Over the course of the past few months, the French 4 Honors students have been busy writing messages, recording videos and displaying the culture of Germantown Academy to students across the world in Marseille, France.
This year, led by Madame Sonia Robin, Upper School French teacher, the French 4 Honors students have begun a digital exchange with Lycée Thiers, a public high school in Marseille founded by Napoleon. This program gives students the opportunity to connect with other teenagers through video recordings and messages.
“It was exciting to share our lives here at GA and film places where students like to go, whether it’s the library or Rich’s Deli,” Madame Robin said. “I think everybody [here] was excited about it, and it was very similar in Marseille.”
For Madame Robin, the digital exchange is the result of several educational and personal motivations. Having grown up in Marseille herself, it served as an opportunity to strengthen her students’ communicative skills and provide an incredible learning experience that traditional classes don’t offer, all while sharing her background through native French students.
“I wanted my students here at GA to connect with people their age who speak French and expose them to something outside of the classroom- something that’s authentic and connected with their lives,” Madame Robin said. “I come from Marseille, and it was also a great way to share my culture through the mouths of other students.”
After reaching out via email to Lycée Thiers’ language department, the exchange of messages quickly grew into a partnership. In the summer of 2025, Madame Robin visited Marseille and met with the school’s educational team. The final decision was to partner with the class of Monsieur Jean Phillipe Attard, whose objectives aligned with the French 4 Honors curriculum and optimized benefits of the exchange.
“One of the goals is to be able to compare and contrast experiences and have this different view on the world,” Madame Robin said. “Culturally, I believe it’s going to be very rich, and linguistically, it’s going to be very modern and authentic.”
For many GA French students, the exchange offers opportunities to build speaking skills and connect with the culture that a traditional classroom can not, sparking interest in French and planting friendships amongst digital peers.
“I think the exchange makes [learning French] more personal and more useful,” Amelia Gipson ‘27 said. “Sometimes in French, we can get so focused on the grammar and other things, so using skills that we have learned for genuine conversation and getting to know kids our age, not just completing assignments, sort of puts a purpose to everything.”
Looking forward, Madame Robin hopes to expand this impactful program by adding physical elements, such as sending a package with items representing GA culture, or potentially having students go to France in person and visit Lycée Thiers.
“In my ideal world, I would love for students to visit Marseille,” Madame Robin said. “I don’t know if it’s going to happen next year, but that’s the moon that I want to reach. In the future, I want to continue the school year with meaningful exchanges.”
Overall, this new program has brought great cultural depth into the French 4 Honors program and given students at both GA and Lycée Thiers a firsthand glimpse of high school life across the globe. Under the leadership of Madame Robin, the exchange will continue to foster cross-cultural interest while improving the conversational abilities of its participants.