Three winning schools of the “Concours de la francophonie” will receive their prizes at the special Award ceremony hosted at the University of Edinburgh on Friday 17 March by Emmanuel Cocher, Consul general of France in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
La francophonie is thriving in Scotland as a majority of children now learn French from P1. To celebrate this renewed engagement with languages, the Institut français d’Écosse launched in 2016 a national French competition, to celebrate the international day of la francophonie with all young learners across Scotland.
This student-led competition is designed to value creativity in French and allow a large participation of all primary and secondary schools. Learners are invited to film a short piece, dialogue, song, play, report or any other production in French. The competition is organised in two phases: Local Authorities choose their local champions and a national jury select the winners. For this second edition, various Local Authorities including Shetland Islands Council and Orkney Islands Council, and various independent schools.
87 learners from three of the four winning schools will attend the ceremony, on 17 March at the Outreach Center at the University of Edinburgh. The ceremony will be preceded by various activities in French conducted by 4th year students of French at the University of Edinburgh and teachers of the Institut français d’Écosse.
The winning schools are:
P1/P4
Glasgow City Council – Holy Cross Primary School – P4
P5/P7
Argyll and Bute Council – Dunoon Primary School – P5
Falkirk Council – Antonine Primary School – P5
S1/S3
Shetland Islands Council – Mid Yell Junior School – S3
The Institut français will visit Mid Yell Junior School in June to give their award and prizes to the winners and offer them French activities.
Emmanuel Cocher, Consul general of France and Director of the Institut français d’Écosse said: “La journée mondiale de la francophonie, the international day of la francophonie, is indeed a very special day which brings together French speakers, learners and teachers, to celebrate the French language and the dialogue between cultures.” He added: “Thanks to the 1+2 policy, all students now learn two additional languages in schools and a clear majority have chosen French as their first modern language. This ambitious and exciting policy will have a positive impact on language uptake in schools, and will open new horizons to all young Scots.”
The organisers:
The Institut français d’Écosse is the agency of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Scotland, promoting French language and culture. The Institut français d’Écosse supports French language teaching and learning in Scotland.
Additional information is available on www.ifecosse.org.uk
The partners:
SCILT, Scotland’s National Center for Languages
SALT, Scottish Association for Language Teaching
Alliance française de Glasgow
The Department of European Languages and Culture of the University of Edinburgh
TV5 MONDE
The sponsors:
Total E&P UK
The Franco-Scottish Society
The national jury for the 2017 edition:
Louise Glen, Senior Education Officer, Education Scotland
Hannah Doughty, Professional Development Officer, SCILT
Maryse Payen Roy, Committee Member, SALT
Valérie Laplanche Ferguson, Teacher, Institut français d’Écosse
The international day of la Francophonie is celebrated all around the world on 20 March. http://www.20mars.francophonie.org/