Foreign Languages

Study Abroad Pilot Program: France

 

The pilot foreign languages study abroad program was conducted in Spring 2024 with 2 students, in which each did a 30-hour shadowing internship in a French business in Dunkirk (one in a water analysis lab, and one in a hotel-restaurant-conference center). Those two students completed some course work in the spring semester to prepare for the internship and then left in May with their professor (Duthoit).

They traveled with another course (French Culture with Dr. Barnard). In the morning, Dr. Barnard gave class to her students, while the internship students went to their internship. In the afternoon, all students did organized activities (or had free time). 

 

Schillers — France

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How does it work? — Activities During the Trip — Housing, Food, & Travel — Internship Option — Course Option

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How does it work?

1. Students register in the correct courses in SPRING. They complete some preparatory work during the Spring semester and receive an Incomplete grade at the end of the semester.

2. Students leave for the trip with the group and complete some coursework during the trip + cultural activities.

3. After the trip, students submit their work by a deadline during the summer. The professors graded the work and changed the Incomplete grade into the current Final Grade.

An incomplete grade does not affect your GPA. If the work isn’t submitted or completed on time, it turns into an F. Is the work is completed and submitted on time, it turns into the earned final course grade.

 

What did they do during the trip?

For this specific tip, students were busy with class activities or internship shadowing in the morning. In the afternoon, the group completed group activities or had a free afternoon.

Activities in Dunkirk

• Walking tour of the city
• Sand-yacht (sort of go-kart on the beach with a sail)
• 2 belfries with panoramic views
• Fort des dûnes (16^th century defense fort used during WWII)
• Walk in the dunes full of old WWII bunkers
• Espace Tourville (historical pirate ship construction site and museum)
• Walking tour of Bergues (small famous city from the movie Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis)
• Operation Dynamo museum (fleeing operation during WWII, as portrayed in the movie Dunkirk )
• Museum of old traditional games (team building)
• Bowling
• Some free afternoon (students chose to go to Gant in Belgium by train during one of their free afternoons)

Activities in Lille

• 1 free day
• Museum of Fine Arts
• Paul Verlaine museum (German leadership Bunker)

Activities in Normandy

• Free day in Caen
• William the Conqueror’s castle
• Omaha beach & US cemetery
• Aireborn museum (aviation during WWII)
• D-Day themed escape game
• Bayeux tapestry museum (tapestry about William the Conqueror’s conquest of England in 1066)

Activities in Paris

• Boating tour on the Seine
• Trocadero place and the Eiffel tower
• Whole free day
  
  

 

Housing, Food, and Travel

Students stayed in hotel rooms (two people per room) during the trip. As we stayed two weeks in Dunkirk, the hotel room had a fully equipped mini kitchen (microwave, hot plate, and cooking utensils). In Caen, students stayed two nights in a hotel in the town center. In Paris, students stayed two nights in a hotel at the airport and close to subway access to join the city.

Buffet-style breakfasts were included at each hotel. Several group meals were planned in various types of restaurant (local, famous chain, buffet, gastronomic, etc.) but students were free for lunch or dinner most of the time. They could go to restaurants, cafés, fast food, or sandwich shops or buy food in the local small supermarkets.

For travel, the university paid for the airfare with Delta airline. Long-distance travels were made by group bus (up to five hours) but for short-distance travel, we used various types of public transport: fast trains, regional trains, street car, city bus, and subway.

 

 

Internship Option

In the Fall, Dr. Duthoit will scout internship opportunities in the destination city and attempt to tailor the offerings to your professional interests or objectives. However, there is no guarantee it will be possible.

In the pilot program, a student in geology completed her internship at a water-analysis laboratory and a student in International Business and Culture completed hers at a local hotel-restaurant- conference center place in Dunkirk. They completed 3 hours of shadowing in the morning during the week and also submitted administrative paperwork in French, kept an internship journal, interviewed someone on their internship place, and submitted a final portfolio with all documents and a final reflection on their time in France.

If you are interested in completing this course, please contact Dr. Duthoit during by the Fall preceding the trip.

“The internship portion of the trip was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that expanded my horizons in a way that I'd never experienced before! It was both interesting and educative to be on the other side of a language barrier, and my understanding of the French language improved drastically as a result. I definitely wouldn't swap that out for an extra two weeks at my summer job!”

— Kaci

Student Projects

 

Course Option

The course will be a culture course; more information on the course option will be available by end of August 2025.

“I traveled to France with the study abroad program. I have pictures of myself in front of places I had only read about in textbooks-from the Eiffel Tower to the Arc de Triumph, to Notre Dame and the River Seine. I now know how buttery and light a French croissant can be. I also discovered that there’s a little green in the horizon of the English Channel from the shore of Omaha beach, when you look through tears, as you stand on the actual ground where men stood nearly a hundred years ago and gave their lives for our freedom. I bring my experience everywhere I go – and it forever points out all things French.”

— Eleanor (France 2024)