Rob Freeman goes back to school in Morzine – and can only ski in his break
I was in a ski resort, having intensive lessons. But not skiing lessons.
This was French language school and I was experiencing the toughest few weeks I have in the mountains for many years. It’s not easy going back to school.
I was a new boy at the Alpine French School in the French ski resort of Morzine, one of the resorts that makes up the extensive Portes du Soleil area.
CLASS ACT: Rob, in ski gear ready for break, gets down to work with fellow students at the Alpine French School in Morzine
Once I’d found my coat hook, and where the coffee machine and the toilets were, it was straight down to work. First tracks in the morning soon took on a new meaning – these ones were played on a CD machine in the classroom and were passages of French narrative to be translated to English rather than sweeping turns through fresh snow.
I soon found I was expending about a hundred times more energy and brain power than I’d ever found necessary on the ski slopes. I arrived with the aim of speaking better French. It was in fact a total makeover from scratch! It was altogether more mind-bending than knee-bending.
My teacher, guide and mentor was the superb Lucile. I followed her every syllable with all the trust and faith I have ever put in an expert guide out on the hill. And she rewarded me occasionally with the incredibly confidence-boosting words of praise: ‘Tres bien Rob, c’est excellent.’
I glowed with pleasure whenever she said that.
Becoming a student again was a surreal experience in turning back the clock. Apres-ski became the last thing on my mind. Leaving the college on the outskirts of Morzine I would each evening stop at a supermarket to pick up a meal for one.
BREAK TIME: The fabulous slopes above Morzine.
I would pass bars full of happy skiers and boarders drinking beer and vin chaud and reliving the adventures of the day. But I didn’t stop. I had other things to do. I was keen to return to my charming bedsit, in a lovely farmhouse, and get on avec mon devoir, my homework. And then scour the TV channels for a French movie so I could try to make head or tail of the impossibly quick-fire dialogue. I found it hard to believe that after each full day of talking nothing but French I could still barely make out one word a character was saying in a French film!
However, there is a massive advantage in signing up for a French course in the mountains. The slopes are on the doorstep. So with lunchtime stretching from late morning to mid-afternoon there was plenty of time to jump on the nearby gondola and head up the hill. There wasn’t actually a bell at the end of lessons, but had there been it would have each day brought the widest of smiles you’ve ever seen on students’ faces – particularly if the sun was streaming down on new snow.
Break time is certainly something special when it means spending it on the slopes of Morzine or neighbouring Les Gets and Avoriaz. And of course, us students knew by now that we were skiing au Gets, not a Les Gets. And to leave the z off Avoriaz. Oh the joy in suddenly becoming not a tourist!
Like a local, I used the excellent Intersport ski rental shop next door to the Super Morzine lift – where you can also store your ski gear for a quick getaway at break time. Their impressive ski range included the award-winning Rossignol 7s, Head Kore and Atomic Redsters. Customers can change skis as often as they like during the hire period to take advantage of changing snow conditions.
The Alpine French School has won a reputation as by far the best facility in the Alps to learn or refine French language skills as well as enjoying all the mountains have to offer. In winter that means skiing and boarding, but school runs all year, so in summer there’s climbing, walking or mountain biking.
TEACHER’S PET: Rob with his professeure, Lucile
The school was founded by Briton Helen Cunliffe-Watts and is now run by her and business partner and Director of Studies Christelle Thorel. It has purpose-designed classrooms over two floors of a newly-renovated building near the Super Morzine telecabine, which links directly with the Avoriaz skiing. The Pleney telecabine for the lovely skiing of Morzine and Les Gets is also within easy reach.
I took a super-intensive course, with four hours of lessons a day. Classes were small – five in mine – and the pace quick and lively. Days were full of conversation, expansion of vocabulary and tenses. And, again as locals, we learned when to say bon journee, bonjour or rebonjour. And Lucile was clear – the c in Mont Blanc is silent. If you want to be a local of course.
TRAVEL FACTS
Alpine French School, Morzine, alpinefrenchschool.com, +33 450 79 0838 (the school has apartments in the building, which students and their families can rent). Skis from Intersport Ski Rental, intersport-morzine.com/en/, which has discount codes released via facebook.com/intersportskifrance.
Rob travelled to Morzine by car from Geneva with Rentalcars.com
More information on Morzine at www.morzine-avoriaz.com
Categories: France