As Languages Week draws to a close, we are reminded by alumna Emily Swift (Class of 2019) that a love of a language and a country’s culture need not stop when your schooling does! Emily, now on her placement year in dentistry, spends time in France every summer to immerse herself in the culture and practice her French.

Emily is a ‘lifer’, a WHS student from age 3 to 18, who left in 2019 to study dentistry here in London. As well as studying more traditional A level subjects of maths and sciences, she took AS French in the Sixth Form and continued with her love of languages as an undergraduate. Here she explains how and why she has continued improving her French since those AS days…

“Having studied French throughout my time at Wimbledon High, I was determined to find a way to continue when I left school back in 2019 to start my Dentistry Degree at King’s College London. I knew that my course sadly did not offer any language modules so it was on me to find ways to continue to learn and speak French.

I will be honest and say, there were definitely things I tried that did not work for me. Signing up to French society in freshers was perhaps an oversight on my part. Despite advertising “inclusive” events, I will never forget my mistake in deciding to go to one of its wine evenings alone. Normally, I would have no trouble making small talk, but upon arrival and noticing everyone was speaking fluent French, I quickly realised I was out of my depth.

So what did work for me? Well, alongside a large amount of French Netflix, I have been lucky enough to spend a fair amount of time in France over the past couple of years. I have spent the last three summers as an Au Pair to three lovely French families respectively. For me, these have not only been enriching and fun cultural experiences but a perfect solution as an intensive way to better my French. I would highly recommend the website AuPairWorld as a way to connect with potential families and never be afraid to throw yourself in the deep end and apply for summer jobs in France.

In many ways, my level of spoken French is better than it was when I was at school. Without practice, it is all too easy to forget a language, but I would say that with a little motivation and planning this can be prevented. Even if French is not directly relevant to my everyday life or degree, it is such a privilege to be able to connect to a culture far more deeply through its language (and have an excuse for holidays to the country too!) I will always be grateful to Wimbledon and my French teachers for initiating my passion for the subject and who knows, maybe one day I will find a way to live in France…”