Have you ever been on a student exchange program? How useful was it. We asked three people for their opinions. Ellen:I spent 8 days in Germany when I was studying for my Level A. I went to school every day, and spent the evenings with a family. It was great that I had to speak German all the time. However, the most useful thing was that I was paying more attention to communicating in the language, instead of speaking perfect correct German. I was really glad that people could understand what I was saying. I'd certainly introduce it to other students studying languages. Frank:I went on an exchange with my class for a week in Japan. Before the exchange, I thought my understanding of grammar was pretty good, but I had much trouble in listening and speaking. So, What I thought most meaningful was that I had no choice but to use everyday language skills, rather than the language from books. If I had the opportunity, I'd certainly take part in another language exchange. Alice:I took part in a French exchange. It lasted two weeks and I stayed with my exchange family in a small town just outside Paris. I'm quite a shy person, so in the first few days, I was kind of nervous, but then it was fine. I love French and my French has always been good. But the exchange really helped develop my speaking skills, and made me a much more confident (自信的) person. It felt great to be able to talk with French people. I also found the everyone who took part in the exchange did a lot better in their end of year exams.