The French Work Experience Exchange was organised last year for the first time and after proving to be a total success with all students involved, this year I organised the second French Work Experience Exchange with our partner school in Pont l'Abbé, Brittany in collaboration with Mr Waldron, former Torquay Boys' Grammar School student. 

As a Language College, there is a big emphasis on the importance of languages in today's global economy and all students are encouraged to explore different possibilities in which they can develop their language skills, either by going on the various trips abroad, exchanges to Spain, France and Germany and work experience abroad for the Sixth Form students. 

This year Torquay Boys' Grammar School has organised Work Experience for Sixth Form students in three countries for the first time: France, Germany and Spain giving a total of 18 Sixth Form students the unique and invaluable opportunity of using their language skills in the work place and improving their fluency.

The Work Experience Abroad programme gives Sixth Form students the opportunity to develop their language skills and to see first-hand that having languages will be a great advantage for them in their future careers.  Keep learning languages and you will see how many doors they will open to you!

French Work Experience

With France it is an exchange in which students go to France for a week to do work experience while staying with their partner's family.  This works extremely well and this year there were 12 students from three local schools who took part, out of which 6 were from Torquay Boys' Grammar School.  The students worked in a wide range of placements from a spa to the local radio where Tim Partridge had an insight into how radio programmes are done in France, -this was the second time Tim was doing work experience in France, and this year he also did work experience in Germany!

German Work Experience

Once the French Work Experience worked so well in France last year, I wanted to expand the work experience programme to the three languages and Mr Zursiedel succeeded in securing 5 work placements at Bosch, which has a big factory in the town where our exchange partner school is.  This was brilliant news and meant that Mr Zursiedel could take 5 students at the same time as the exchange party.  As the exchange is done in collaboration with Torquay Grammar School for Girls, two of the placements were offered to two girls.  The students came back after their work experience full of renewed enthusiasm for the study of languages and very grateful for having been given this opportunity.

Spanish Work Experience

Work Experience in Spain was done two years ago when 4 students went to Valladolid.  This year there were 7 students who took part and they spent a week in Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia, with placements ranging from a theatre school to a restaurant!  The Work Experience in Spain was organised with Halsbury Travel and partly funded by the Language College.