Last year, Les Glénans experimented with a new type of courses: English sailing courses for an international audience. Xavier, Mathieu, Enora and Elsa are the four volunteer instructors who tested the new formula last year. Here, they share their experience.
The courses
6 courses were on offer last year. One of them was canceled for lack of trainees. The courses were held in Concarneau and on Drenec :
- Catamaran sailing level 1 on Drenec with Enora
- Cruising Level 1, two courses, one with Xavier and one with Elsa
- Cruising Level 2, with Mathieu
- Cruising Level 3 with Elsa
The crew
21 trainees registered to the 5 courses (cruising level 1 (2 courses), 2 and 3 and catamaran):
- 9 were from 5 different European countries: the Netherlands, Italy (2), Portugal, Belgium (2), Germany (2), and England
- Out of the 12 French trainees, 2 were living abroad
- Two-third were women
A few of the French trainees chose the English courses because the French ones were full. But overall, most of the trainees were there to learn how to sail in English rather than to learn English, which is what we were hoping for.
Speaking English
Each course had at least one person who didn’t speak French. It was therefore essential to get the crews to speak English, to be inclusive of everyone aboard. This proved to be one of the main challenges for the instructors.
Mathieu: I had 5 crew members including one who didn’t speak French at all. The work we did around vocabulary during the Stage English P (a course to train the instructors to teach sailing in English) proved to be useful. I took with me the French/English manual and the whole crew regularly used it to find the right terminology.
Elsa: Starting right after the welcome speech, I spoke only English with the trainees and asked all of them to do so as well. I was very lucky. All of them got caught in the game and we spoke only English for the entire week. It was great fun sometimes, like when I spoke French with the harbormaster, and the crew turned to me waiting for me to translate !
Enora: I taught a catamaran course on the Archipelago with three trainees. Everyone spoke English very well, and that’s what we did at sea. Ashore, when mixed with the other trainees, the French speaker reverted to French. Thankfully, the rest of the crew knew a bit of French as well, which made it easier for them to communicate with others from French courses, and even used the opportunity to also learn the French sailing vocabulary.
Xavier: The crew got along very well and we did not experience real communication issues with language. We spoke English all the time.
Preparation
All four of us took part in one of the two Stage P “Encadrer en anglais” that were organized in 2022 and 2023 in preparation for the debut of the English courses.
The CEB also spent the winter of 22-23 preparing a bunch of teaching material in English to help better prepare future instructors.
Elsa: To get ready ahead of time, I changed a little bit what I usually do in terms of preparation.
- I wrote my “course planning” (prévisionnel) in English
- I prepared some cheat sheets on various topics that focused on one specific topic and had key turns of phrase and vocabulary specific to the topic
- I watched a bunch of sailing videos on Youtube in English, partly to listen to how some maneuvers are explained (tying up a boat, pushing off the bow/stern, tacking and gybing, reefing…) and partly to figure out nautical terms that were missing from my vocabulary.
Trainees feedback
The feedback from the trainees was overwhelmingly positive. The French trainees mentioned that speaking English all the time was tiring but were all glad to have done so. One of the Italian trainees thanked everyone for keeping all the talk in English, including when he wasn’t there. It made him feel included at all times and he was really appreciative of everyone’s efforts. Other non-French speakers acknowledged that although they do know a bit of the language, they would never have been able to get much out of the course in French.
And our feedback
Xavier: It was a very pleasant and rich week. I’ll probably try to manage a similar class next year.
Enora: This course was a great experience for me, I feel that teaching in English forced me to make my briefs clearer and simpler than what I usually do, and to make sure that everything was understood before setting sail.
Mathieu: All in all a great week and a great experience. I will certainly do it again.
Elsa: I had a great time! I’m re-signing for 2024!
Want to join us? There are a few spots left for the Stage P “Encadrer en anglais P” that will be held on Penfret, from May 1st to May 5th 2024. The course costs 50€ (food included) and is open to all instructors. More information here.
Elsa Kieken