Class of excellence

‘Education is social learning. It helps us to grow and to live.’ John Dewey

Creation of a class for excellence in French

What is an excellence class?

A class of excellence enables motivated school pupils to express their potential and develop their academic ambitions, by offering them optimum working conditions and a reinforced educational project.

Why create a class of excellence in French?

  • The Gambia is landlocked in Senegal, a country where French is spoken and where French culture is deeply rooted. Learning French and have a solid level of written and oral comprehension will increase the chances of finding a job both inside and outside the country. Other countries not very far from The Gambia speak French (Guinea-Conakry, Togo...).
  • French is compulsory in Gambian schools. The teachers who teach French are either Gambian or come from Guinea Conakry or Senegal. The resources made available to French teachers to carry out ambitious educational projects are limited due to a lack of funding.

  • Among the students learning French there are those who are gifted in learning French and who would benefit from an appropriate learning environment.
  • This class is intended for the best students in French, who will represent the school at official performances, in particular with the Alliance française.
  • There are three elements to learning a foreign language: Understanding the structure of the language, i.e. ‘grammar’ Memorising the words of the language, i.e. ‘vocabulary’ Communicating in the language until it becomes automatic, i.e. ‘practice’.

What are the advantages of learning a foreign language?

1. Promoting professional integration

2. Opening up to the world

  • Being able to read literature without translation, sing songs by actually understanding the words and watch foreign films without subtitles: mastering a foreign language means opening up to a whole new world.
  • Speaking a foreign language also equips you to go beyond cultural stereotypes and prejudices, by gaining a better understanding of the associated culture.
  • If learning another language can make students more aware of cultural differences, it will also help them understand why these differences exist and the importance of respecting this diversity of cultures. Learning a language inspires solidarity, tolerance and understanding.

3. Strengthening concentration skills

4. Improve understanding of their own language

  • Learning another language also means improving your mother tongue. When students learn a second language, their knowledge of grammar improves. This linguistic awareness is then transferred to their mother tongue.

5. Developing students' cognitive skills

  • As well as being a stimulating activity, learning a new language has benefits that go beyond the excitement of being immersed in a different culture.
  • Students sharpen their minds by learning to read, speak and write in a new language.
  • Studies show that learning a language has many cognitive benefits, developing memory, mental agility, decision-making and task management skills.
  • When the brain switches from one language to another and receives information in a variety of forms, it evaluates meaning in two ways and attenuates complex patterns. This strengthens the student's ability to analyse, synthesise and concentrate.

What actions will be taken ?

Music workshop

An introductory French music and singing workshop with guitar and piano will be proposed. bb

Cooking workshop

A chef from France will be giving cookery lessons to the school’s cook so that she can run French cookery
classes for students who are interested.

Geography and history workshop

We’ll be providing teachers with maps and geography books to help students learn more about the world
they live in.

Poetry writing workshop

One of our poetry-loving French teachers will be running a workshop on poetry in French to help
students express their emotions.

Creation of a room dedicated to the French teaching team

The school will be providing French teachers with a 42 m2 information and training centre within the
school from May onwards.
The library will be there and open to all French-speaking students, who will be able to find books,
magazines and board games in French.
You will also find an area dedicated to computers and the screening of films and news reports.
There will also be a music area where students can learn to play the guitar, sing and play the piano.

What resources are available to us?

1.

A French volunteer with several years’ experience in the education sector in many countries in Europe and
Asia will oversee the implementation and development of this class of excellence.

2.

Three of the French teachers of the school will be trained to develop this class of excellence.

3.

We’re going to create a blog to keep students, partners, friends and sponsors informed about the projects.
The teachers will be in charge of feeding the site with photos, testimonials and actions carried out.

4.

We will be corresponding as soon as possible with one or more French schools for cultural exchanges.

5.

We will also be organising linguistic stays with schools in Senegal, a country where French is spoken and
which is just a few hours from Banjul.

6.

We will also welcome French speaker so that they can run educational workshops and French
conversation classes for children within the framework of this project.

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