Lexington Sister Cities: All About: Deauville, France

Lexington's First Sister City - Deauville, France

About Deauville

Deauville became Lexington’s first Sister City in 1957.

Lexington and Deauville are both recognized as centers of the thoroughbred industry in their countries, and both feel their communities derive from the Sister City relationship’s mutual benefit on culture, economic, and education levels.

Located on the channel coast near the port of LeHarve in the Calvados department of the Basse-Normandie region of France, Deauville is only about 100 miles from the capital city of Paris.

Deauville holds a population of 8,000 through the winter; in the summer however, the population swells to over 100,000. With its beautiful beaches, horse racing, the casino, tourists flock to this quaint town to experience truly a world of elegance and leisure.

Deauville is home to two racecourses – La Touques and Clairefontaine. Because of their status as the center of the horse industry in France, Deauville was one of the host cities during the 2014 World Equestrian Games in Normandy.

The three most important races held in Deauville each year are: Le Maurice de Gheest, Le Jacques le Marois, and Le Morny. In recent years, Le Prix d’Astarte and Le Prix Romanet have gained more status in the racing world. Deauville is also Sister Cities with County Kildare, Ireland – a Sister City to Lexington – creating a triangle relationship promoting the horse industries in each country.

To further promote tourism in Deauville during the summer season, the Deauville American Film Festival was created in 1975. The festival has provided an opportunity for American and European stars to travel to Normandy.

Deauville is a popular location in popular culture. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”, Deauville is mentioned as a place Tom Buchanan and Daisy visit on their honeymoon. It is also the location of the screen adaptation of Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Links”. Deauville is also the birthplace of Coco Chanel’s clothing career, as it was in her second shop located in Deauville where she took the step from hat making to clothing.

Sister Cities Programs between Lexington and Deauville

High School Student Exchange:

Each year, Lexington Sister Cities and the Deauville Jumelage provide a high school student exchange program for students in Lexington and Deauville. The purpose of this exchange is to provide a genuine family experience in another country for the students of Central Kentucky and Deauville, France, as well as providing a language learning opportunity.

To be selected for our program, students should exhibit maturity, flexibility, and a genuince interest in the French language and culture. They should have qualities that would make them a good ambassador for their city, state and country.

The exchange is 6 weeks long total: Lexington students spend 3 weeks in Deauville living with their counterpart and host family; and then the Deauville students spend 3 weeks in Lexington living with their counterpart and host family.

Students must be at least 15 by June 1, 2017 to participate in the 2017 exchange and must currently be taking French II or above. Students over the age of 18 before August 1, 2017 will not be considered for this program.

Applications are due to the Lexington Sister Cities office by Friday, November 4th, 2016.

To read a first hand experience from a participant of the 2016 exchange, read her blog post here.

For more information, you can find a FAQ in our application here.

SCAPA-Deauville Skype Exchange

Each year, 4th and 5th grade students from SCAPA in Lexington and Ecole Fracasse School in Deauville participated in a Skype Exchange.

Students introduce themselves in French and English, share a presentation about "A Day in the Life of an American/French Student", and ask questions about the different cultures.

If you are a teacher and interested in participating in a Skype Exchange, contact Sarah Martin at smartin@lexingtonky.gov.

Deauville Teaching Assistantship

The purpose of the Deauville Teaching Assistantship Program is to provide the opportunity for professional experience abroad and improvement in linguistic knowledge by offering students from Lexington a year-long job placement in Deauville, France.

Recent graduates are selected to teach elementary age students in Deauville, France for one school year. Participants in the Deauville Teaching Assistantship program will:

Be provided housing

Teachers will live in a house near the schools with the other teaching assistants. There will be two TA's from Lexington and two from Nashville.

Be provided payment

The TA's will be paid by the city of Deauville during their internship.

Be provided one car for the TA's to share
Be expected to arrive in Deauville by the end of August and plan to stay until mid-June.

Students are encouraged to be creative in engaging their students!

Teaching will not be the only responsibility of the TA's. They will also be expected to help with after school activities, lunch break activities, tutoring for students and adults learning English, and other school functions.

For more information on our Teaching Assistantship Program, read our Deauville TA blog here.

You can find the application for the 2017-2018 program here.

University of Kentucky - Deauville/Caen University Scholarship

The purpose of the Caen Scholarship Program is to provide the opportunity for an education abroad experience at the University of Caen, allowing students the chance to improve in linguistic knowledge and gain international experience by studying for a semester at the University of Caen.

Participants in the Caen Scholarship program will receive:

Tuition
Housing

Excluding housing deposit (refunded at end of semester if room in good condition and key returned)

UK tuition and fees waiver
Tuition and housing provided to the students by the Deauville Twinning Committee.

Lexington Sister Cities and the Deauville Jumelage awards a Fall scholarship and Spring scholarship to UK students to study abroad at Caen. Up to two students are selected from Deauville to come study at UK for the entire school year.

For more information on this program, you can find the application for the 2017-2018 scholarships here.

Deauville Internship Program

The purpose of the Deauville Internship Program is to provide the opportunity for professional experience abroad and improvement in linguistic knowledge by offering students from Lexington an internship in France.