Students in secondary schools and colleges in the country have another platform to showcase their skills in the French language following the introduction of French song and storytelling contests by Jacaranda Foundation.
The contests start tomorrow at Jacaranda Cultural Centre in Blantyre where secondary schools from the Southern Region will battle it out, with secondary schools from the Central and Northern regions set to tussle on Sunday.
In the Southern Region, the schools participating are Jacaranda School for Orphans, Joyce Banda Foundation, St Michaels Girls, Stella Maris and Zomba Catholic.
The competition in the Central Region will take place at Lilongwe Girls Secondary School with schools such as Dedza, Dzaleka and Robert Blake to battle it out while in the Northern Region, Chaminade, Katoto and Marymount will sort it out at Marymount in Mzuzu.
Jacaranda Cultural Centre and Maison de la France Director of French Studies, Poya Chapweteka, said the preliminary round of the song contest will see over 50 participants competing.
“Three contestants from each region will book their ticket to the grand finale to take place at Jacaranda Cultural Centre on June 30. The event will be completed with a storytelling competition involving students from Domasi College and Mzuzu University and a certificate presentation ceremony for all candidates who passed the 2016 and 2017 Delf and Dalf examinations sessions respectively,” Chapweteka said.
He said Jacaranda Foundation was there not only promote culture but also teach the French language.
“We have also been organising French Drama festivals since 2013. Early this year, French teachers requested us to organise more activities such as singing, storytelling, quiz, debates, essay writing, poetry, spelling and dictation competitions. We have responded by launching the song and storytelling contests and we are also giving a chance to university students to take part in these activities,” Chapweteka said.
He said the competition is being supported by the French Embassy and that winners in all competitions will receive different prizes.
Chapweteka said Jacaranda offers French language lessons and that it is the only centre in the country organising Delf and Dalf examinations.
Delf (Diplôme d’Etudes en Langue Française) and Dalf (Diplôme Approfondi de Langue Française) are French proficiency certifications for non-native speakers of French awarded by the French Ministry of Education to certify competence in the French language.
Leave a Reply