Wotton will miss little Lea (From Gazette Series)

Wotton will miss little Lea

FOND farewells are about to be made to a ten-year-old French girl who has been living in Wotton-under-Edge for six months.

'Au revoir' will probably not be heard - Lea Gay has been living in the town as an English child, anglicising her name to Leah and adopting the surname of her host family, Alexander.

The organisation that arranged the visit, En Famille, makes this suggestion so the visiting child becomes fully integrated into the new country and achieves the aim of the visit - to learn a new language.

Catherine Alexander, from The Chipping, Wotton, said: "The aim has been successfully accomplished. Leah can almost be mistaken for an English girl now." Lea, who comes from Beauvais, north of Paris, was linked with one of the Alexander children, Stephanie, who is also ten. She attended Blue Coat Primary School with Stephanie.

Headteacher Phil Williams said: "Lea has a lovely personality and has grasped every opportunity at school that has come her wa. The whole experience has been thoroughly rewarding for all of us here and we will miss her." Leah said: "The funniest thing was wearing uniform to school because in France we just wear our ordinary clothes. It took me a long time to learn how to knot a tie!"

Soon after her arrival, Leah took part in Wotton's 750 Medieval Charter celebrations, winning a prize in the fancy dress competition.

Mrs Alexander said: "Leah soon adapted to her new English life. By the end of the second month she could understand virtually everything that was said and shortly afterwards she stopped thinking in French."

The second half of the visit involves concentrating on pronunciation. During the sixth month, Leah refined her English accent, saying 'the' rather than 'ze'. En Famille was set up 25 years ago by Jacques and Katherine Pinault, from Bordeaux, who sent their four children on exchanges but felt there was a need for an organisation to arrange longer exchanges for younger children.

They have now sent more than 1,000children on exchanges, finding six months to be the ideal length of time to pick up a language.

Mrs Alexander said: "I'm passionate about the opportunities offered by En Famille. They are looking for English children to do exchanges, preferably in primary school. It's easier for a nine or ten year old to be successful as young adolescents are more complex."

Sarah Alexander, 13, spent six months with a French family in 2002. She now speaks fluent French and finds it easier to learn other languages at Katharine Lady Berkeley's School.

Along with Stephanie, Sarah and their sister, Caroline, Leah has been involved with activities at Wotton's Under the Edge Arts centre, including drama and street dancing.

At the end of January French people had the opportunity of seeing Wotton on the national television news.

A television crew from TF1, the French equivalent of the BBC, visited the town, filming Leah and Stephanie at school and walking to St Mary's Church for a slot in news bulletins.

"The crew were French," said Stephanie, "and they couldn't believe they had to interview Leah in English, because she can't understand French any longer!" Anyone interested in details about these exchanges can contact Catherine Alexander on 01453 520464.