In our school there are lots of students who come from different countries around the world. Most of them came here as a choice because they wanted to discover French culture and language but some of them were forced to leave their country owing to political or economic crisis.
We had the opportunity to interview a few of them to speak about their thoughts on European Union, France and also learn a bit more about their native country.

Joao Pedro and Julie were our guests. These two students did a really great job, and we’re thanking them again!

Olá Joao!

We ask Joao, a 16-year-old Portuguese, several questions about his experience in France. He didn’t choose to come in France ; he came here with his parents because of economic crisis in Portugal. His family wanted to earn money in France and earning money in France is easier than in his country of origin, so they are going to live in France for one year and then, they’ll go back to Portugal.
To Joao, these countries are really different. The food is different, people are different, school is different and the culture is different too. When he went in France, he didn’t speak French at all but in only three months spent here he learnt French a lot and he’s progressing very fast. Joao still prefers Portugal to France, but he thinks that French people are really nice.
Then we asked him some questions about European Union. He answered that he knows that Portugal is a part of this union, and to him, European Union is a good thing. But European Union doesn’t help Portugal a lot even if the crisis isn’t due to Europe, but because of Portugese government. Finally? He told us that this year in France will give him a lot of things. He would learn a new culture, a new language and he would meet a lot of people!

Hallo Julie !

Contrary to Joao, Julie chose to come in France, and it wasn’t her first experience. She had already visited Paris and Strasbourg with her family, and this time she is in a host family in Burgundy. Julie is from Germany, and she wanted to come in France because she liked the language, even if the culture is really different from hers. During the interview she was asked about her thoughts on France but also on Europe, and more precisely European Union, because it’s the main theme of this discipline. She said it was great because all the countries were united.

I think it was like a « test » for her because it can be hard to speak fluently French and to understand the questions, but she ended up alive so it’s a great thing.

These interviews were a great exercise for us, but it was more stressful for the foreign pupils : just imagine having to speak in a language you don’t really master while being filmed and in front of people you don’t know…!

We also learnt a few tips about how to make a great interview. First we’ve seen the different ways to position chairs, cameras and microphones. We had to speak louder than usually to allow the pupils of cinema class to record us. They came to help filming us, and were the « directors » of this exercise.

To conclude, we’ll say that the interviews were a really great idea and that we would like doing it again!

Elisa & Lilou