🇫🇷 Celebrating La Francophonie: A Global Journey in M-Block
28th March 2026
Every March 20th, the world pauses to celebrate the International Day of Francophonie—a vibrant tribute to the French language, its diverse heritage, and its global culture.
The origins of this celebration date back to the signing of the Niamey Convention in Niger on March 20, 1970. This historic event led to the creation of what we now know as the International Organization of La Francophonie. Interestingly, the term was first coined in the late 19th century by French geographer Onésime Reclus. Today, we observe a nuanced distinction in its spelling: Francophonie (with a capital ‘F’) refers to the collective of French-speaking countries, while francophonie (lowercase) celebrates the community of French-speaking people themselves.
Our Celebrations
While the official date coincided with a National Holiday and our Year 10 expedition to Diani, the spirit of the occasion was alive and well at school a week early! Each morning during Form Time, students immersed themselves in the "French-speaking world" through a series of interactive cultural challenges:
- 🎶 The Global Beats Quiz: Students analyzed music videos from across the Francophone world, guessing the artists' origins based on visual and linguistic cues.
- 🎬 Cinema Showcase: We explored the diversity of Francophone storytelling through a curated selection of international movie trailers.
- 🗣️ The Accent Challenge: An ear-opening session where students learned to distinguish the unique melodic accents from various French-speaking nations.
- 🎨 Creative Expressions: We concluded the week with a creative workshop. Students designed posters featuring their favorite French words and phrases, showcasing the personal connection they’ve built with the language.
What’s Next?
These student-designed posters will be taking pride of place on the Languages Display Board in M-Block at the start of Term 3. We invite you to come and see the creativity of our linguists firsthand!
If you would like to explore these cultural resources or revisit the activities, please access our shared folder via the link below:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mDxG8ZXjRelMO_XTsba5rDX_o-7ek7t_?usp=drive_link
Leah Painvin
French Teacher
