Strengthening the city´s bilingual program is one of the goals of Bogotá Mayor's Office; to be able to provide students from official schools with greater opportunities and tools for today's world.
As part of this program, the Ministry of Education and the French Embassy in Colombia strengthened their cooperation agreement that to date has benefited more than 5,000 students.
Due to this agreement, the Villemar El Carmen, Mercedes Nariño Female High School, La Candelaria Integrado and Nueva Colombia schools already have French programs in their educational processes.
“It was an ambitious bet that generated fear, but little by little we have been consolidating our schools in the teaching of this language. Projects like this help us create a more equitable education, in addition to opening borders and possibilities everywhere. Presently, the windows do not open onto the patio but rather open to the world ”, highlighted Erick Ariza, rector of the Mercedes Nariño Women's School.
Within this agreement, 16 teachers have been certified with the official DELF exam, which allows them to teach French, permitting the advancement in the pedagogical updating of the teaching process of this language.
"It is important that French is not only learned in private schools, it cannot be an elitist language. It is a language that must be offered to all who want it," said the French ambassador to Colombia, Gautier Mignot.
This program includes a cultural exchange with native teachers, achieving a cultural immersion that contributes positively to the learning process of teachers and students in this language.
The Secretary of Education, Edna Bonilla, indicated that as part of the District Bilingual Plan, the entity will continue to work during the second semester of this year with the French Embassy in these lines of action: certification, training and continued support to teachers in this language and learning environments.
More schools will join this initiative
Now the INEM Francisco de Paula Santander school joins this initiative that will allow more students in the official system of the city to learn French as a second language.
"Learning this language is very important because it opens many doors in the labor market for us, and I also feel very happy because I can learn more about that culture," said Valentina Sánchez, a student at the Francisco de Paula Santander school.
This way, this school will have a one-year access to the library of the French Alliance of Bogotá and to Culturethequé (the physical and digital library of the French government) for 250 students.
This includes cultural exchange activities in the five schools that are part of the agreement, supported by native speakers, where through music, literature and recreational activities students can learn French.
“In this immersion classroom we have 400 children who voluntarily attend during extracurricular time and learn French through a playful methodology. During the pandemic, our challenge was to motivate students from their homes, so we planned pedagogical guides that would catch their attention, dance and singing competitions in French, as well as posters and recommendations for the pandemic with incentives for the winners ”, said Adriana Conde, teacher in the French immersion classroom at the Nueva Colombia school.
The bet for 2023 is that the city has official schools with the LabelFrancÉducation seal granted by the French Ministry of International Affairs and the AEFE Agency, as recognition for their excellence in teaching this language.
In addition to better intercultural learning opportunities, this program permits a broader access to study grants and job offers.
It is important to note that Bogotá is a pioneer city in the country in strengthening the teaching and learning of French in public education.
Without neglecting that the French language is the second most learned after English and more than 200 million people speak this language on the five continents.
