As part of the Community Engagement of
our program, we went to an elementary school today for a cultural exchange.
When we arrived at the Ecole primaire Sainte-Thérèse, a few 5th-graders
had been waiting for us impatiently, and then gave our students a tour of the
school. After the tour, we visited a class in which all the students, French
and American, had a conversation-like exchange, with *lots* of questions firing
from multiple angles. The French school children were incredibly excited to
have young Americans visiting their class! They wanted to know where we were
from, where Indiana was, whether we got to France by boat or by plane, how long
the plane ride was, who our favorite singer was, what food we liked, what our
favorite school subject was, and there were many, *many* more questions. Since today was
the fourth of July, the little kids asked if the United States had a national
anthem and if the students could sing it for them. As our Indiana students were
singing, complete silence accompanied the song– as the French kids were
mesmerized by the song in English. After the Star-spangled banner, the little kids ran out of
the classroom to go play outside. We joined them in playing soccer, cards,
wolf, and a few other games whose rules we did not understand. Everyone played
merrily on the playground for about 30 minutes, until the 5th -graders were called in for lunch. We walked back to the Igloo and had an
amazing lunch ourselves. It was such a wonderful and happy exchange!
I also included in this blog post a
short video of French kids asking questions. It's a little bit hard to hear,
and for those of you who do not know French – you will find below a transcription
of what's being said.
>>> Click here for video <<<
French girl:
Vous êtes déjà venus en France? (Have you already come to France before?)
Indiana
students: Oui / Non / Pas moi / Juste... (Yes / No / Not
me / Just...)
French girl:
C'est qui Madison? (Who's Madison?)
Madison: Moi! Salut! (Me! Hi!)
Another French
girl (to everyone): Eh bien, je vous félicite parce que vous parlez très bien français. (Well, I would like to congratulate you because your French is
really good.)
Teacher (to our Indiana students): Bravo! Vous comprenez bien,
bravo! (Bravo! You understand well, bravo!)
Stay tuned over the weekend for
pictures of the Mayor's reception that is going to take place in a couple of
hours!
Charlène
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