Following the success of last year’s edition of an initiative dubbed “Mai des langues”, the Agency for French Education Abroad has extended an invite to their network of 552 schools in 138 countries to take part in a design contest for this year’s event.
As part of the broader programme “Cap 2030” initiated in 2020, the Mai des langues follows the instituted objective of reaching “a reinforced communication on the advantages of French education and multilingualism”.
During this month intended to celebrate cultural diversity, multilingualism and foreign language learning, students from 38 French schools around the globe have submitted over 280 posters they have designed to promote the event.
Beyond the primary objectives established for this project, the Mai des langues also serves as an opportunity to foster a sense of cultural cohesion. All the more so in the context of French schools abroad, which constitute a sort of enclave within a distinct territory. As a result, although students attending a French school in a country outside of French borders often evolve in a culturally diverse milieu, for the most part they are still tutored following the same curriculum as their counterparts in France. This somewhat unusual situation is a fitting breeding ground to nurture predispositions for multilingualism that may be displayed early on by some students.
In the short time this initiative has been in operation, students have taken part in class projects that were geared towards multilingual takes on literature and creative endeavors, more generally. This year’s Mai des langues, a dedicated platform was set in place and gathers the works submitted. The themes elected provide spaces for sharing, creative writing and performance. From “Bringing books into your life” to “Bringing magic into your languages”, a clever shift is introduced with the intermediary themes of “Bringing life into your books” and “Bringing languages into your books”.
If you or someone close to you is a multilingual individual, a foreign language aficionado, or even a language service provider, there is a high likelihood that you’ve heard the question “how do you say that in this language?” a number of times in the past.
In more ways than one, the Mai des langues is an open door to students and pupils; an invitation to explore the vast wealth of possibilities, to espouse principles of curiosity in as many languages as the world has to offer.
An African proverb suggests that “A stick is straightened while still young”. Should there be truth to be found in that maxim, there would also be no doubt that the most favorable way of preventing the language decline we are currently going through is to awaken the youth to the treasures of linguistic diversity.
