Move over French exchanges – it's time for educational travel trips to shine

As French is so widely spoken, it's the one that is most widely taught in English schools. Surprisingly, it's not widely spoken in England, and this is why many schools organise French exchanges for students who are preparing to take examinations in the language. While this usually entails pairing students with French children from another school and having them each spend a week with each other's families, the trips organised by Voyager Interaction don't work quite in the same way. The company specialises in providing educational travel trips for English students to France, where they will have opportunities to interact with their French counterparts.

The company has centres and accommodation in seven locations around northern and central France – Ambleteuse, Paris, two in Normandy, Merlimont, Villecresnes and Morbecque. It tailors trips for students at Key Stage 2, 3, 4 and 5, working from industry textbooks to make sure that its activities match up with what you want your students to be achieving while in France. Its team has a vast amount of experience and training and are all qualified and vetted to work with children. It also understands that you might want to visit the site you've got your eye on before committing to a full-scale visit, which you can do at one of the Preview Visit days that the company runs periodically throughout the year.

The activities that are offered on these educational travel trips are all carefully chosen to improve student's understanding of French culture and language – for instance, the Victor Hugo museum is a possible trip for those studying Key Stage 5. In addition, there will also be time (one day or two half days) spent at a French school so the students can interact with each other – the speedy progress you make when speaking a different language with a native has been well-documented.

While this isn't one of your average French exchanges , it's no less useful in terms of the amount that the students can learn – just be sure that you don't catch them speaking English!