Why Besançon ?  Besancon is the capital and principal city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France and is close to the Swiss border  It received official designation as a ‘Town of Art and History Unique experience The objectives for our partnership are:  To broaden the students’ knowledge and understanding of each other’s language, society, and culture and to learn to appreciate and respect them and develop long-lasting international friendships  To establish, develop and maintain a lasting and sustainable relationship in order to enrich the curriculum, improve language skills and motivation of the students  To enhance the students’ language competence with such activities as: writing letters or e-mails to friends, using videoconferencing, sharing blogs and exchanging materials  It has one of the most beautiful historic centres of any major town in France, including a 17th century citadel which is a Unesco World Heritage Site  It is a well-preserved Renaissance city that dates back to Roman Times, with many ancient attractions that remain today including an arch from the 2nd century  Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology is renowned as one of France’s oldest and richest museums, which houses Finest City Art Galleries outside of Paris. Student Trip to France The CBE signed a Memorandum of Understanding in November 2011 with the Académie of Besançon. This agreement intends to facilitate linguistic and cultural exchanges and student mobility programs. Branton is one of 17 schools in the CBE to be partnered with a school in France. We have been twinned with College Jean-Jaures of Saint-Vit, a small village just outside of Besançon. We would like to become the first school in this initiative to offer the exceptional opportunity of a student exchange trip to France! 10-12 DAY EXCHANGE Experience French culture first hand The exchange will take place next year. The French students will visit Calgary in February and our students would visit France in May 2015. Approximately 28 students gr. 8 & 9 Length of stay with each family is 9 days Each student will billet their counterpart Cost: Around $2750.00 which would include all costs (transportation, activities) ▪ Students participating in the Sea Trip would need to take the trip occurring in the fall  When Branton students are in France, their week would include a mixture of touring the region, involvement in cultural activities and excursions, participation in some school activities/classes, and a 2 day visit with their host in Paris before departure. ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ For questions please contact: M. Bélanger [email protected] Mme Dagenais [email protected] M. Bishop [email protected] Visit our website to follow our 2014 blog www.jaures-branton.weebly.com ▪ A similar schedule is offered to French Students when they are in Calgary, though Branton students will mainly be in class during the day. Students and host families will be involved in activities with their partners at the end of each school day.