Editor's Note: This is part of a series on several Northwest Florida residents' visit to Noirmoutier, France in connection with Sister Cities International.
Among those visiting is Crestview Area Sister City Program President and News Bulletin reporter Brian Hughes.
NOIRMOUTIER, France — When Noirmoutier middle schooler Mattis Durand visits Crestview this fall, his grasp of American English and culture will be stronger than his classmates'.
While their school chums frolicked on the beach or went shopping in the town, five Northwest Florida State College students on a performance tour of Crestview's sister city dropped into English teacher Jean-Luc Poignard's class May 11. They spent an hour conversing "en Anglais" — in English — with the students.
For Daniel Thornton of Baker, Kalyn Sawyer of Crestview, Jason Mueller of Shalimar, Samuel Melecio-Zambrano of Bluewater Bay and Dylan Garofalo of Niceville, the visit to the College Molière was an opportunity to repay some of the hospitality they experienced on the island.
"It was fun," Garofalo said. "It was a good experience. It's cool being able to give back. Everybody here has been so great to us."
For the French kids, the visit was equally gratifying.
"It was cool," Mattis said. "It was very interesting for me and my classmates."
"It was very pleasant for me, too," Poignard said.
The 22 French students split into five groups to ask prepared questions of their visitors, but soon, any shyness wore off and laughter and excited conversation filled the room as the students peppered their visitors with questions ranging from home life to American culture.
Any language barrier melted as the Americans and the French students found ways to communicate their ideas.
"There were times when they were struggling to find words in English and we were trying to find words in French," Thornton said. "I was speaking in broken French sometimes."
That was just fine with Poignard.
"It's not the pronunciation. It's not the grammar," he said. "The most important thing is for the kids to speak and just be casual. What's important is if the other person can understand you."
The class ended with one more question from the French kids.
"Could you sing for us?" a girl said.
The Soundsations performed a few choruses of "Uptown Funk," with Samuel and Kalyn performing dance steps, to enthusiastic applause.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Northwest Florida State College students share conversation, music with French students