The Semaine de la langue française et de la Francophonie (Francophonie Week) is an annual event launched in 1995 by the French Ministry of Culture.
It takes place every year around 20 March, International Francophonie Day.
Francophonie Week 2024 runs from 16 to 24 March. This week is an opportunity to celebrate the French language through a wide range of events organised throughout France and abroad.
In the run-up to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the theme of this 29th edition is “On the podium”.
Since 1896, French has been the official language of the Olympic Games, along with English. This is enshrined in Article 23 of the Olympic Charter thanks to Pierre de Coubertin, the founding father of the modern Olympic Games and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The Paris 2024 Games, taking place from 26 July to 8 September, are an opportunity to celebrate the French language around the world.
The Francophonie Week 2024 is an opportunity to discover and appropriate the words of sport and the vocabulary of Olympism through the theme “On the podium”.
Indeed, words have always accompanied sport. For example, every sport has written rules. Expressions from the world of sport are also common in the French language: “larguer les amarres”, “le nez dans le guidon”, “passer le relais”, etc.
To celebrate the French language, the Alliance Française Bordeaux Nouvelle-Aquitaine has been organising a poetry-writing competition called “Dis-moi dix mots” for over 10 years, in collaboration with the Gironde Departmental Education Services.
Run by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education, “Dis-moi dix mots” is a nationwide campaign that invites everyone to play with and express themselves artistically using 10 words from the language of Molière, on a different theme each year. (http://www.dismoidixmots.culture.fr/). In partnership with the DSDEN de la Gironde, the Alliance Française de Bordeaux quickly seized on this project to organise a poetry-writing competition for its international students and pupils from local primary schools.
Entitled “Dis-moi dix mots sur le podium”, this year’s edition invited participants to make the vocabulary of sport and Olympism their own, with reference to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The expected words were “adrénaline”, “champion”, “collectif”, “échappée”, “faux départ”, “hors-jeu”, “prouesse”, “mental”, “s’encorder” and “aller aux oranges”.
This 14th edition of the competition was a great success, with almost 400 texts received. They come from 35 classes in 19 primary schools in the Bordeaux area, as well as students from the Alliance Française and language assistants from the department.
On Tuesday 19 March, the Alliance Française will reveal all the winning texts. These will be put to voice and performed on stage by two actors from the Theater company l’Œil, Jean-Pierre Terracol and Nicole Cazaux.
More than 2,000 students of over 127 nationalities come to the Alliance Française de Bordeaux every year to study French. The school is a benchmark for the teaching of the French language, the dissemination of French-speaking cultures and dialogue between the world’s cultures.
In addition to its wide range of French courses (intensive, one-to-one, online, themed workshops, etc.), the school offers cultural activities to promote French culture to all its students and more! The AFBNA belongs to the international network of Alliances Françaises, which comprises over 800 associations in more than 135 countries. Exchanges often take place between the Alliances Françaises.
Such is the case with our exchange with the AF of Málaga in Spain, scheduled for Thursday 21 March during the Semaine de la Francophonie 2024. The idea is for students to be able to talk to each other in French. But also share their experiences language learning within their respective AF. This type of activity is an opportunity to continue to grow and consolidate the Francophone community.
Would you like to improve your French during the Francophonie Week 2024? Contact us by email at af@alliance-bordeaux.org !
