On March 27, three of Stamford High’s French classes went on a trip to a fine French restaurant and a movie screening in Greenwich. The movie, Les Héritiers directed by Marie-Castille, is a story based on a class of schoolchildren who are doing a project on the Holocaust and how it continues to affect them and others to this day.  Mary George, media specialist at Stamford High, chaperoned this fun educational trip, and gave plenty of feedback on how it went.

George said she was invited to go on this trip because of her help with language classes in the Epal program and other world language projects.  “I work with world languages classes for different projects and Epal programs. The students write emails to other students in French speaking countries, and I help with setting up the Epal accounts and helping our students get started,” George said.

According to George, the students who attended were very pleased with the experience from start to finish. “I think that the students thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience from the bus ride to going to the restaurant, and the movie theatre as well,” George said. “The trip brought together different French teachers, different levels of French students, grades and other high schools from different areas such as Greenwich High School and Scarsdale.” She added that 42 students attended and three teachers; more students wanted to attend this trip, but they didn’t hand in their forms on time. There was not a single seat on the bus for any more people anyway; it was completely maxed out. “Ms. Cahill did a good job and helped a lot with the forms and paper work. This is our second year doing this field trip,” George said.

George also said that the students were able to understand the movie very well.  “No one said anything to me, but there were English subtitles, and I think they were well done and nicely sized so the students didn’t have a problem understanding the movie. We actually met the producer!” she said. George added that the students could relate in some ways to the movie because the school in Les Heritiers is diverse like Stamford High, and some of the behaviors expressed by the students were similar as well.

Students also enjoyed French cuisine at Bistro Versailles Patisserie (also in Greenwich), according to George. “I think they enjoyed the experience; they were fascinated by the way the restaurant was dressed up, and how the waiters were. It is avery different scene from  the way some places are in Stamford, so I think that they were happy about seeing how  different the scenery was. The restaurant actually emailed me and wanted to compliment us on how well behaved and polite the students were during our time there.”

To read staff writer Mayte Barreto’s review of Les Heritiers, click here.