Mystory@Dr C Jayanthi: French training course for teachers at the University of Nantes

Going recently to the University of Nantes to do a professor’s training course on a French government scholarship has been great fun. The whirlwind two-week course conducted by the Centre international d’etudes pédagogiques (International Centre for Pedagogical Studies) was intense, refreshing and an eye-opener in many respects.

Pedagogy of course is the science of teaching. CIEP (Centre international d'etudes pédagogiques) has been conducting this course over years in summer in July and in winter in February.  There were professors from over 65 countries who participated in the training course.  It was a tremendous learning experience as participants from these countries knew basically their maternal languages and few spoke English, so French was the lingua franca.  By the end of two weeks, my spoken French was fluent.

CIEP, under the aegis of the ministry of national education of the French government, decides on the parameters that govern international certifications such as A1, A2, B1, B2, C1,C2. These international certifications that serve as qualifications in progressive competencies in the acquisition of French as a foreign language can be acquired in most countries of the world. They define standard qualifications in the area of French as a foreign as a foreign language worldwide. All these parameters were, of course, developed within the framework  of Cadre Européen de Référence pour les Langues et les normes linguistiques internationales (CECRL), which is a European specialist group of experts that works to put in place the framework norms of reference for French language and linguistics.

This training course for professors has been taking place for 47 years. The course is organised in summer in the University of Nantes which forms part of the pays de la Loire and in winters usually in Sevres, Paris, which is the headquarters of CIEP.  Nantes has been voted the most-green city in Europe and is a beautiful, calm and soothing place. It is definitely less hectic than Paris. It is also sunny so people who go from India feel happy there. I was told by my Tunisian taxi driver on way to airport that an Indian vaccine-making firm has bought off a factory in Nantes, so there is a regular group of Indians who come to work and train in the factory every year.   To my delight, while talking to some of my colleagues, I found several women sporting the nose-pin. When I told them it is a very traditional Indian wear among the womenfolk here, they were surprised.  Among things Indian, they knew the samosa as well, and they told me they liked the samosa stuffed with meat!

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A radical shift that I found in my trip to France this time was that several people from different part of the world were familiar with Bollywood, the movies being very popular with Moroccans, Algerians, Madagascarians and a few Latin Americans.  In fact my Moroccan friend, Soumia Arharbi, whom I met at Nantes, is a devourer of Hindi films and has picked up Hindi from watching Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan starrers among others. Amitabh Bachchan is, of course, a favourite with some of the older generation.

For the first time, since these training courses were organised way back by CIEP, the minister for national education, Jean-Michel Blanquer addressed the participants through a video-recording. He mentioned that CIEP’s role was not only in the domain of linguistics but it was also political and strategic. French is of course widely spoken in the world, and one of the languages that is mandatory in the United Nations.

Speakers, who addressed the gathering, spoke of multilingualism where the globe is not dictated by one or two languages.  Emile Tanava, chief of the Institute of  Francophonie for education and training, at Dakar, Senegal, spoke of the importance of plurilingism or use of multiple languages as he called it in a world that speaks many tongues. He said the need of the hour was to promote international cooperation in the domain of language and culture.

During the training course, there was also an air of celebration as different countries showcased their culture such as music and dance, and food through video presentations. Participants also sang and danced their traditional fare and got other people countries to join in. There were theatre performances and the screening of the  latest French films which was a greatly enriching experience. Over the weekend, trips are organised within the city and to towns outside the city.

There is a wealth of learning as you could choose from a variety of courses such as teaching French as a foreign language from a manuel, how to exploit a literary text and how to speak in public among others.  They give you a wider perspective on the material that you teach in your respective countries.  Classes are conducted by highly experienced and professional expert-teachers who train the teachers and try and make them acquire a higher perspective to learning.

Those French teachers who are interested can apply on sallesdesprofs.org for either the summer or winter sessions that take place in either July or February as the case may be under the heading, “BELC d’été (summer sessions) or BELC d’hiver (winter sessions) as these training sessions are called.

About the Author:

Dr C Jayanthi who has a PhD in Indo-French bilateral relation, is Assistant Professor, Department of Foreign Languages, Loyola College, Chennai. She has taught earlier at the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai and prior to that she was Assistant Professor, Communications, French & English, and Print Journalism at Apeejay Stya University.

Dr Jayanthi started her career as a writer and has 20 years of rich journalistic experience in senior editorial roles at leading media houses including The Times of India, The Pioneer, Gulf News, The Financial Express, and Deccan Chronicle.      

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