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His English isn't great, but that's one reason Olivier Mallet and 18 other students from La Roche sur Yon, France, will be staying with host families in Warsaw for two weeks -Êto improve their English.
Also with the 19 Les Etablieres high school students is their English teacher, Marie-Paule Besson, and chaperone, Pierre Loizeau. The students, Besson and Loizeau arrived in Warsaw after a 27-hour trip from France. They will begin their return April 22 and stay in New York one day before leaving the country.
During their stay in the United States, the French stu!dents are supposed to speak only English to prepare for an upcoming oral exam.
"It's good to go here to learn as a student for your life. I have an oral exam in English and it's good to go here," Mallet said Thursday.
Besson said many of her students were not interested in learning English, but she hopes that is what they will accomplish.
"I hope it's the best research they will have. I hope they will learn more English than they already know," she said.
She said it is also good for them to meet different people and see a different way of life. Hopefully, she said, they will learn more information on the country and the lifestyles.
From La Roche sur Yon to the Paris airport, the bus ride was seven hours. The flight from Paris to New York was another seven hours. They had to wait two hours in New York before catching their flight to Chicago, where Warsaw Community High School foreign language department head David Chastain met them.
"(The flight was) very long but very good," Mallet said.
During the flight from France to the United States, Loizeau said, he was a little concerned about the trip because of the NATO airstrikes in Kosovo. Besson said she didn't even think about the airstrikes affecting the trip.
"It's a very big problem (over there). I think (it) was a good idea to bomb the Serbs because Milosevic is dangerous," Mallet said. He said NATO must intervene.
"My wife said maybe they would have to cancel all flights and we would all be stuck in the United States," Loizeau said, laughing. "That is only a joke!"
The students were in Warsaw only 24 hours Thursday, but Mallet already had a first impression on the United States.
"It's very big," he said. "A lot of people. The girls are beautiful." He liked the American cars, and said, "Warsaw is a quaint city." And the people he's met so far are "ordinary people," he said.
He also said he thought Americans were very much like the way they are portrayed in the movies, but Americans have more money than the French in the movies. He likes American movies, though.
"(They're) very good. (Movies) are very important. I like American movies, but French movies aren't bad," he said.
While in the United States, Loizeau said, they have a few activities planned, but the students will also experience whatever their host families plan. Loizeau will team-teach with Chastain.
In the United States, Mallet, 18, would be considered a high school senior. The French school system is different, Besson said, and in France, Mallet is in the graduation year of junior high school before going on to college. Mallet wants to work in the environmental sciences after college.
If the French group wants to buy products while in the United States, they'll find them to be cheaper than in France. Loizeau said everything in America is half the price it is in France. He said it was almost cost effective for the group to come to the United States, again making a joke. Mallet wants to buy some Levi's and Caterpillar shoes while he's here, since they will be cheaper.
La Roche sur Yon, or "the rock on the river," is 25 miles from the Atlantic Ocean.
"It's a small town. Small buildings. Very good wine. No industries or factories," Mallet said, describing his hometown.
He said there are about 50,000 people in his city and it is divided into five smaller cities. Most of the people travel to Nantes, France, to work. Nantes is the sixth largest city in France with a population of 500,000.
Knowing more about La Roche sur Yon may become more important to Warsaw because Chastain said he hoped Warsaw could become a "sister-city" with La Roche sur Yon.
Chastain said the exchange this year came after several years of conversation, letter-writing and meetings between him and Loizeau. In 1995, Chastain spent a month with Loizeau in France as a chaperone for American students studying abroad under an exchange program called Terre Des Langues. Loizeau was a chaperone for French students studying English in the United States 15 times in various cities for a month at a time.
Now a university teacher, Loizeau was a teacher at Les Etablieres high school where Besson currently has taken over his position. Loizeau and Chastain have been video pen-pals and arranged the exchange.
"Our principal, Paul Crousore, worked with the student exchange at New Castle many years ago. He hosted teachers from Germany at his house. In return, he went to Germany and taught students there," Chastain said.
Because of his own history with student exchange, Crousore was supportive of the idea, Chastain said. Also supportive of the exchange was assistant principal Dr. Jennifer Brumfield.
"She helped us bring up our Spanish program to be the best in the region and she thought this would give our French program a boost in the arm," Chastain said.
Chastain said they hope to discuss the possibility of reciprocating the student exchange in a coming year for a two-week period. He said he was not sure if they would be able to go there though because of attendance and insurance questions.
