To Think this is a Bit Insensitive/Odd/Random

[LadyClarissaArseQuack]

We have German exchange students via my dd's school. The itinery is as follows:
Day1-2 at home with the host family
Day3 Coventry Cathedral
Day4 Iron Gorge museum
Day5 Alton Towers.

So have I Mrsgradgrind. Both cathedrals are lovely.
I just think it's a tad insensitive. "Here's one we built earlier (the ruined cathedral). The one your forefathers' bombed earlier; and here's the new one.
Mucho concerned about "the afternoon is for pupils to discover Coventry Town centre" unsupervised. I wouldn't let a Rotweiler discover Coventry town centre on their own.

erm what exactly do you want them to do then?//STRANGE OP

I have no problem with children understanding and seeing history. My dd has seen more than most.
I just don't think that it reflects much of how we live now.

Alton Towers is in Stoke on Trent.

Haha that's my quote of the day OP. To quantify that taking children visiting the UK to Alton Towers is "a Bit Insensitive/Odd/Random" because it is in Stoke on Trent is just silly.

Besides, it is in Alton, Staffs. 16 miles outside of Stoke on Trent. And while I was being the big fat snob that I am upthread, as a kid, Alton Towers was the BEST day out imaginable. It was always on the itinerary whenever we had a foreign student exchange at school.

OP I think you are creating to make yourself feel superior.

Well the girl that is coming on exchange wants to see London. She wants to see the "Queens house and her crown"; the Houses of Parliament and the "river".

Quite, Maryz. The itinerary you describe indicates you're in the midlands. It will do the child good to understand that there is more to England than London.

Vivipru. I love Alton Towers. I made every excuse to go to any theme park when I was dd was younger.
It's just the road signs in Stoke on Trent. It's circling the drain.

ohhhkaaayyy

Look, those sound like nice, informative days out. If you think she'll benefit from a trip to London, then its only a few quid on the coach from Birmingham, you could take her yourself.

Yes I'm in the Midlands; but the way the itinerary is set out, we won't have time to get to London. Apparently we will have other opportunities as we will have the same exchange student for the next 2 years.

Where is the German exchange based? Will the English contingent get to see Berlin? I imagine if the school is in Cologne or Stuttgart - probably not. For a kids exchange trip, I don't think a visit to the capital city of the country is essential at all. In some cases, it is unrealistic, given the short duration of the visit.

They are going to a school east of Duffledorf.

I don't see what's wrong with Alton Towers for an exchange student. It is a part of our culture. Day trips to Alton Towers are a staple of modern life for kids that live close enough. Why shouldn't that be a part of a cultural exchange? I can see why London would be high on the list for the exchange students, but also why it wouldn't be a priority for the organizers - people can get themselves to London much more easily, better in many ways to get them out to places less likely to be visited by international tourists.

Iron Gorge is fantastic, fascinating and beautiful and probably ties in well to lots of curriculum areas. Coventry Cathedral sounds like a good idea so long as it's handled well. It's important not to pretend the war didn't happen.

Now for me it would be Alton Towers that would spoil the trip.

Mind you, I remember it before the rides were there & loved it then.

I did the French exchange when I was 15.

All I remember is the weird food, drinking tea from a bowl ( I think they bought the tea specially for me ) and the disco they held for us in the school hall, dancing to shit europop and snogging a french boy with braces. Oh and I bought a Naf Naf tshirt.

I think that covered all I needed to know about France

So according to Google they'll be about 340 miles from Berlin. So no Brandenberg Gate for them.

burg

what's wrong with the road signs?

I've lived in Germany and quite rightly Germans tend to think we're strange for still treading on egg shells over a historical event that happened before most of us were born

When I was forced against my own will to go went on an exchange to Germany I was taken on a tour round a memorial to a monastery/orphanage that was bombed to the ground buy us Brits in WW2. One of the girls in my group cried for hours about it.

That and being able to drink beer on the last night is all I can remember from the week I spent there!

The ethos at Coventry Cathedral is Peace and Reconciliation.Ideal for German school children.Why so sniffy about the city centre?It's no worse than any other large city and better than some.

Why can't you go down to London on day2?

I agree no one should wander around Cov on an afternoon though unless they have a sense of adventure.