FR25 HA City Tour Gand

This workshop to discover the city of Ghent is a bilingual (French-English) treasure hunt designed for Year 11 and Year 12 students as part of a cultural and linguistic trip to Ghent, Belgium. The activity, which lasts approximately 1 to 2 hours, takes place in the heart of the historic city center, starting at the Belfry. Divided into teams, the pupils explore the city through a trail marked with puzzles, observations and photographic challenges. The game combines elements of orienteering, photo hunting and heritage discovery. Each team follows a suggested route comprising seven to eight iconic stops: St. Bavo's Cathedral, the Belfry, St. Nicholas' Church, the Counts' Castle, the Graslei-Korelei quays, St. Michael's Bridge and the Grand Place. The pupils have to locate these places and solve puzzles, sometimes by observing architectural details, sculptures or inscriptions. 

The activity promotes linguistic immersion: instructions, clues and challenges are written in both languages, encouraging understanding and communication in English in a real-life context. It also enriches participants' historical and artistic culture, while developing cross-disciplinary skills such as cooperation, independence and time management. Supervised by teachers, the game concludes with a group session to review and share experiences. This fun approach transforms the visit to Ghent into an active, lively and interdisciplinary exploration, combining learning, enjoyment and group cohesion. 

Overall, the objectives set were achieved: In cultural and historical terms, the pupils showed an interest in discovering the city. Most of them were able to identify the main monuments in Ghent and demonstrated a good understanding of the historical role of these places in medieval urban life. In terms of language, the pupils actively used their English skills. Several groups spontaneously spoke in English to solve the clues, demonstrating a gradual acquisition of tourist and descriptive vocabulary. The cooperative aspect of the game worked very well: the teams were able to organize themselves, divide up roles and meet deadlines. The small group format encouraged everyone to participate. Finally, the immediate feedback gathered indicated a high level of satisfaction: the pupils enjoyed the fun aspect of the game and discovering the city from an original perspective.