Hello

Now that the Top Up Your French on Board’s first summer is about to end, I think it is time for an assessment of what was a “Première”!  I still find incredible that no-one had thought before of offering language sessions on international ferries.  Please let me know if you have come across the same service offered before on a ferry. 
Top Up Your French Onboard has been an overwhelming success in terms of media intere st but more importantly in terms of “customer satisfaction”.  Participants arrived looking shy and feeling under-confident, some even sea-sick, but they left after the session looking far happier and ready to “give it a go!” and not sea-sick anymore, which is a definite plus!  The feedback was absolutely amazing and of course heart-warming so watch out for more “Tune into the Local Language” sessions on more ferries in the near future!
The sessions were not only a success with the participants but they were also very well received in the media, even the French media.  The Paris-Normandie newspaper published two really nice articles about the sessions and a FR3 team came onboard the Côte d’Albâtre last Thursday to film the Top Up Your French sessions. 
 Last but certainly not least, I was interviewed on Seahaven FM last Friday by Nick Mallinson and David Foster.  I think they give their local community a fantastic service and I will write a special blog entry about them next.

There will be no sessions during the week in the winter but I will be organising Weekend Trips to Dieppe including a Top Up Your French Onboard sessions and a guided tour of the town with a “treasure hunt” and a meal at one of the harbour restaurants.  Please email me at babette@cosmofil.com for more info.

Best cosmofil greetings

Babette

“No, thanks, I can say yes and no in French, that’s all I need really.” Heard last week from a friendly woman in her thirties as I was distributing leaflets in the bar.  Basing myself on this but also on the rag she was reading, I am led to assume that she believes that people visiting Britain should speak English, that France would be a nicer country without the French and that she agrees with comedian Nick Coppin that English people don’t need to learn foreign languages.
To be fair, Nick did moderate his statement as the Richard Bacon show on Radio 5 Live drew to a close on Monday night (or more accurately early Tuesday morning).  He accepted that people visiting a foreign country should know how to greet locals in their own language and that Brits moving abroad should learn the lingo.  Hey Nick, we never said that holidaymakers should pass a degree in Chinese before going to have their picture taken on the Great Wall of China.  As for speaking the language of your host country, any chance you could use your stage charisma to pass on the message to the ex-pats who’ve come out of their ghettos for a shot of British humour? 
Thinking of which, I wonder how many ex-pats living in Normandy will read the article on the Top Up your French sessions in their local paper the Paris-Normandie?  And how many will see the news report on the FR3 Regions channel next week?  Just like the British, the French media are intrigued (or amused). They think that attempting to get the Brits to speak foreign languages instead of shouting and pointing is like trying to get the French to become vegetarian!  
How wrong are they!  We are still weeks away from the “rentrée” but everyday I receive emails and phone calls from adult students asking me when their class is going to start again or which class they should join.   From the “débutant/e” to the “nearly native” level, the excitement is growing as we get nearer the start of the new academic year. 
I have some new projects in mind for this coming year.  Following the success of the Charleston Farmhouse guided tour in French, I will suggest more cultural visits conducted in French.  I will also organise trips to Dieppe with Top Up Your French sessions on the ferry and a guided tour of the Dieppe museum.    More exciting projects will be revealed very soon.

Best cosmofil greetings to all.
Babette