Sophomore Amandine Schott walks into her next class like any other day, but today, another person follows behind her. While Schott sits down to learn her class material, her companion is observing and learning about U.S. everyday life.
Schott, hosting visiting student Catalina Prapeau, was one of several Redondo students who took part in France’s International Studies program. For some RUHS students, this was their first exposure to French culture; however, this was not the case for Schott.
“I was born in France. My family speaks French at home, but we’ve never hosted a French student. We thought it would be interesting and fun because we would be able to communicate with her more than other families could,” Schott said.
Schott moved here from France when she was six years old and picked up English quickly. Since she is still fluent in French, she and Prapeau were able to communicate clearly and practice both English and French.
“A lot of times we had to remember to speak English to each other because she’s here to learn American culture,” Schott said.
As well as having this trip be an opportunity for the visiting students from France to practice their English, it also exposed them to everyday American life as they shadowed their hosts throughout each of their classes for two weeks.
“I was able to explain to her what’s going on [in classes], and she asked me what certain words mean. It helped me develop my French, and it helped her develop her English at the same time, which was very beneficial to both of us,” Schott said.
Junior Yasir Rmiki also took part in the program, hosting a visiting student from France, Ethan Marrocco, in his home for the span of the two weeks. While Rmiki is not from France himself, he still has experience with the language, as he is taking French 3 this year. According to Rmiki, this had proved helpful while speaking to Marrocco, even though speaking French or taking a French course is not a requirement to host a visiting student.
“I was really interested in meeting new people and trying to show a French person my life in America. I thought it would be really cool to welcome a French student, show them around a lot of different places and give them an American cultural experience,” Rmiki said.
Among the places and events Rmiki took Marrocco to was the Homecoming dance.
“Homecoming was a very interesting part. They don’t have any sort of dances at their school in France. So for him to experience homecoming, he was able to have so much fun,” Rmiki said.
The dance was not the only thing that the visiting students do not have back in France. While living with Rmiki, Marrocco was surprised by a few other things about American life as well.
“I gave [him] for the first breakfast an egg muffin sandwich with sausages. He was really surprised. He told me that back in France breakfast is like a very short meal, and they don’t eat a lot. He was really surprised that he got a full meal,” Rmiki said.
Prapeau had some similar experiences.
“When we asked [Prapeau] what shocked her the most, she said everything [was] very big. Once we got out of the airport, she was very shocked about how big the cars were,” Schott said.
While the French students were able to learn about life in America, students at RUHS got to learn the language and phrases that typically are not taught in class.
“While [Catalina] was here, she taught me French slang because we would hang out with her other French friends that came. They would talk, and I’d be like, ‘Oh, what’s this one mean?’ And the same thing happened with different [English] words,” Schott said.
With what they had learned from the visiting students, it left the RUHS hosts wanting to experience more of French culture. The program offers only one-way immersion: students from a school outside of Lyon, France, come to RUHS, but Redondo students do not go to their school in turn and be hosted by them. Despite this, Schott is still planning to reconnect with Prapeau.
“Since I’m going to France over the summer, we were planning for me to go a little earlier and stay with her family for two weeks, just so we can see each other again,” Schott said.
Having not had the chance to learn about many other cultures before, Rmiki is also hoping to immerse himself in French culture this year, and is excited for this opportunity now.
“I’m thinking of going to France during spring break. It’d be really interesting because I already learned a lot from him and his experience at home. I want to be able to go there for myself and to see with my own eyes,” Rmiki said. “But through this experience, I thought it was interesting learning about French culture and French society without even going there.”
