La Journée de la Francophonie is observed every year on 20th March to celebrate the French language and Francophone culture. There are over 300 million* French speakers on Earth.
A Flipgrid was created to celebrate this day at Mahindra International School Pune. All francophones from the entire MISP community were invited to participate in this event and contribute by recording a short poem, a song, a short text in French to mark the occasion.
You may watch the uploads via this link – Flipgrid Link: https://flipgrid.com/c8ef4fff
* Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language
Student Reflections:
Primary
This day is to celebrate French in all French speaking countries. We tried to make a script and play it. This day I realized that many French words are spelt almost the same in English but their pronunciation is different.
- Sara Rahalkar P5
I enjoyed doing my task on this day because I was talking about everything that I know in French about me. I talked about my name, age and a lot of things about my family etc. I really liked this task.
- Cornelis Stehr P3
La Journee de la Francophonie is a day celebrating the language of French. It is an important day to celebrate the culture and language, the diversity of the language.
To celebrate this day, me and my classmates created plays in groups in French to demonstrate our learning. I learned how people communicate, express and learn through the language of French.
- Anaya Atulkar P5
We celebrated La Journée Internationale de la Francophonie by understanding it through using and learning the language. I learned about the culture, many words in French and the importance of it as we were doing role play together. – Seowoo Kai P5
On Monday the 21st of March it was La Journee Internationale de la Francophonie. The day celebrates the importance of the French language. To celebrate this day my friend and I did a Flipgrid video reflecting some of our learning of French. We also researched other words that are new to us and used them in the video.
In my few years of learning French, I have learned that there are many words that are similar to other languages. We also learned how to say complex questions like ” What is your favorite junk food.”
- Aarav Shetty P5
La Journee Internationale de la Francophonie is a day where people celebrate the French language and, on this day, we speak or inquire further into the language, French. To celebrate this day, we posted a video on Flipgrid, about our previous knowledge. We also read a book in French to celebrate the language and day. We learned more about French and why La Journee Internationale de la Francophonie was celebrated. I learned new words in French and how to pronounce them. I also learned that there are many connections between French and English.
- Rhea Sood P5
Secondary:
The Francophonie event is global, and it is being held in Dubai expo for the first time ever! Other students and I, that are learning and speaking French in our school have made a Flipgrid video introducing ourselves, speaking about our hobbies, family, and a fact about the Francophonie. From what I’ve learned is that Francophonie is an organization that has other countries that speak French and celebrate the language itself. I think it’s impressive that so many places around the world speak French and it’s nice for them to celebrate but, we should also do the same for other countries and languages. I have taken from this activity how to perhaps introduce myself in France if needed ever.
-Andrea Flores MYP 1 A
This year we celebrated La Journee de la Francophonie in school, by talking about French speaking countries and French culture. The event’s topic this year was recognizing the potential of language and culture in order to unite people and create mutual understanding, and so that French can remain one of the most widely spoken languages in the future.
For the activity, all the students of MISP who speak French or are learning it created a Flipgrid video; participants recited a poem, story, gave an introduction about themselves, spoke about their hobbies or their family and much more.
I learnt about how many people actually speak French worldwide, it taught me the importance of keeping French as a language alive to make sure it doesn’t go extinct like many languages have so far. I appreciated aspects about the French language and culture that I hadn’t been exposed to previously.
It gave me a deeper glimpse into the nuances of French.
I believe that this event should be more widely celebrated and that everyone, not only French speakers and learners should participate and contribute more towards learning about La Journee de la Francophonie. Activities such as this bring about learning in a fun and unique way for everyone. I look forward to such interesting opportunities in the course of our academic journey.
-Falaq Dhorajiwala, MYP 2A
This is the first time that I am celebrating Francophonie Day, I got to know how we celebrate a language and the importance of it. On Journée Internationale de la Francophonie, the world celebrates the French language and that is so amazing. It is amazing as on this day the whole world remembers French. I celebrated this day by making a French video of introducing myself and I also communicated a little bit of French with my brother. I think this day is important and we should celebrate it as a lot of languages are going extinct and we should be aware of that and take steps towards reducing languages becoming extinct. We can take small steps and it can make a big difference to the whole world.
- Stutie Shah MYP 2
French, a language rich in culture and history, is a major language internationally. French is spoken officially in 29 countries because of France’s colonization in history, and because of this there are now an estimated 274 million French speakers in the world. French is also the 2nd most studied language in the world, as well as being one of the six official UN languages, marking its prominence in the modern world. Francophone countries are countries where French is a prominently spoken language, and these countries come together under the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF). March 20th was chosen as the anniversary of the Cultural and Technical Cooperation Agency (in Niger) which served as a precursor to the OIF. Celebrating this day recognizes the linguistic and cultural diversity of the language, and the way in which it unifies countries, communities, cultures and dialects. On this day, we celebrate the French history, heritage and culture worldwide, with 70 countries being involved and more than 1500 events taking place. We also are reminded of peace and the democratic values associated with this day. The theme this year is “La Francophonie de l’Avenir” which celebrates the development of Francophonie in the future, while acknowledging the past.
To celebrate French’s important role in communication globally, we celebrated La Journee de la Francophonie (International Francophonie Day) at MISP, with the participation of the French speaking and learning community, as well as with the entire school. This was done by sharing our ideas in French, either by simply stating a sentence, an anecdote, a tongue twister, a proverb, a short text, a story, a short poem in French to mark this day. Overall, this was an exciting and collaborative experience that brought the French-speaking students of MISP together, and we were able to share the French culture with the entire community.
- Armaan Mehtani MYP 3 B
I think that the francophone day is significant because it celebrates cultures of various countries that have the language in common.
I enjoyed collaborating during this activity and learning about the festivals of the country of Niger, which also has French as the official language.
- Darsh Agarwal MYP 3
La Journee de la Francophonie is an event that celebrates the French language and culture. At MISP we invited everyone who is a francophone or learning French to create a Flipgrid video on the topic, whether it be through introducing yourself (which is what Primary did) or trying out new pieces of literature in French (a short poem, anecdote, song, text, story, these were all just the start). My video was about French tongue-twisters, even reciting one with a partner. I learnt that French culture is truly everywhere, even in the English language. In my opinion, I think this was a great way to create recognition of such a language and have fun learning about the culture while trying out new things.
- Vrinda Vashisht MYP 4 A
The French language has long held a prominent position in the world of languages. It began as a sign of culture and innovation, then evolved into a symbol of democracy and humanism, a celebration of the world’s cultural and linguistic variety. Celebrating La Francophonie means acknowledging the power of language and culture to bring people together, to build spaces of peace and mutual understanding, and to engage in collective reflection on our shared future.
The activity I did to mark this day was about the cuisine I like. I liked that the activity was based on personal routine/experiences and gave a choice to choose the cuisine of our choice. I learned that The International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) share a unified vision that prioritizes culture and language. –
- Ishaanee Roy MYP 4
The Journee de la Francophonie is a very important day for francophones as it recognizes the language they speak and the language that unites them. My classmate and I chose a tongue twister because it is a hard thing for a non-fluent speaker to attempt, and it was fun. I learned about the extent of Francophonie around the world and the history of the day, and I feel that it is significant in francophone identity today.
- Raisa Imaduddin MYP 4 B
Last week, it was international Francophonie day. This day celebrates the anniversary of the francophone cooperation (International Organization of La Francophonie). It celebrates the French language as well as all the countries in the world that are French speaking. During our French class, we had to make a Flipgrid video where we record ourselves doing something French related, for example reading out a French poem, talking about yourself in French, or doing a French tongue twister. For this activity, I chose to talk about a French region and communicated some information about it, for example where it is located or what it is popular for. Doing this activity, I was able to practise my French speaking skills, and I was also able to research more about what international Francophonie day is and why it is significant to this day.
- Malaika Van Herbruggen, MYP 4 B
Blog complied by Ms Lila and Ms Shalaka – MIS French teachers.