Competition poster for the Kamishibai plurilingual writing competion with the theme "Qui sont nos voisins" and registration dates 30/08-30/09/2021

Multilingual Story Competition for Collège Classes

Posted by Speakeasy News > Monday 20 September 2021 > Pedagogy


If you teach in collège, you might like to sign your pupils up for an original multilingual story competition. It asks classes to write a story using elements of languages other than French. You need to sign up by 30 September 2021 but then you have till 8 March to send in your project. .

The competition is organised by DULALA (d'une langue à l'autre), a national organisation promoting training for bilingualisme and plurilingual educational activities. Classes create a kamishibaï story: a Japanese story-telling form where the story is told on a series of sheets of cardboard presented in a sort of puppet theatre.

The competition is open to pupils aged three to 15 and can be a great opportunity to give recognition to pupils who speak a different language at home. It could also give a concrete reason to work with colleagues who teach other languages. Why not make it the centre of your school's Semaine des langues vivantes?

You can find out all about the details on DULALA's site, and the video below shows what the kamibshibaï look like and what teachers and pupils get out of the competition.

This year's winners in the three age categories (3-6, 6-10 and 11-15) will be announced at the Maison de la culture du Japon in Paris on 9 June, in the presence of the winning classes.

Examples of Previous Winning Stories

This story by class UPE2A at Collège Claude Monet in Argenteuil (95) imagines a teenage girl from the Paris Commune being transported into the present day. You can watch a performance of it below.

This story by pupils at the Alliance française in Florianópolis, Brazil, is about a flower threatened by deforestation in the Amazon.

This story by pupils at l'Alliance française in Florianópolis, Brazil, is about a flower threatened by deforestation in the Amazon.

There are lots more wonderful examples!