Semaine des Langues 2022

Are you ready for la Semaine des langues? This year’s edition is from 4-8 April and is on the theme of « Vivre l’Europe, s’ouvrir au monde ». Lots of schools have events planned involving themed menus at the canteen, signs and posters in several languages around the school or short initiation sessions allowing pupils to experience a new language. Here’s a selection of initiatives and ideas.

In the Académie de Poitiers, the theme fits well into a 6-month-long e-Twinning project accompanying France’s Presidency of the EU, called U’re Up for Europe. Find out more with this video.

The Académie of Besançon includes four départements, so it’s proposing four challenges, one a day, to explore languages.

The Académie de Versailles has launched a similar week's challenge, including, just for the first day, an invitation to travel including a treasure hunt, a discovery of breads from around the world and virtual backpacks full of resources for Cycles 1-3.

Why not collaborate with colleagues to create a bi-or tri-lingual magazine? This is a lovely example produced in English, French and Italian by 5e pupils in Collège de l'Eau-Vive, Breil-sur-Roya in the Académie de Nice, where there are 5 challenges for the Semaine des langues:
– L’Europe en BD ou en roman-photo
– L’Europe en images
– Il était une fois l’Europe (réalisation d’un « conte imbriqué »)
– L’Europe à table !
– Jouons avec l’Europe
There’s more information in the interactive version of the poster.

Collège Giacometti in the Académie de Paris also produces a trilingual magazine, Alberto Mag. It's just one of a dozen projects for the Semaine des Langues featured on the Académie site, covering all sorts of themes from superheroes to global cities, ecology, Halloween and bullying.

The Académie de Grenoble asked classes to work on the theme "Vivre l'Europe, vive les langues". The winning classes all made videos.  You can access the first and second prize videos on the Académie site. A group of 4e and 3e students from Collège la Vanoise in Modane called their video ‘Let Young People Make Europe a Perfect Place to Live’. A group of 1ère pupils studying Italian at the LP Hotelier Challes-les-Eaux made a video about their reactions to war and the refugee crisis and their decision to organise donations for refugees, called  ‘Umanità’. Sixième students from Collège la Vanoise in Modane were awarded third prize for this musical video addressed to the President of the Council of Europe on the theme of the environment.

The Académie de Dijon has provided activities to help pupils recognise the three major language families in the EU, and see that they have more in common than pupils might think. Classes can then make language trees with words in all the languages, regrouped by their common roots.

The Académie of Orléans-Tours has built on the success of its multi-lingual tonguetwister competition. Classes potentially compete in five different rounds! Do you want to have a try?

“A big black bug bit a big black dog on his big black nose.”