From Alsace to ASDA

The girls – 18 year olds Stphanie Batzenhoffer and Sabrina Ohlung and Claire Bauer, 17, - stayed in the Lodge Hotel at Coleraine High School and spent their work experience stacking and cleaning shelves in the Coleraine store.

The placement was a further product of the close links built up since 1994 between the Alsace region and the North Eastern Education and Library Board. Over the years there have been school links, in-service training of teachers and language courses involving the two education authorities.

The North Eastern Board’s Languages and International Assistant Adviser Andrine McWilliams met up with the girls in Coleraine accompanied by two teachers from Alsace on an inspection tour – husband and wife Philippe and Muriel Frieden.

The Alsatian teachers also visited Antrim Board Centre to meet Board Adviser Bill Brodie and his wife Assistant Adviser Vanessa Brodie. As well as checking on the welfare of the three students the visiting teachers had the chance to see the Giant’s Causeway and spend time in Portrush and Belfast.

“Previously we had been to Dublin, Cork and Connemara but we had not been to the North before,” said Muriel. “It is a beautiful coast and lovely people.”

“The landscapes are really fabulous,” said Philippe. “You first come here for the landscapes and then you come back for the people.”

“It is a good experience for our students. They can learn to listen to and understand spoken English.

“We may send over four or five more students next year for work experience and we have good contacts for anyone wanting work experience in Alsace although they would have to be able to speak French,” Muriel added.