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Travel and migration at the heart of the Cordée "Langues et Cultures du Monde" project
The fourth edition of the Cordée "Langues et Cultures du Monde" ended in early June with three days of regrouping. Nearly 350 high school students were welcomed to Inalco to bring this educational program to a close with a final time of sharing and discovery.
A future orphaned by linguistic and cultural diversity? A world marked by the disappearance of languages? Here's the backdrop to an original proposal aimed at some 250 middle-school students: a major team game based on the world's languages and cultures. Like researchers in the field, the students set off around the world to collect traces of vanished languages and cultures. A sound quiz on the world's languages, deciphering unknown alphabets and scripts by touch or reflection, collaborative writing of mysterious signs, comparison of "cousin" languages, a listening game on cuisine and languages, exploration of the architectural gems of Southeast Asia...: a wide range of activities, designed and led by La Cordée animators and students, were offered throughout the afternoon.
These activities were both playful and thought-provoking, and the youngsters had to work in teams to solve them.
Florian Targa, coordinator of the Cordée "Langues et Cultures du Monde" project
The day of June 4 was devoted to the restitution of projects carried out throughout the year by high school students from Ile-de-France. Some conducted interviews with people around the angle of migratory experience and cultural transfers; others followed a more biographical and personal approach, and explored their family histories and cultures of origin by interviewing their relatives.
This workshop allowed me to discover a part of my culture, my history and that of my family, that I didn't know.
Testimonial from a Lycée Marx Dormoy student
Over the course of the year, a veritable heritage collection was organized: objects and photos, legends and nursery rhymes, stories and memories... Living traces of foreign cultures that were shared and thought about during the workshops, for which they constituted the raw material, before being returned in the form of booklets or creative exhibitions. The day was also marked by powerful testimonials: Arseniy Shevchuk, a Ukrainian refugee, offered bilingual readings of poems about war and exile, while Yacouba Konaté, from the Atelier des Artistes en Exil, presented his show Le Jeune Yacou. A sung and multilingual account, the testimony of a departure into exile marked by violence.
The closing days also showcased the talents of students, Inalco associations and guest artists. Students from the L1+/tempo course staged four tales from Cameroon, South Africa, Tibet and Thailand, based on work carried out as part of the "Anatomy of a language and a culture" workshops. Students from the Hachijôdaiko association took the schoolchildren on a musical journey, presenting taiko, "the art of drumming" in Japanese. A cultural program completed by a poetic performance in French and Bambara by Combilé Djikinné, and performances, including a mask theater performance, by Albane Molinier, actress and animator of La Cordée.
Each day ended with a snack in the foyer of the auditorium, where the students' productions, the fruit of their investment in the program throughout the year, were on display. This was an opportunity for the teachers and coordinators of the Cordée to talk about what's next: the "Languages and Culture of the World" Cordée will continue next year. Anyone wishing to contribute is invited to get in touch.