Respect for all: Burkina Faso

This activity was used with pupils in key stages 3 and 4, years 7 to 11.

Context

This school is an inner-city, mixed 11-18 comprehensive school where about half the pupils come from various minority ethnic backgrounds (mainly Caribbean or African).

This case study describes a number of activities undertaken over two years. Some of these develop pupils' knowledge, understanding and skills in French, while others extend into work in citizenship, PSHE and geography.

Aims

• To introduce the culture of a non-European French-speaking country (Burkina Faso)
• To counteract stereotypical views of France and French culture
• To produce a resources pack for teachers of French based on life in Burkina Faso
• To encourage comparison between the experiences and perspectives of people in Burkina Faso and young people here.

Activity objectives

• To become aware that French is a language spoken in a number of countries with widely differing cultures and economies
• To communicate with people in and from Burkina Faso
• To practise and develop skills in French.

This activity relates to the following schemes of work:

• French - unit 7 'Les autres pays' (sections 3 and 4) and unit 18 'Chez nous, chez vous' (sections 1 and 2);
• Spanish - unit 17 'El mundo hispano'.

Activity description

French teachers at the school, in conjunction with three local primary schools, made a successful bid for a project within the 'On the Line' scheme. This scheme, supported by Channel 4, Oxfam GB and WWF-UK, aims to encourage schools to establish links with schools in other countries along the Greenwich meridian. Several of these countries are French-speaking (France, Algeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo) but are culturally and economically very different from one other.

The teachers made contact with a school in Burkina Faso. They set up penfriend links and exchanged time capsules containing objects that represent the pupils' daily life. The project gave pupils an opportunity to communicate with schoolchildren in Burkina Faso and find out about their way of life.

The teachers organised a Francophone week, 'La Fête du Méridien', which involved the pupils in year 7 of this school and all the primary schools. Various activities were arranged, including special assemblies with invited speakers, workshops, dance performances, a football competition and music performed by two musicians from Burkina Faso. Year 10 pupils interviewed these visitors in French. Year 9 pupils were involved in teaching French to pupils in year 5. A similar event was staged the following summer, when the project was extended to include a special school.

The school subsequently gained a Millennium Award for a project to produce teaching materials for French and citizenship. A group of teachers and year 11 pupils visited the partner school in Burkina Faso. The pupils planned and conducted interviews in French with the African pupils. Many of the questions were the same as, or similar to, those that the pupils had learnt as part of their French GCSE course, and the work related to GCSE topic areas such as home life, social issues and life in other countries and communities. The benefit to pupils' learning was that familiar language topics gained a new dimension and greater interest when explored through a new context and a different culture. The answers they received to their questions provided pupils with real insights into another culture and motivated them to want to explore the topics further.

Work undertaken during this visit provided the materials to develop a teaching pack in French that was subsequently distributed to all schools in the LEA. The level of language was kept as simple as possible so that these materials could be used with pupils from year 8. The French teachers found that pupils had already learnt and understood important concepts, such as development indicators and gross domestic product, as a result of their work in geography. This meant that it was not difficult to tackle complex issues in relatively simple language. The pack includes audio recordings, as well as written and visual material. The suggested activities are related to the national curriculum programme of study for modern foreign languages. The recorded material follows the pattern of a typical GCSE general conversation.

Commentary

This was an ambitious project involving pupils in both key stages 3 and 4, and extending to other areas of the curriculum, including citizenship, PSHE and geography. As well as providing pupils with opportunities to learn and use French in new contexts, it gave them insights into a different culture. Furthermore, the project made all pupils more aware of their own culture and heritage, and led them to place greater value on these aspects.

Resources

The modern foreign languages schemes of work can be found at www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/schemes
The online national curriculum can be found at www.nc.uk.net.