Starting with an amazing welcome, 11 Wakatipu High students found a recent eight-day exchange visit to Tahiti a culturally moving experience.

The year 12 French language students and two staff were reciprocating a visit by 26 French-speaking students from the Sacre-Coeur de Taravao college who were home-hosted in Queenstown in May.

The exchange has been running for about three years, but this was the first time Waka High students had gone to Tahiti.

The whole Tahitian school community welcomed their visitors with spectacular music, dancing and expressions of Polynesian culture — a welcome captured by local TV news and newspaper coverage.

Wakatipu High senior French teacher Guillaume Charton says his students “through living with host families, sharing everyday experiences, speaking French and embracing a different way of life discovered the most meaningful learning often happens far beyond the classroom”.

By exploring the stunning natural environments of Tahiti and French Polynesia’s Mo’orea, he adds the students also gained a deep appreciation of this part of the world.

— PHILIP CHANDLER