SEVEN trainee teachers from France are hoping for calmer waters as they begin a month-long visit to gain experience of life in the English classroom, in Darlington.
The students, from Aix-Marseilles University, are the first group of French trainee teachers to spend time teaching classes in the borough's schools as part of an exchange scheme.
It is hoped their visit will be less memorable than their English counterparts, who visited Avignon last November and were caught up in serious flooding, having to be rescued by boat.
Firefighters had to rescue a Hurworth trainee teacher from the youth hostel she was staying in last year, as torrential rain caused the river in Marseille to rise at 30cm an hour and burst its banks.
While the French trainee teachers are in England, they hope to have the opportunity to catch up with their English counterparts, who had to leave France quickly following the floods.
Primary schools involved in the visit include Firthmoor, Hurworth, St Bede's, St Augustine's, Mount Pleasant, Alderman Leach and Skerne Park.
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