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French exchange programme holder

French school exchange trip to Le Moulin aux Draps, Northern France

Boost your French trip and let us organise a language exchange and visit with a local French school, combined with a fun mix of excursions and activities led by our animateurs at our most accessible learning centre in Hauts-de-France.

  • Voyager owned
  • Key stage 3 - 4
  • Native French animateurs
  • Year round
  • Evening entertainment
  • Workbooks

An organised French exchange school trip with animateur

Avoid the uncertainty of host families with this language exchange school trip at our popular Moulin aux Draps school centre and benefit from the range of excursions and activities led in French by our native animateurs during your visit. An excellent opportunity to experience a real cultural French exchange programme and offer your students the chance for unparalleled peer-to-peer language interaction with time spent at your partner school.

In preparation for your French exchange school trip to the Opal Coast, we will find a suitable language partner school for your students to build relationships with and enhance your stay.  As part of the local community, we have links with many of the nearby schools and are able to make those connections for you, saving you time and resources.

Once we have found a suitable French school, we will exchange teachers’ details in order for you make contact before your visit. Your students could partner up with a pen pal or perhaps arrange a pre-trip video call to help enable those budding friendships across the channel.

While on your language exchange trip to France, we will arrange for a full or half day visit to your partner school for students to meet their peers and take part in learning together. This exchange is available subject to availability and the dates of French school and public holidays.

This trip links to the MFL curriculum. Find out how →
Explore all trips to France →

Itinerary

4-day sample itinerary

All activities, excursions and evening entertainment is conducted in French by our experienced animateurs.

Day 1

  • Board your coach for your trip to France
  • Arrive in France 
  • Students enjoy their first visit in France - the snail farm  
  • Check in to Hotel du Moulin aux Draps and meet your animateurs
  • French quiz evening

Day 2

  • French activity "Market mission"
  • Boulogne town trail
  • Local bakery demonstration, in French of course!
  • Nausicaa National Sea Centre or Treetop adventure and high ropes
  • French games evening

Day 3

  • Morning at your exchange school with your group
  • Lunch at school
  • Fun at the Rando Rail adventure
  • French games evening

Day 4

  • Checkout 
  • Board the coach for your Channel crossing back to England
  • Arrive back at school

 

Location

Hôtel du Moulin aux Draps 
Rue de Cremarest
62240 Desvres, France

 

Set in 18 acres of beautiful French countryside, our Hôtel du Moulin residential centre is the perfect safe environment for your students.

You can read more about our Opal Coast school centre here.

 

Excursions
Boulangerie
Bakery workshop
Boulogne town trail
Boulogne town trail
Nausicaa tunnel
Nausicaá National Sea Centre
French language immersion school trip to the Opal Coast of France
Market mission
La Coupole
La Coupole
Le Touquet Beach
Le Touquet
Rando Rail France
Rando-Rail
Opalaventure
Treetop Adventure Park
Desvres Museum of Ceramics
Museum of Ceramics tour & workshop
Chocolate making workshop in French
Chocolate workshop
Goats cheese farm
Goat's cheese farm
Bellewaerde
Bellewaerde
Escargot snail farm
Snail Farm
cite dentelle mode calais
Cité de la Dentelle et la Mode
Le Dragon de Calais Opal Coast
Le Dragon de Calais
Boulangerie

© Monica Arellano-Ongpin

Bakery workshop

At a local boulangerie, a baker will perform a baking demonstration for your group in French. Students will walk away with a croissant and a pain au chocolat each!

Boulogne town trail

Boulogne town trail

Maximise your group's language learning with this fun animateur-led challenge—designed to give students opportunities to improve their French comprehension & speaking skills in situ.

Nausicaa tunnel

Nausicaá National Sea Centre

The largest marine life centre in Europe is home to 1,600 species and promotes sustainability and marine management. This is a fun and educational cross-curricular visit for groups.

French language immersion school trip to the Opal Coast of France

Market mission

Visit a local market with your animateur where teams of students will be given money to buy food for lunch. Students will be tasked with ordering in French, creating a great opportunity to interact with the friendly stall owners in their native language. Students will also have free time to pick up some souvenirs.

La Coupole

© Damian Entwistle

La Coupole

This huge dome in the hills was built to house & launch rockets in WWII—now, it's a museum & planetarium. Learn the interesting story of how the mission pivoted from war to space exploration.

Le Touquet Beach

© Alec Brown

Le Touquet

The seaside town of Le Touquet has miles of white sandy beaches for school groups to enjoy some down time on. Students can enjoy a fun and educational walking tour that explores the town’s beautiful scenery and local heritage. You'll get hands-on in creative workshops at the Town Hall, designing your own stained-glass windows or medieval-style coats of arms to take home. These interactive activities bring local heritage to life in an engaging and memorable way.

Rando Rail France

Rando-Rail

Immerse yourselves in the French countryside as you pedal your way along a 10 km-long disused railway track in a 4-person kart! This fun outdoor activity is sure to be a hit among your students, especially if you’re travelling in the summer.

Opalaventure

Treetop Adventure Park

Want to add a bit of adventure to your trip and give students a chance to overcome their fears? Climb, swing and soar through the great outdoors! The treetop adventure park is situated on a 450-hectare forest and provides a variety of options for school groups including aerial courses, zip line, belvedere, luge track and mini-golf.

Desvres Museum of Ceramics

Museum of Ceramics tour & workshop

Desvres has a thriving ceramics industry thanks to the area's raw materials. Enjoy a guided tour & partake in a workshop where students will learn about the production and craft their own souvenir.

Chocolate making workshop in French

Chocolate workshop

We can arrange for this workshop tour, where your group will learn how a local French chocolaterie produces their chocolate, to be led in either English or French. Students will even get a chance to taste the chocolates too!

Goats cheese farm

Goat's cheese farm

Visit a local goat's cheese farm to meet the goats and find out how cheese is made. Students can even have a try at milking the goats, and trying some cheese for themselves!

Bellewaerde

Bellewaerde

Boasting, among other things, the highest water chute in Europe, Bellewaerde Park is just outside Ypres, close to the French-Belgian border. Enjoy thrilling rides, marvel at exotic animals and explore the park.

Escargot snail farm

Snail Farm

Escargot may not actually be a staple of the French diet but that's no reason not to indulge in a bit of fun on this popular visit. Your students are sure to love (or wince at) the accompanying snail tasting.

cite dentelle mode calais

Cité de la Dentelle et la Mode

The Calais Museum of Lace and Fashion is one of the last surviving examples of the collective lace factories that made Calais famous in the 19th century. Still a working production site today, the museum introduces students to current collaborations with leading fashion houses and a guided tour is available to book.

Le Dragon de Calais Opal Coast

Le Dragon de Calais

Le Dragon de Calais is a giant, fire-breathing mechanical dragon, made of steel and carved wood, that takes you on a 45-minute ride along the Calais seafront. Climb aboard this impressive moving sculpture to enjoy stunning coastal views while the dragon comes to life with sound, movement, and special effects, a unique and unforgettable experience!

Activities
Teenagers making bread
Bread making
activities Orienteering
Orienteering
Circus skills
Circus skills
activities Aeroball
Aeroball
archery on school trips case study
Archery
Moulin Goat
Mini farm
Teenagers making bread

Bread making

Suitable for all ages bread making is not just a case of making bread, it’s also a golden opportunity to practise your singing talents, as we sing French songs. Students will be guided from the very beginning with simple French instructions. From the measuring of the flour to the kneading of the bread, this activity will keep their enthusiasm going throughout. They will even get to taste the fruits of their hard work as their bread will be baked in time for the evening meal.

activities Orienteering

Orienteering

The students will be taught map reading using orienteering games and courses in the centre grounds. As well as using the target language for features, directions and map symbols the team orienteering challenges will involve quizzes along with finding the control markers.

Circus skills

Circus skills

Enables pupils to discover the art of circus on an artistic as well as technical level. Students are introduced to juggling, diabolo and other circus equipment in a fun and educational manner. The French spoken during this activity is very varied and is based on using the names of the equipment (stick, balls, diabolo...), action verbs (to walk, to move...), directions (left, right, up, down...), colours (orange, red, green...), numbers (one, two, three...).

activities Aeroball

Aeroball

Aeroball is a fun, totally unique sport! The trampoline-basketball-volleyball game is suitable for all ages and is played by two teams of 2. Simple instructions are given in French and the students will have the chance to learn/practise the vocabulary for the body parts. It’s also a great opportunity to practise the numbers (scoring and counting down the end of the match). Aeroball is quickly becoming a favourite activity for students and teachers alike!

archery on school trips case study

Archery

Students of all ages and abilities will enjoy learning the basics of archery in this fun activity led in French by your animateurs. Understand the safety aspects and tips on aiming in a safe environment.

Moulin Goat

Mini farm

Get up close and personal with our onsite collection of farm animals. Find out what it takes to look after them and keep them happy as well as feeding and stroking if you wish. All led in French by your animateur.

Included

Our Opal Parle French language immersion programme includes:

  • Organised French student interaction with time and lunch at the exchange school
  • A fun programme of student activities led in French by our own highly trained team of French-native animateurs
  • All centre-based French language games, activities, lessons and evening entertainment
  • A French-language activity workbook per student
  • Full board and lodging including snacks
  • Free teacher to student ratio approx 1:8 (coach trips) / approx 1:10 (air groups)
  • Private teachers’ lounge area
  • 24-hour emergency support
  • Teacher evening wind-down activities such as cheese and wine tasting evening
  • Your choice of return travel; coach travel, with ferry crossing, applicable tolls and taxes included, or return flights and overseas transfers
  • Coach to take your group off-site for visits
  • Comprehensive travel insurance
  • Subsidised centre inspection visit for you and a colleague
  • The opportunity to carbon offset your trip. 

Extras to budget for

  • Off-site excursions
  • Meals on journeys
  • School to airport transfers (if required)
  • Visa charges, collective passports
  • Supplements for small parties, single rooms and additional adults

Gallery

From

£418 pp
4 day/3 night with animateur & on-site activities included 
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