The Franco/Colombian year starts under the sun. Established by the French institute, it aims to strengthen the ties between the two countries. What a great opportunity for the national education system to organize a contest open to high school and middle school students! The goal: to promote the discovery of a country undergoing political, economic, and social transformation….
Since January 6th, all French Academies were required to submit projects to encourage potential exchanges with Colombian institutions.
The national education system hopes to raise awareness of Colombia in France and vice versa in Colombia: France. The Nice academy is thus presenting a project called: “Heading to Colombia.”
What better than web media to connect students from both sides of the planet throughout the year. Several elementary, middle, and high schools are taking the plunge via the online platform of the Nice academy.
They exchange photos, documents, articles… and even radio shows they prepare on common themes.
A few days ago, students from the Caucade school, Eucalyptus high school, and Jules Romain middle school welcomed 5th-grade students from Paul Valéry High School in Cali.
The meeting takes place in the courtyard of the Caucade nursery school in Nice. The 20 fifth-grade students, who arrived at 1:10 PM, wait patiently under the scorching sun. Finally, around 1:40 PM, the meeting officially begins. The French students present to their friends from Cali productions they have created outlining the history and geography curriculum.
Among these are Napoleon I, Napoleon III, as well as a presentation of the country through its industrial production… The children are thrilled to welcome their fellow Colombian students.
For their teacher, “it gives meaning to all this work,” she explains, “There is a real meeting and real exchanges. This will allow them to invest more and want to question them.”
For the teacher, this makes the work more personal and thus gives meaning to the practice of foreign languages. The Colombians speak French very well, it’s very pleasant, and we hope it will inspire our students to learn other languages…
The Colombia/France meeting will culminate on November 20th, during the International Day of Children’s Rights. In Nice, Cali in Colombia, and Cayenne in French Guiana, a radio show produced by children will be broadcast live from these three locations.
