The French students of Budding Minds International school, belonging to Gr 9,10 and 11 organised ‘La fête’23’, a French inter-school event on July 13 and 14, 2023. to recognize and celebrate ‘Bastille Day’ and the French culture. Participants from Lightworkers Academy, SRV matriculation, SV High and Lalaji Memorial Omega International School participated with passion and determination in all the events. The event commenced with an exuberant inauguration ceremony, followed by a spectacular fusion music performance with an amalgamation of the sounds of traditional Mrudangam and Western keyboard. The event was kickstarted by the enriching words shared by the chief guest, Ms. Durga Devi, the head of the foreign languages department at Loyola College.
‘La voix’, the choir contest, was the first event of the day. Students in groups of 8, presented melodious compositions in the French language and the highlight of the event was a self-composed song by one of the participants.
‘La promenade’, the fashion show was a showcase of French costumes based on the theme, “NÉOCLASSICISME”, comprising the fusion of classical elements with modern influences. Participants dressed up in suits and gowns and walked down the ramp with striking confidence. In ‘Le theatre de Moliere’, participants expressed their emotions and flaunted their acting skills to showcase comical scripts with humorous expressions.
Post lunch, ‘Le monde de la conception ’-poster making, encouraged the blossoming creativity of students by allowing them to express elements of French culture on paper. Different perspectives and aspects of the culture were demonstrated in various forms of art which blew. This event was a hit among the participants who learnt loads about French history and the rich language. A range of notions about the purpose of the event and the language were discussed by the judges which widened the spectrum of language learning. The posters were based on the theme, L’ART ET LA CULTURE DE FRANCE, highlighting different aspects of French art and culture.
‘Le chef de Paris’, was an opportunity to exhibit the nuances of cooking but with a twist. The young chefs had to whip up lip-smacking dishes from authentic French cuisine without the use of heat and fire. It was truly a challenge but the students endured it all and rocked the afternoon with dishes ranging from cheese charcuterie boards to French tartines and Parisian salads.
The day came to an end with the vote of thanks and it built up anticipation for the second day and most importantly, the winners of all the events.
On day 2, the day began with ‘Les mots de piscine’, translating to ‘word pool’. Participants chose words from various grammar categories like verbs, adjectives, and nouns from a mixed bag and weaved sentences and representations with the use of the selected words in 10 minutes. They were asked to present storyboards to represent the topic Les loisirs (hobbies) or La technologie (technology).
‘Le rédacteur réseaux’ was a content writing competition on the topic,’Réseaux Sociaux (Social media) with a time limit of 30 minutes. It was an opportunity for the budding writers to shine. Aspects of grammar, content, and quality were judged thoroughly. The last event of the day was ‘La Rapide’. The exciting quiz. The quiz was conducted in three rounds: The prelims and 2 rounds in the finals. One representative from each team, contested in the prelims where they answered 30 questions on paper. The 4 teams with the highest score advanced to the finals. The participants’ knowledge of the topic of France and Francophone countries was questioned in both rounds. The quiz ended with a nail-biting tiebreaker for the first and second places.
The long-awaited valedictory ceremony commenced with the welcome address, followed by the felicitation and prize distribution for all the winners and participants of all the events over two long days. The eye-grabbing fusion dance performance and the musical mashup of different languages were the lined-up performances. Following the performances, the chief guest, Chevalier Doctor Abarna Roy, addressed the students and enlightened the audience about loving and embracing our native language, Tamil and inspiring others to also learn new languages like French. With much ardor, she announced the overall champions for the event, which was bagged by Lightworkers Academy. The event ended with a warm exchange of appreciation among the organizers and participants.