Penncrest High School French Exchange Trip

Penncrest High School students recently traveled to Avignon, France for the 7th bi-annual French Exchange with Aubanel High School in Provence. While only 24 Penncrest students traveled, technology made it possible to share the experience with over 400 other French students in Rose Tree Media through a daily trip blog, virtual reality experiences, and live Facetime sessions. Students in French classrooms in grades 6-12 connected to the daily travel blog to view pictures, watch videos, and comment on the locations their classmates visited. The blog also contained daily virtual reality photos that allowed the students in RTM to virtually visit the sites that the traveling students had visited just a few minutes prior. Using inexpensive Google cardboard viewers, smartphones, and the free Google cardboard camera app, students in Rose Tree Media got a virtual experience with both 360 degree photos and sound. Through VR technology, students back home experienced shopping in a local farmer’s market, dancing on the famous Avignon bridge, boating on the Mediterranean in Cassis, walking around a Roman arena in Arles, and standing at the base of the Eiffel Tower. In addition, the Penncrest students in France connected with their classmates in Rose Tree Media via Facetime during the trip. Facetiming from the courtyard of the French high school using their teacher’s smartphone, Penncrest seniors, Jack Kirchoff and Rachel Hughes answered questions live from their younger siblings’ French classes at Penncrest, where the session was projected on the big screen for the entire classroom. Later in the week, Penncrest juniors, Helen Barz and Chris Jackson connected to Springton Lake Middle School French classes amidst old Olive trees in Provence. During the sessions, the traveling students responded to questions from classmates in the US and took the students on a live tour of their surroundings. While the best travel experience remains traveling in person, innovative, inexpensive technologies are providing opportunities to explore our world in new, exciting ways.