En octobre dernier, huit élèves de Terminales se sont rendus au lycée BG/BRG Fürstenfeld en Autriche avec leur professeure d’anglais, Mme Brouillard. Il s’agissait pour eux de retrouver leurs correspondants qu’ils avaient reçus à Cannes en avril 2024. Après deux jours à Vienne où ils ont pu visiter le château de Schönbrunn et la maison de Mozart, le petit groupe s’est montré plus scolaire une fois sur place, en assistant et participant à des cours d’anglais et de français. Des visites, notamment de la ville de Graz et d’une chocolaterie renommée, ont également fait le bonheur de tous. Mais partager le quotidien d’une famille autrichienne fut tout de même ce qui fut vécu comme une expérience particulièrement enrichissante.  Voici le ressenti des participants. Bonne lecture !

“During my trip to Austria, I saw some differences and similarities between their life and ours. The families were really kind, just like in France. They made me feel welcome and happy to stay with them. But the food was different! They eat things like schnitzel, which is heavier than what we eat in France. Their dinners are also smaller than ours.

At school, the students have fewer classes and better schedules. This gives them more free time to relax or do other things, which I think is a really good idea. One thing that is the same is how much they care about learning English. Both in Austria and France, it’s important for young people to know other languages.” Samuel

“Austrian students finish class earlier than French students. In France, we finish school at 5 p.m., whereas in Austria, they finish at 1:40 p.m.!
However, they actually start school at 7:40 a.m., which is 20 minutes earlier than in France. During their free time, they have three small breaks of 10 minutes each. During these breaks, they eat or do whatever they want.
Since they finish earlier, they have more time to practice sports or pursue hobbies after school.

I really enjoyed the trip. It was my first school trip ever, so I’ll never forget it.” Adrien

In class, the students are more comfortable with their teachers and can do whatever they want, as long as they don’t disturb the teacher. For example they can bring a coffee or they can eat. As a matter of fact, once a student even brought a coffee to his teacher.

Finally, P.E. isn’t a subject for them, it’s just a bonus that is not marked.

I noticed that the students were very fluent in English, even the younger students that had been studying it for not so long were as fluent as us so teachers must have a better method there. Maybe they have more opportunities to speak.

Miriam

“A big difference is the presence of Christian crosses above each classroom door. Indeed students have religion classes. Protestants and Catholics are separated. The class consists of knowing how to practice it, learning about the history and there is also a social education aspect.

“The trip was amazing! It was wonderful to discover a new culture but the best part was spending time with our pen friends. It allowed us to experience the traditional Austrian life and feel less like tourists.” 

Anaïs