Vinh City - Exciting Francophone Festival

(Baonghean.vn) - On the evening of March 20, at Phan Boi Chau High School (Nghe An), the International Francophone Festival took place, organized by the Francophone Center of the Cotes d'Amor Vietnam organization in coordination with French-specialized students of Phan Boi Chau High School.

Attending the festival were Mr. Le Van Ngo - Director of Nghe An Department of Education and Training, Chairman of Vietnam - France Friendship Association; Hoang Duc Cuong - Deputy Director of Department of Foreign Affairs and many students from schools with French subjects: Phan Boi Chau High School, Dang Thai Mai Secondary School, Le Loi Secondary School, Cua Nam I Primary School (Vinh City) and volunteers of the International Francophone Organization.

The Francophone Center organized a gift giving ceremony for national excellent students in French.



Volunteers chat with students

The Francophone Community (La Fracophonie) is a community of countries and territories that use French (as their mother tongue, national language, administrative language, language taught in schools, etc.). Over the past 40 years, from a regional organization, the Francophone Community has grown into a global organization with 75 members (56 official members and 19 unofficial members) actively operating in many fields, making a decisive contribution to UNESCO's adoption of the International Convention on Cultural Diversity in 2005. In addition, the Francophone Community is holding observer status atUnited Nations General Assembly.

The Cotes d'Amor Vietnam Organization was established on May 25, 1994 with the aim of developing cooperative relations between the province of Cotes d'Amor (France) and the two provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh (Vietnam), with the main objectives: Exchange of experiences, knowledge, and capabilities in various fields such as tourism, economy, agriculture, sustainable development, education, and health; exchange to help people of Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces and the province of Cotes d'Armor learn and explore each other's cultures and traditions. To achieve these objectives, a Francophone Center was established in Vinh City (headquartered at 36 Nguyen Duc Canh Street) to facilitate the implementation of projects and activities for the above objectives.

To celebrate the International Francophone Day 2012, in February and March, the Francophone Center organized many exciting and meaningful activities. These were the French Film Festival with 3 films screened for free on February 5, 12 and 19, and the French Speaking Contest held at the end of February. In particular, on March 20, in the morning, there was a discussion on cultural diversity for students learning French at the Francophone Center. On this occasion, Mr. Valentin Chuekou - a volunteer of the International Francophone Organization (OIF) currently working at the Vietnam-France Law Institute in Hanoi, came to Vinh to visit and talk with students of the French classes at Phan Boi Chau School. In the afternoon, the volunteers took time to participate in the rehearsal for the March 20th celebration performance and presented gifts to 7 students who won the National Excellent Student Award in French from Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces, along with a small party held at the volunteers' homes.

French singer and actor Julien Renon sang enthusiastically at the exchange.



A short play



Performance "La pomme" by students of Dang Thai Mai Secondary School (Vinh City)

The most exciting activity was the Francophone Festival on the evening of March 20. After the opening ceremony, more than 10 music, dance, drama, film and game performances took place in a joyful and excited atmosphere, most of which were in French. After the soulful song “Bonjour Vietnam”, the song “La pomme” by Dang Thai Mai Secondary School students heated up the stage with a cast of more than 30 students in red T-shirt uniforms. And the dance performance by the 11th grade class C4 of Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted made the atmosphere even more exciting.

The short play “Having a good friend” by two children at Cua Nam primary school also brought the audience excitement and the opportunity to experience the art of French short plays... In particular, this year's Francophone Festival had the participation of Julien Renon - a French actor and singer, who enthusiastically helped to stage the plays and directed the short film by the actors of the French specialized class 11 C4 of Phan Boi Chau high school. Interspersed between the performances were extremely exciting group games such as crossword puzzles, candy scooping...

In addition, there were also conversations between students and French volunteers. Ms. Caroline Albenque, a volunteer from Cotes d'Amor Vietnam, said: This year's festival had more participants and more attractive performances, thereby showing the interest of Vietnamese students in French. Hoang Thi Quynh Trang (11th grade student C4, Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted) confided: I see that nowadays, in addition to English, French is also very popular. Therefore, I decided to learn French to have better development opportunities in the future, and to have the opportunity to understand more about French culture. The Francophone Festival is truly a useful playground for us to show off the French we have learned.

Mr. Le Van Ngo - Director of the Department of Education and Training, Chairman of the Vietnam - France Friendship Association said: In recent years, the French language learning movement in Vinh City has increasingly attracted the attention of parents and students. In order to meet that demand, the Department of Education and Training has expanded the scale of training, from only Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted and Le Loi Secondary School, French has now been taught at Dang Thai Mai Secondary School and especially Cua Nam Primary School. In the coming time, the Department will continue to strengthen cooperation with friendship organizations such as the Cotes d'Amor Vietnam organization to continue expanding and improving the capacity of French language training in schools.

Minh Quan