French V Class Attends Virtual Poetry Workshop, Creates Slam Poem Championship

The Centre de la francophonie des Amériques, an organization based in Québec that promotes the French language and the diversity of French-speaking cultures in America, offers an opportunity for school French classes to attend a French poetry workshop. This year, Kristen Andrews, Upper School Language Department Chair and French teacher, applied for her French V class to be a recipient of the poetry workshop and was awarded it, thus giving Andrews and her students the opportunity to meet a slam poet from Québec through the workshop via Zoom.

French V students prepared for this workshop by studying various techniques to enhance meaning in poetry, such as synecdoche, onomatopoeia, personification, and metaphors. Students then heard a variety of slam poems from different Québecois artists such as Elemo, Queen Ka, Mathieu Lippé, and Amélie Prévost, who won the Coupe du Monde du Slam in 2016 and served as the host for this workshop.

Madame Prévost inspired the French V students with a format to get everyone started in writing their own poems in French and encouraged each student to share their writings out loud. Each student wrote a poem of their own and contributed a line to the poem written as a group, which Madame Prévost read for the class. After the workshop, students continued to work on their poems, culminating in a class slam poetry championship. The D-block section of French V crowned Jack M. ’26 the champion slammeur with his poem about the joys of breakfast food, and the A-block section crowned Abby S. ’26 the champion slammeuse. 

In a course where students learn advanced grammar, give presentations, write essays, and discuss French films, it’s a nice change of pace for students to do something like write poetry. Andrews believed her students would be interested in stretching and strengthening their French language skills in this way because writing poetry in French gives students a fun way to engage in some creative personal expression. 

Friends’ Upper School offers four languages: French, Latin, Russian, and Spanish, with French V being the highest level offered for French. The Language Department aims to spark passion and curiosity in students, helping them connect more deeply with cultures around the world. Modern language students engage in various communicative tasks, from conversations about school, home, and leisure to discussions on employment, current events, and public interest topics. Early levels focus on practical language use in everyday situations, such as making requests in a bank, restaurant, or store. By the completion of level V, students can express and support opinions on a range of intellectual topics. Enrichment through online resources, media, literature (like poems!), and films in the target language allows students to experience the language and culture in authentic contexts.

Bon travail!