Mya Quamie
Within the spirit of the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Alliance Française of TT (AFTT) held its sixth workshop celebrating World Day of French Lecturers on November 21 at its putrid in St Clair, Port of Spain.
“Lecturers are the torchbearers of French language and culture. So it’s if truth be told about bringing the Olympic spirit into the faculty room by intriguing students to rating their perfect.” said Anyka Batista, the first Trinidadian to be director of the AFTT.
The workshop, attended by spherical 20 French language lecturers, incorporated an tutorial convention led by UWI lecturers, who spoke on solutions for bettering French training within the nation.
“It takes loads to inspire students in faculties the attach unique a long way off places languages are taught,” said Susan Otway-Charles, assistant lecturer in unique a long way off places languages, when she spoke to Newsday.
“French is now not taught in loads of faculties, nonetheless from how I uncover about it, one plot to inspire is to rating them to name with what they be taught.”
She presented solutions lecturers can utilize to wait on students change into more engaged with French language learning. One used to be to rating students to name links between local and French culture.
“French is terribly influential in TT culture: you uncover about it in Carnival, in our language, in our tune and even in our notify names, devour Sans Souci and Blanchisseuse.
“What I’ve done within the previous is wait on students to come help (to the AFTT). I’d lift them on a arena outing if there are occasions devour Fête de la Musique (World Tune Day) and the Marché de Noel (Christmas Market).”
Nonetheless, she says French lecturers across the nation allege they aloof face challenges.
“All these items we allege them, devour, ‘Are attempting to make utilize of the abilities,’ loads of them in faculties don’t indulge in that. So now we indulge in got to lift shut a ogle at to show cowl them things that might well attain students in every other case,
devour bringing books, so at the least they (the students) will likely be exposed to that.”
Dr Savrina Chinien, undergraduate and postgraduate co-ordinator within the Humanities and Training Division of UWI, moreover presented at the workshop. She made solutions on the technique to rating students more involved on learning French.
“What we’re seeing is that Spanish is more predominant than French, so what we’re if truth be told making an strive to rating is enhance students’ hobby in French and rating them motivated to seek it,” she told Newsday.
Her presentation emphasised the importance of utilizing dynamic instructing solutions and unique applied sciences comparable to artificial intelligence to enhance learning environments.
“What we’re thinking is to moreover indulge in a spelling bee at a nationwide level and indulge in the total students participate.
“And we moreover are involved to bridge the hole between UWI and the secondary faculties. Our department has already been very active in reaching out. We indulge in an outreach programme, so what we rating is,
a crew of our colleagues go to them and show cowl them that learning French and learning Spanish is now not correct about changing into a teacher – because everyone thinks it’s correct about changing into a teacher. So it’s moreover to give examples of our students who produce other career paths as correctly.”
She said in addition to lecturers, learning more than one languages has many particular person advantages.
“It helps us to indulge in a a amount of roughly socio-cultural knowing…you’re in a position to remark more uncomplicated to others.”
The workshop moreover incorporated a presentation on bullying by Cpl Allyson Joseph-Guerra, head of the police Particular Victims Division’s faculty intervention crew. She outlined the causes, effects, solutions of figuring out and solutions of going thru bullying. One such method encouraged lecturers to make a learning ambiance that prioritises safety, kindness and victim enhance.
Joseph-Guerra said, “With the rise in bullying, now we indulge in got been available within the market since September, emphasising more on it. We’ve been to rather a amount of faculties and we’ve had an elevate in requests. What now we indulge in got to rating is indulge in that intervention and uncover about how perfect we are in a position to remove and indulge in that zero-tolerance for bullying.”
The workshop concluded with an art work advise led by artist Sonya Ramjewan whereby lecturers wrote a calligram (poem within the form of a image) in French within the create of an Olympic torch, according to the theme.
