Author: Sylvia Davidson, French Film Festival
Last autumn a record number of over 10,000 pupils from primary and secondary schools across Scotland were able to watch French language films in their own schools as part of the annual French Film Festival UK Learning Programme – with participation completely free of charge to all. The programme takes place in November and December each year.
Students and teachers enjoyed watching Shooom’s Odyssey, Poly, Adama and The New Kid in a single session or as separate episodes to fit in with their class timetables. Each title came with its own learning packs in French and English.
Teachers thanked the programme for providing them with the opportunity, commenting, “The pupils in my S1 class gave a round of applause at the end of 'Poly' and really enjoyed watching it!” and “This is one of the highlights of the year for French language in the two schools I work in. Thank you!” All reported that the programme had a real impact on pupil engagement with language learning; and that they intended to participate again in the future.
The Franco-Scottish Society of Scotland award for the best student film reviews also attracted several entries.
The festival is delighted to be working with SCILT, schools, teachers and pupils to offer French language films as an added resource for language learning in Scotland. This is thanks to the generous support of the Franco-Scottish Society of Scotland, TotalEnergies, the James T Howard Trust, and ongoing partnerships with IFCinéma-Institut français in Paris and SCILT.
This year we hope to create learning programme partnerships with local cinemas in order to offer cinema screenings as an added option.
For further information contact Sylvia Davidson.