Songs, traditional dances, film and drama, among other artistic forms, turned out to be channels for the speaking of French on Saturday, celebrating the International Francophone Day (Journee Internationale de la Francophone) at Alliance Francaise de Blantyre.
Girls and boys from primary schools to students in secondary, college and university— they all showed the beauty of speaking French when they curved out performances that excited the audience.
Some of the performances on the day came from St Patrick’s, Southend, Jacaranda, Chiradzulu, Joyce Banda Foundation, University of Malawi (Unima) and Malawi Institute of Tourism.
International Francophone Day, when stakeholders celebrate the French language and Francophone culture, falls on March 20.
However, Alliance Francaise de Blantyre decided to celebrate it on Saturday. The climax of celebrations was the awarding of Delf certificates to students and teachers. Alliance Francaise de Blantyre Director Luc Deschamps, who is also France Honorary Consul to Malawi, encouraged children to learn French, saying it is an international language.
“It was a pleasure to celebrate International Francophone Day by inviting schools and highlight the importance of the French language around the world and in Malawi,” he said.
Deschamps said the day was also a celebration of diversity in that language is an art and that it promotes culture.
“We want to grow the language and this is why we have an on-going programme of training French teachers who, for instance, travel to France. We also have the Fete Dela Musique coming up in June and, apart from that, we would be welcoming French filmmakers in May,” he said.
Alliance Francaise de Blantyre Director of French Studies, Poya Chapweteka, said the celebration of Francophone month in the country highlighted the richness and vibrancy of the French language.
“This is the first time the newly born Alliance Francaise de Blantyre is organising this event and it was amazing to see students speaking French fluently through songs, poems and drama, among others,” Chapweteka said.
He said the country was making progress in terms of speaking French. “Learning a language is also about promoting arts and culture. We encourage people to keep on learning French and those in need of certification should do that through Alliance Francaise de Blantyre.
“Last year, we had 151 candidates who sat for Delf and Dalf examinations. French is one of the official languages in the world,” Chapweteka said. There were also performances from Kukana Kuba Kasambwe Band, Jacaranda Arts Theatre and Solomonic Peacocks.
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