Marc BACHELET 1ère SBC August 2017
Internship report: King William’s College
My guideline as I tried to find an internship in Great Britain was to improve my English but also to get to know other British people of my age and to experience how living in a typical boarding school is like. Thanks to their well-made website, I discovered that the King’s William College on the Isle of Man offers an opportunity to spend three weeks at the college. The Isle of Man is a quite small island between Ireland and Britain. I was really happy to make an application there for “Summer School” and had to present myself during a Skype conversation.
The idea of creating this college was shared by two political leaders of the seventeenth century, Stanley, Earl of Derby, and Isaac Barrow, Bishop of Sodor and Man, and realized in 1833 thanks to the Bishop Barrow's charity and public subscriptions, whereby the main building is still the same ever since! The school is located right next to the sea and surrounded by nature, while being close to the village Castletown (and right next to the airport!). The college is a day as well as a boarding school which offers teaching from the 4th to the 6th form (which means from year 8 to year 13) and preparing for the GCSE (“Brevet”) and IB (International Baccalaureate). The college counts today in total approximately 600 pupils, but only about 80 are actually boarding pupils (of which approx. 50 stayed there on the weekends). The teaching staff consists of 50 permanent teachers. For the boarding pupils, the college gives the opportunity to take part in weekend activities.
Ten other foreign pupils from Italy, Germany and Russia had also applied. Thankfully, as the college is well organised, we all received a small booklet which showed what to expect and what to bring along for the summer school (clothing, electronic translator etc.) so I just needed to follow the list in order to prepare the stay. As soon as I arrived at the school, I was assigned to a single room in the boys' house (boys and girls are separated) and could become familiar with the other boarders, which were straight away really nice! The Summer School program is mainly divided in two parts: during the first two weeks, the guest pupils had English lessons in the morning, taught by Mrs Ellson, the head of overseas pupils, especially about vocabulary and grammar. In the afternoon, we could take part in trips on the island such as a tour of Man, a trip to the Laxey Wheel, a giant watermill, but also activities like sailing or climbing. We also had a really interesting trip to Liverpool (England) during which we discovered the city and visited the Beatles Museum. In the evening, it was “prep time” which means homework, free time was afterwards. During the last week of the stay, I was allowed to go to the actual lessons together with a so-called “buddy” (a boarder), which allowed me to take part in the daily routine. That also means wearing a uniform like the regular pupils, but you quickly get used to it. As well as lessons, going to church is quite an important part of this routine and there is a worship three times in the week. During my stay, I discovered that the main focus for the lessons at the KWC is on subjects like business, economy and politics. Otherwise, the subjects were similar to the subjects we have at the LFA, except the Design & Technology lessons, in which you learn how to realise graphic models. Of course there isn't just school in the boarding life, the college allows the students the access to a football pitch for example and cricket is played during all sport lessons! I really enjoyed spending time with other English pupils and in the leisure time, we actually had a lot of freedom. For instance, the boarders have a common room where you could spend the evenings and also a kitchen for the house, even if you normally eat in the canteen where the food was diverse and good. Since it is a boarding school, it is true that it is hard to compare the KWC with the LFA: The boarders really live and spend the whole time together which can even be compared to a big family!
As a conclusion, I really enjoyed my stay at King William's College, especially because it gives the opportunity to be amongst English-speaking people. It is worth mentioning that the school only accepts a maximum of four summer students from the same nationality. The fact of having English lessons and socializing with the students there really helped me to improve my English. Quite typical for the Isle of Man is also the always cold and rainy weather, so be prepared with good clothing. Of course you're a bit “lost” in the beginning and don't always know what to do but as soon as you ask somebody, you'll get help. The Manx people (that's how the inhabitants of the Isle of Man are called) are in general very open-minded… Perhaps a “downside” to this stay is the relatively high price and if you decide to go there, then you should use this chance to make the best of it! All in all, that's why I think it was worth it!
