| LETTERS TO TEACHERS |
 A.P.L.V. BULLETIN (Association of Living Language Professors) In the context of the Connaissance du Monde conferences, after devoting several years to South America, the filmmaker Luc GIARD is presenting a film entitled 'Lumières sur l'Angleterre' ('Lights over England'). Rather than present a catalogue of the country's places of interest and historic monuments, he wanted to look into all that makes the English the way they are. Looking beyond the accepted clichés, this film represents an excellent method of reminding students that there exists a country behind this language… and perhaps arguments to justify the complexity of the rule system in English! Luc GIARD plans tours throughout France in the coming years… Sylvestre Vanuxem - general secretary |
 Discovering the World It is important for children to learn a code of conduct during outings. Sitting in a theatre, keeping quiet and listening attentively for two hours is extremely difficult for today's child. The ever-present football, techno music and latest television series may well lead us to regard films in the same way, as mere customers. I feel it is important that, for his social training, and from an early age, the child adopts the habit of participating in group outings in a more serious manner. This will play a major part in learning patience and, in the long term, tolerance. The more children go to the cinema, the theatre and puppet shows, the more they will develop the capacity to concentrate. However, these outings have to be offered to them; for various reasons, they are difficult to organise: Teachers who wish to organise an outing have to overcome such obstacles
as: All adults who have seen the films on "Connaissance du Monde"
when they were young have good memories of the experience, often thanks
to this initiative on the part of their teacher. |
Advice on Organisation Dear Sir or Madam, Thank you for choosing this conference on England to illustrate your lessons. Some of your pupils are taking part in this kind of event for the first time, so before the projection it is appropriate to give certain details to improve general listening conditions. The film was produced and directed in its entirety during forty or so trips over a four-year period by "the gentleman who's there and who commentates his film from the stage!" This production requires a command of several disciplines such as bibliographic research, on-site investigation, ten hours' filming on 16 mm film, editing, sound recording, music selection and commentary writing. It is usual practice for the lecturer to bring his film, his 1600-watt
projector and a complete sound system. I present my film in all French-speaking communities (Quebec, Belgium,
Switzerland, France and French overseas departments and territories) The film's outline plan is as follows: The English love historical reconstructions. In the first part I use this fact to tell the story in a lively manner. The second part shows the way the English use their spare time, their "way of life". On this point it would be interesting to ask the pupils to make a list of about 20 sports and pastimes without using a single word of English origin ! "Silence during the silences" The music, as much as the picture, is a language to be interpreted, and even long passages of music or sound without commentary communicate certain emotions.
- Seating the pupils in the hall : 5 minutes Thanking you in advance, To consult my tour dates, click here :  For information about organising a showing in your school or town, please telephone the local organiser of Connaissance du Monde or the head office of Connaissance du Monde in Paris (01-46-43-90-20) |
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