Review: Helen - England / July and August

From the moment I met Clarisse, I knew we would get on. She was so attentive to my needs and made sure my week was filled with French learning and lots of fun activities!.

I was introduced to her family namely Claude, her husband, the two children and her parents who made me feel very welcome. During my stay , we had a  picnic on the beach, (Clarisse’s daughter made me a cake!) , we had dinner in the beautiful port of La Flotte, we saw the amazing fireworks for Bastille Day , and we went cycling to the end of the island to the lighthouse and we also had oysters which is an Ile de Ré speciality.

Clarisse was so lovely she really wanted me to get the most out of my stay and provided a lot of opportunities to use my French .My day began with breakfast with Clarisse and then a 3 hour French lesson  which was varied with songs, poems, grammar, videos. idioms and general conversation. I really felt like I was getting somewhere and could have a conversation without having to think and translate from English, which was a major step forward. Clarisse and I had lunch in many fantastic restaurants around Ile de Ré for example in Ars-en Ré where I visited one of the best open air markets I’ve ever seen I couldn’t resist buying lots of their local produce . We even went to an 80s disco in an old fort where I learned some French disco classics, the French love to sing !

Ile de Ré  has so much to offer in terms of beaches, cycling, sailing, wine tasting etc , I was there for 2 weeks but I didn’t have time to do everything . I’ll save some for next time. The history of the island is very interesting and there is a museum in St Martin which explains its past.  Everyone I met was friendly and helpful , I had a lovely tennis lesson with Philippe who coached me in French and I went bird watching with Clarisse’s father.

I can’t thank Clarisse enough for her encouragement and good nature, she has definitely improved my spoken French and I am very motivated to keep progressing. I would thoroughly recommend a visit to Ile de Ré , it was a very special trip.