Babel

Since 2009, the Seine-Saint-Denis County Council has been backing “la Culture et l’Art au Collège (CAC)”. This project is based to a large extent on the presence in class for several weeks (40h) of an artist or scientist whose mission is to engage the students in a process of research and creation. 

Tutors: Margot Colinet, Amélia Rus-Rucart/ PhD student in linguistics, Nicola Lampitelli/ linguist, Noemi Ràmila-Diàz/ PhD student in socio-linguistics

Project manager: Anna Mezey

Objectives:
Where does language come from and, above all, what are the 10,000 forms of verbal communication used in the world like? How are words constructed? Experience of sounds and characters, work on the geographical and historical background of constantly evolving languages. A new look at the pupils’ own languages.
This workshop takes the class into a world in which people use words to think about their surroundings and construct a relationship with the world.

Workshops: 
“Introduction” to linguistics: How can we identify the languages spoken in the class, the origins of the words? How can we define a language? What do the pupils know about these languages? An overview of different writing systems. 

Each class chose a problem on the theme of “the multilingual city.” Guided by the tutor, the pupils used linguistic tools and carried out research work using exercises on ideograms, alphasyllabaries, SMS language, etc.

The data was pooled and the words collected were analysed by the group. Using the material collected in the earlier stages of the project, the class drew up a special dictionary of its own, e.g. with the words classed by their initial sound and not their initial letter.

Exhibition:
A 4-minute video summing up the pupils’ graphic and sound research was shown in the schools using the MICACO portable screening equipment.

Outings (selection):
- INSTITUT DU MONDE ARABE: GUIDED TOUR ON THE THEME OF ANDALUSIA.
- WORKSHOPS ON 'TRAVELLING WORDS' AND 'CALLIGRAPHY'
- BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE DE FRANCE, READING WORKSHOP, VISIT TO LABO, AN AREA DEVOTED TO NEW READING AND WRITING TECHNOLOGIES
- THE LOUVRE, GUIDED TOUR OF HIEROGLYPHICS
- NOUVEAU CINÉMA LATINA, TO SEE THE FILM 'LA YUMA'.

Participating schools :
- European class, (3rd), Collège Madame-de-Sévigné, Gagny
- New entrants class, Collège Jean-Renoir, Bondy
- European class, (4th), Collège Georges-Braques, Neuilly-sur-Marne
- Class (4th), Collège René Descartes, Le Blanc-Mesnil