In terza io e la mia classe abbiamo avuto l’opportunità di fare un viaggio di una settimana a Chester, una piccola città nel Cheshire in Inghilterra e io e una mia compagna siamo state ospitate da una famiglia molto premurosa e disponibile. La mattina seguivamo le lezioni alla Conlan School, mentre nei pomeriggi abbiamo avuto la possibilità di visitare Chester e la sua Università e di svolgere attività che ci hanno permesso di interagire direttamente con gli abitanti della città. Nel corso della settimana siamo anche riusciti a fare una bellissima gita a Liverpool, la città dei Beatles.
Questo viaggio è stato per me un'esperienza interessante. Viaggiare ed essere ospitata da una famiglia del posto è un modo perfetto per conoscere e sperimentare la vita quotidiana e la cultura di un altro Paese.
During the third year my class and I had the opportunity to take a week-long trip to Chester, a small town in Cheshire, in England.
Chester is a unique and charming town, rich in history and with a lot of culture. Chester was founded by the Romans and its city walls are the most complete city walls in Britain. The Eastgate Clock is located on the site of the original entrance to the Roman fortress and is considered the most photographed clock in Great Britain after Big Ben. It was built in order to celebrate the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1896.
During this week my group and I lived in couples with host families. The family hosting me and my partner was very friendly and warm. This allowed us to stay in a familiar setting where we could test and develop our language skills. My host family was formed by a couple with a daughter and a son. Unfortunately, the siblings were living away at the college while we were there. Anyway, the host mum and the host dad were very caring and kind and if we had had any problem, they could have helped us.
Every day in the morning we had classes in Conlan School related to the use of language in the workplace. While in the afternoons, we had the opportunity to visit Chester and its University and to do activities, such as surveys and treasure hunts, which allowed us to interact directly with the people living in the city.
During this experience we also managed to take a nice trip to Liverpool, a very interesting city near the sea. The day's program included the visit to the most important buildings and monuments of the city such as the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King (the Catholic Cathedral) and the Cathedral Church of the Risen Christ (the Anglican Cathedral). We also saw the places where The Beatles, the famous scouser band, used to play and where they took inspiration for their songs. We spent some time in the Museum of Science and Industry which is an interactive museum where you can try to do experiments and be part of them. In the end we went to the Tate Gallery where we did a “painting hunt”. The Tate Gallery is one of the most famous galleries in the world. Its visit has been really interesting also because there was always someone available to explain the art pieces.
I think that this was a really interesting and important experience because I was able to experiment with family life in England and English habits. In my opinion, beside the lexicon and the grammar, we should know the culture of the country where the language is spoken. In this way we can think like mother tongue people and even the language might become easier to learn. From my point of view living with host families is the perfect way to learn the everyday life and culture of people coming from different countries. I believe that this is true for every idiom that I am learning now and for those that I will learn in the future.
