Modern Foreign Languages School Trip To Normandy

This long embroidered scroll is the most important relic to survive from the 11th century. Students can see the epic story of William of Normandy’s conquest of England in 1066, and consider the French and British interpretation of events. Tip: A workbook is available in French for MFL students. A workspace can be pre-booked for one hour for school groups with a replica tapestry image.

Mont Saint-Michel, a gothic Benedictine abbey, is perched on a rocky islet amid vast sandbanks exposed to powerful tides. Over the years the island’s abbey has served as a prison, a fortress against the English and a monastery. As well as the abbey, your group can explore the medieval buildings of the village that grew up beneath its walls, along with stunning views.

Students visit a French market, bursting with delicious local produce. While they are there they have an assignment to complete. Each student is given three Euros and has to use their French-speaking skills to buy ingredients to make a cold lunch back at the château. After they have prepared the meal, it is then judged by the château’s head chef.

A trip to a traditional French bakery lets pupils learn about the complete process of bread making. Students can actively participate and eat in or take away what they help to create. This tour is worthwhile just for the smell alone, but there are also great opportunities to ask the baker some questions in French

The best place to learn French is in France and we can arrange language lessons at a local language school with a native speaker. The lessons give students a chance to work on grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. Afterwards, students can use what they have learnt in a real context.

Tour the newly refurbished traditional Normandy Caramels factory in Isigny. A guide will take you on a tour of the room overlooking the factory floor displaying the process of soft toffee making. There will also be the chance to buy the caramel products from the souvenir shop next door. This is a good opportunity to see how the tourist industry supports the existence of local production businesses.

This is a working goat farm that allows students to see how dairy products such as milk and cheese are produced. Students can play with the goats and learn about the cheese making process. It’s a great way to find out more about the traditional produce of the area and also presents a good chance to practice language skills and develop vocabulary. The visit includes a short educational film, a talk and a cheese tasting. Visit can be conducted in French or English.

Asnelles is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it village with a shop called Les Sablés d’Asnelles that specialises in butter biscuits. A tour of its factory will teach students the process of making these traditional biscuits and show how they are packaged and sold. The tour includes taste tests to enjoy their melt-in-the-mouth texture and buttery taste.

On the list of things to do in France, trying frogs’ legs and snails is near the top. After a long day the students and staff can opt for traditional frogs’ legs and snails as an accompaniment to an evening meal. This allows the adventurous students a chance to taste a traditional French delicacy that may or may not taste like chicken!

You can choose from a range of fun and educational activities and experienced chateau staff are on hand to ensure that the students are having fun all day and night. Activities can include: archery, a blind trail walk, survival skills, initiative exercises, using various sports facilities for sporting games (such as the seasonal outdoor swimming pool), planting a tree and circus frenzy to name a few.

This major tourist attraction in Cherbourg is devoted to the adventure of man and the sea and the thrill of the depths. Explore the beauty of the oceans and their essential role through three floors of spectacular multimedia displays and 17 stunning aquariums (opening 2019). Come aboard the submarine Le Redoutable for a unique experience. Relive the final hours of the Titanic. Workbooks and workshops available.

Students enjoy a demonstration of the preparation of local specialities given by a French chef. This can take place in French or English and some participation is encouraged. This is a great way to engage with the language, culture and local food.

This factory, located in Livarot, has been run by the same family since 1910 and produces three of Normandy’s best loved cheeses: Livarot, Pont l’Eveque and Normandy Camembert. Visitors can discover the different stages of cheese-making with a view of the casting process, the maturing cellar and packaging.

The 19 minute film ‘100 days of the Battle of Normandy’ is projected in High Definition on 9 screens. The film tells the story of the military planning, preparation and execution of the Battle of Normandy thanks to archive images gathered from English, Canadian, German, American and French archives. The Battle started with the landing of the paratroopers the night of the 5th to the 6th of June 1944, followed by the landings of troops on the Normandy beaches and lasted for three months. The end came with the liberation of Paris and the bombing of Le Havre.

The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial covers 172.5 acres and contains the graves of 9,387 military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. The memorial, set around a bronze statue, shows maps and narratives of the military operations. Visitors’ centre staff are available to answer students’ questions.

This is the largest of the German cemeteries in Normandy, commemorating 21,222 German soldiers. Students can reflect on the casualties of war on both sides, and consider the German footsoldiers’ perspective. Students can also contrast the cemetery to those of the allied forces. Photo © Jennie Rainsford.

This is the largest of the 18 Commonwealth military cemeteries in Normandy. It contains 4,868 graves of soldiers from the UK and 10 other countries – including Germany. Many of the soldiers buried here were never identified, and the headstones are simply marked ‘A Soldier Known Unto God’. Students can reflect on the sadness, sacrifice and honour of war.

This outdoor adventure park, located in Cussy, close to Bayeux offers a wide range of activities for students. The Activity Pass includes high ropes courses, mini-golf, tubing, permanent wooden maze and maize maze (seasonal), fixed track zorbing (over 12’s), peddle karting, bubble football and more! There is an on-site café and picnic area. Open April to Sep/October (on request for school groups outside of public opening times).

Visit the Cerisy Forest close to Le Molay Littry and introduce students to the fauna and flora of this local nature reserve. The students will be led to discover forest life in a fun and educational way by completing a treasure hunt-type activity based on the trees and animals found in this wide space spreading over 2000 hectares. The activity can be led in either French or English.

Learn the secrets of production in the Apple-press and Fermentation room and the Art of Distillation. This multi-sensory visit is designed to promote the product and the history of the region and is suitable for all ages. The visit concludes at the Taste Bar where an expert will explain the art of tasting using the eye, the nose and the palate.

A must-do for any visitor to Normandy with a sense of adventure and appetite for local delicacies, a trip to the Odon Snail Farm offers an opportunity to discover the uniquely French tradition of snail farming from field to fork. A guide will walk you through each area of the farm, from the workshop and parks to the laboratory, before offering your group a chance to taste the escargots for yourselves.

This spy-themed adventure is based around Elise Leclair, a lady in her eighties who is proud to have served as a messenger for the French resistance during the war, has set a challenge for students visiting Normandy. Students collect ‘intelligence’ throughout different venues across the region and discover beautiful historical sites such as Bayeux, Arromanches, the Mont St Michel and the Normandy American Cemetery. This quest can be designed to fit your own itinerary. Enrichment or MFL version available.

The British Normandy Memorial officially opened on the 6^th of June 2021 as a place for remembrance and reflection.

Overlooking Gold Beach, just outside  Ver- sur- Mer, the Memorial records the names of 22,442 servicemen and women, under British command, who fell on D- Day and during the Battle of Normandy.

A series of stone carved columns bear the names with the ‘D-Day Sculpture’ a set of bronze figures by British sculptor David Williams-Ellis, occupying a prominent position.

The site also includes a French Memorial, dedicated to the memory of French civilians who died during this time.