We think students always learn best when they’re having fun, which is why all our activities are designed to give your students a really good time.
Our activities are all based at the château and run by our superbly popular animateurs. They are specially trained and experienced in creating an environment, where pupils feel comfortable speaking French and making mistakes - they make sure your pupils enjoy themselves so much, the don't even realise they're learning! Instructions for each activity are given in French (but safety instructions can always be repeated in English) and the pupils are encouraged to speak French at all times.
Our own château workbooks reinforce the French they’ve learned by providing them with key phrases, vocab, exercises and puzzles to complete at the end of each activity.
Below is a list of activities and outdoor sessions available at the Château. They all provide the perfect environment for students to feel at ease using French, and include the learning/practice of verbs, actions, directions, instructions and vocabulary relevant to the immediate environment.
Canoeing on our own small lake, gives pupils the opportunity to learn various new skills in a safe, but fun environment. The lake is big enough for your students to have fun, but small enough for our animateurs to maintain our high safety standards. After canoeing, pupils work in teams to build rafts using ropes, barrels and… plenty of patience! As usual, French is the order of the day. Students should be confident in water, but they do not need to be excellent swimmers.
On our own purpose built wall, pupils take it in turns to climb whilst those not climbing take on the role of instructor, or guide. The ‘guide’ directs their partner in French using the appropriate constructions and vocabulary for directions and body movements/parts. At the end of the session, your animateur will help your pupils to fill in their workbooks, revising sentence constructions and vocabulary used during the activity. Harnesses, helmets and other necessary safety equipment is supplied by the château.
The château grounds provide the perfect base from which to run these team building and problem-solving exercises. Animateurs will set your pupils up with various challenging tasks to be carried out in the forest. Pupils are encouraged to speak to each other in French (as much as possible!) as they work as a team to overcome the challenges that have been set.
After the obligatory safety talk, pupils learn how to shoot arrows in our purpose built archery arena. The session is finished off with a balloon shooting competition. The activity provides the perfect environment for practising French numbers (scores) and directions.
What could be better for team work and learning French at the same time than building a raft. Its great fun and usually (possibly as a result of some secret help from our animateur), the raft actually floats! The activity follows our normal format with some workbook work to start off with to learn the vocab, the fun bit in the middle and then another classroom session to consolidate what they have learnt.
Students will be taught map reading in French using orienteering games and courses in The Chateau grounds. As well as using French language for features, directions and map symbols the team orienteering challenges will involve other French language quizzes as well as finding the control markers.
The obstacle course is quickly becoming the château’s most popular activity. Instructions, as usual, are given in French and pupils are asked to repeat ‘action’ statements before tackling each obstacle. It is an ideal activity for practising popular verbs and prepositions. Everyone loves parcours de santé because it gives them the chance to get rather wet and muddy!
As with everything we do, in our fencing sessions safety is our number one priority. So, only after the equipment has been issued and the safety brief has been fully understood, do pupils get down to practising their fencing moves. Your animateur will teach the basics of the sport in French and pupils will repeat actions whilst practising their new French phrases.
Everyone loves making things they can enjoy and eat later, and even more so at the château because we combine bread baking with singing French songs! Primary school pupils love getting covered in flour, kneading their dough and enjoying their tasty treats later with their evening meal. A hands-down favourite.
"Photogramme" is an artistic activity which take place in a dark room. Using the photography development techniques, the kids will be able to create their own piece of art. They will use the nature surrounding them to discover the principles of early photography techniques and also to learn some new vocabulary. The Pupils can keep their creation at the end of the session.
Brilliant for learning a whole variety of French vocabulary and phrases, from the names of circus tools to the actions themselves, as well as more basic things such as colours, numbers and prepositions. Your animatuer will teach the technique alongside the art of circus skills.
Aéroballe is probably our most popular activity among teachers and pupils alike – it is a totally unique trampoline-basketball-volleyball game, suitable for all ages. It is played by two teams of two, who are guided by their friends in French.
The mini-farm is either one of the 'Petit-Boulots' that the students do before or after meal time, or a longer activity. During this session, the students will discover the vocabulary regarding the animals and the work that is done around them. They will experiment some of the tasks of the mini-farm including feeding the animals and cuddling the rabbits. The chickens, pigs, rabbits, guinea pigs, sheep, ponies and lamas all love this type of activity when the kids can approach them and take care of them!
Vélo Tout Terrain (VTT) is excellent for the use of directions; tout droit, tourne à gauche etc. After the obligatory safety talk and issue of equipment, the students participate in a biking session involving a country ride. Parts of the bike are explained in French as well as commands, directions, road safety etc. These days this isn't one of our standard activities, but we can organise for older groups. We also have a bike tour during the week just for teachers.
We have 2 sports courts at the Chateau which we use for hockey, basketball and football. Our larger court can also be used for tennis and teachers sometimes use that. One of our evening programmes is our famous sports tournament which is great fun.
Evening activities at the chateau include; Grande Trouvaille – Photo-mystère, Tournoi de sports, Feu de camp, Quiz, Talent Show, Exercice d’initiative intérieur, Jeux d’intérieur, Jeux d’extérieur (l’été), Jeux Sans Frontière (l’été), Disco, Cinéma – Film sur Grand écran, Crêperie, Bowling
