To be suprised schools still do French exchanges ?what with the safeguard risks

Mine wasn't that fun. They were strict and I didnt like the food 😆

My kids unfortunately didn’t have any foreign exchange opportunities but I wouldn’t have hesitated to allow them to go. They were perfectly normal when I studied French and German at GCSE and A level back in the day and were massively beneficial in terms of language learning and general cultural enrichment.

I was desperate at that age to do an exchange but even then in the 90s my parents said no! It’s such a shame as I think most families are perfectly, happy and capable safe adults it’s the not knowing that’s scary!

anybody else remember the Chernobyl children coming over? This was when I was small, we used to host a child always a boy!

I find it amazing they’re still allowed to go ahead. For context, I play/umpire netball and if we have an under 18 umpire they have to have a DBS checked adult standing near them the whole game for safeguarding reasons. On a netball court surrounded by other netball courts and close to 100 people in the area.

Yet 3-4 years ago that same child could have been sent abroad to sleep in a house with adults she’d never met on a French exchange, with no idea of their background?!

Im sure the risk is small, but the risk of many things is small and yet ‘safeguarding’ means we take loads of precautions. Exchanges seem to be an anomaly, albeit a rarer one than 20 years ago.

i don’t doubt the language benefits btw.

Im surprised kids are allowed to leave the house on their own these days.

I wish my DC had had this opportunity!

I host international students from all over the world. The youngest I've hosted were just 11 years old. Everyone in my house is DBS checked and the children have teachers, mobile phones, other friends and the school if there are any concerns.

Could she not reach the tap?

We have let fear rule
all life is risk and with modern tech the risks are way less than they ever were
and we lose so much as result

I’m shocked they’re still a thing. They were still a thing when I was in secondary school 15 years ago and we were saying then that it’s so mental to send your kid to live with another family for a week in a different country.
For every child that came back with a penal for life, there was one with a weird story. I remember a girl whose German exchange family only offered her sparkling water and she couldn’t get it down her and in the end was so thirsty she drank out the cats bowl when no one was watching 🤣

Yanbu i wouldn't let my child go

I think it's such a shame that exchanges happen so rarely these days. I went on one French exchange and three German exchanges, and they helped my language skills so much. I don't think much of the way my DC have been taught languages. They only seem to be able to parrot set phrases, rather than put sentences together themselves. It makes such a difference to be immersed in a language for a week or two.

If either of mine had had the opportunity and wanted to go, I'd have been delighted.

I think it’s a real shame that these opportunities are so few and far between. I stayed with a family in France when I was 13 and then with 2 different families in Germany…. I’m still friends with my pen pal 40 years on. My French is good my German pretty dire. My son stayed with a family in Paris while studying A level. We also had 2 boys staying with us about 10 years ago - our son spent a week with each of their families. All experiences positive.

The children are old enough to speak up if uncomfortable, there are teachers with them on the trip! But honestly, everything in life carries some risk - every time you step outside your front door or get in a car there's a small risk that you will die! The chances of anything happening to your child on an exchange trip are small - you have to balance that against the enrichment they will gain from visiting another country and seeing how their European peers live!

I did a Spanish exchange for my DD and DH and I both had to be DBS checked first being allowed to host: Not sure if the equivalent is done abroad. Most the activities were organised by the schools anyway. Rather different to when French Exchange in the 1990s.

These days there is no need to worry about it - you child has a phone? Please please don't deprive them of this wonderful, amazing and now rare opportunity!

They are rare. It is a good experience but I can see why they don't happen much.

I feel so sad for your child. If he has a gift for languages this will be a great experience for him I went on 2 exchange trips as a child and remember then fondly.

I'm not really sure what there is to safeguard the parents will be sending their child to you? It's such an enriching experience.