Auteur/autrice : kmccourt Page 2 of 4

Our starting point was Robert Johnson and his pact with the devil via the soundtrack of the iconic film ‘The Blues Brothers’. We looked at the connections between the myth, legend and musical traditions in Europe and Africa and how they were transposed and integrated into those of the USA to create the musical family tree celebrated by Jack Black in ‘School of Rock’.

Each group of students chose a musical clan descended from the Blues in the USA and created a set of playing cards. The groups had to collaborate to create cards that were united but also reflected what made each artist chosen unique. Creating the visual identity for the sets of cards encouraged debate and discussion about the layout, colour and symbolism. 

The students in the British English section began celebrating this year’s Semaine des Langues in a multilingual poetry workshop led by two actors from Theatraverse, a bilingual theatre company based in Courbevoie. It was a fantastic way to highlight the importance of sound and rhythm in poetry.

The students were delighted with the workshop and send their thanks to the Courbevoie Town Hall and Theatraverse for enabling the workshop to take place.

From William Wordsworth to the Clash via Charles Dickens and Philip Pullman, the city of London has become more than a simple backdrop for the events of a novel. London is a living, breathing character in the texts we studied, reflecting the diversity within the city.

In the second term of their first year in the International Section in the lycée, students in Seconde study a range of literary texts and extracts as well as a BBC adaptation of Great Expectation by Dickens in order to better understand the ways in which writers use setting to explore themes and develop characterisation.

The final task of the term is to combine the skills and knowledge acquired to develop a literary festival celebrating London’s place in literature. The students were given a design brief and a list of evaluation specifications that had to be met. They also had the option to work individually or as part of a team.

The resulting comic strips, short stories, brochures, audio guides and art installations were outstanding.

After spending a few weeks studying war poetry and the different ways in which war was perceived before, during and after the First World War, the students of the British English International Section turned their attention to how symbols are made. They then created stained glass panels which symbolise aspects of the Great War and contain related found poems made by the students from poems read in class.

A select jury composed of school librarian, Ms Tournier, history-geography teachers Mr Ollivier and Ms Mongas, and overseen by maths teacher and professeur principal, Mr Moreau, deliberated to select the outstanding panel in three categories.

Best composition was awarded to Loan who created an elegant design with a burning candle.

Best use of colour was awarded to a student who chose to represent Lady Haig’s first poppy factory.

Best story-telling was awarded to Mahé who played with scale to show the dangers of No Man’s Land.

All the panels created by the class are on display in the school library and are particularly eye-catching on a sunny day.