krefeld in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The five-day event was a return visit from one made earlier by CPC young people and involved 14 students and two teachers from each country. It was facilitated by the EU Erasmus student mobility programme, to which CPC signed up last year.

During their time in Kilcullen, the visitors visited a farm, learned about bogs and took part with CPC counterparts in a number of projects. They also went to Croke Park, and had the opportunity to learn about Kilcullen's historical beginnings during a talk at the ancient monastic Old Kilcullen site.

A day was spent shadowing their counterparts to see what school life and classwork was like compared to their own systems. Following a final evening in the assembly hall of pizza, music and singing and a gymnastic display, their Irish visit concluded with a day in Dublin before flying home to their respective countries.

Teacher Mary Quinto, the CPC Erasmus Coordinator, said the emphasis on the trips was linguistic and cultural experiences and that it has been a 'busy and exciting' time since making the Erasmus linkage. In addition to the reciprocal visits, teachers have been able to spend time in counterpart schools in a number of different countries. 

She is particularly proud of how the Kilcullen students conducted themselves while abroad. 

"They are great ambassadors. They have been complimented everywhere we have gone and they have just been brilliant."

Representing the French students, Emma Rouxel said she was was especially impressed at the numbers of young people in CPC who are actively involved in music, and said she found Irish music "makes me want to dance". 

Her fellow student André Munteanu commented on the way CPC has classrooms for individual subjects, comparing it to their own school where there’s a general room for most main subjects, with some students leaving that for more specialised classes. 

“Here, students move around between every class, always mixing and circulating. I think that’s very good for togetherness between them.”

German students Theresa Franken and Louisa Munnex particularly enjoyed the visit to Causey Farm in Meath which included a lesson in bread-making, Irish dancing as well as getting up close to farm animals. Meeting with students from other countries gave both girls the sense that there are not significant differences between them. Louisa said: "We're all kind of the same. We all have similar interests, and we're not so different as I thought in the beginning."