 The panel, the discussion, an objective and impartial view of the issues of interest to you. The nation beat is on now. Ms. Marcia Mote, Singaporean, National Correspondent for the Francophonie, Mr. Leonard Robinson, Curriculum Officer for Modern Languages, Ms. Fanny Bergerin, Pedagogical Advisor, Alliance Francaise de St. Lucie, members of the St. Lucie National Commission for UNESCO, members of the press, invited guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Today we are here for a special occasion. Of course, match is synonymous with Francophonie. And we are here today to officially launch the program for Francophonie Month. Before we begin, we would like to invite God in all things. So I'd like to call on Ms. Angeline Remi to lead us in prayer. Thank you very much, Ms. Remi. Let's remain standing for the National Anthem of St. Lucie. Today, as I said, it's a very special occasion for us and we are celebrating the French language and culture. I would like to now invite the National Correspondent for the Francophonie, Ms. Marcia Samporian, to officially welcome us to this event. Ms. Samporian. Thank you, Madam Mistress of Ceremonies. Ms. Lionel Robinson, Curriculum Officer for Modern Languages, Ms. Fanny Bergerin, Pedagogical Advisor, Alliance Francaise de St. Lucie, Representative of Sa'ata Lewis Community College, Staff of the National Commission for UNESCO, invited guests, good morning. Every year, St. Lucie joins the international community in the annual celebration of International Francophonie Day, Journey Internationale de la Francophonie, on the 20th of March. Francophonie Day is a celebration of our shed linguistic heritage, our historic and cultural ties and our common goals. Celebrating Francophonie Day is a celebration of language and culture as a unifying force for peace, mutual understanding, and cooperation. But beyond the linguistic heritage, it is a celebration of our shed values, our common vision, and our cooperation in the interests of sustainable development. This year's observance of Francophonie Day will be held under the theme Créer, Innover, Entreprendre en Francaise. Create, innovate, be enterprising in French. The theme highlights the dynamism of the Francophonie space and the opportunities available to create, innovate, and as well for entrepreneurship, all of which represent important levers for employment creation for Francophonie youth. It seeks to highlight the importance of the French language as a pathway towards greater opportunities for our youth. Francophonie Day therefore provides us with the opportunity to promote the French language and to advocate for policies that encourage multilingualism and the acquisition of foreign language skills by students and indeed the public at large. In that regard, we must acknowledge with much appreciation the support of our Francophonie partners in providing training opportunities for our students to access higher education in France, in the French overseas departments in Canada, and in Morocco. It is also for this reason that the National Committee for the Francophonie continues to place emphasis on school-based activities as a core component of our programme of activities for Francophonie Day celebrations. We are pleased once again to collaborate with our partners, the Ministry of Education, the French Embassy to the OECS, the Moroccan Embassy in St. Lucia, the Canadian High Commission in Barbados, the Alias Croisses de Saint-Lucie, the Southern Lewis Community College and the French Teachers Association to present a month-long programme of activities in observance of Francophonie Day. On behalf of the National Committee for the Francophonie, I am pleased to welcome you to this official launch of our exciting nationwide programme of activities. The National Committee for the Francophonie invites the general public, schools and all interested to participate in this exciting programme of activities. The National Committee for the Francophonie also, under the auspices of the National Commission for Unesco, calls on the support of all St. Lucia's in our efforts at promoting the ideals of the Francophonie and the Ministry of Education's commitment at ensuring that every St. Lucia student graduates secondary school with foreign language skills and competencies. Once again, welcome and thank you. Thank you very much, Miss Sanforia, for your wonderful speech. If we are looking at French, we are looking at French language and culture, one of the sectors of our country that we really need to, we speak about and we really promote French in that area is schools. The youth, youth engagement today with French. We would like to call on Mr. Robinson, Curriculum Officer for Modern Language, to make brief remarks on behalf of the Ministry of Education. Okay, Miss Marcius Inforian, National Correspondent for Francophonie. Miss Fanny Bergerin, our Pedagogical Advisor at USFranches, staff of the National Commission for Unesco and Francophonie, members of the press, ladies and gentlemen, I wish you a good morning. This morning, it is a pleasure for us at the Ministry of Education to be part of the activities for the Francophonie. Every March, our schools, teachers and students look forward to developing a plan of action, activities for the schools in which the students can learn a bit more about the French and French cultures. Francophonie for us as St. Lucien is a moment for us to celebrate our French heritage. We were first a French people and then we had English institutions and language trust upon us. And this is a time for us to celebrate what we have gained from the French who have been instrumental in developing our society and our culture. And as a result, with globalization being one of the things that is affecting every sector in our economy, languages become very important. And as we celebrate this theme, Créer, Innover, Entreprendre, en Français, this is a unique opportunity for us to reminisce as well on some of the things that we have been able to achieve over the years with the help of the Francophonie and some of the other French-speaking countries. We've had a number of teachers taking up opportunities for them to go to study in Magnique, in France, in Canada. We've had training for our teachers and immersion opportunities as well for some of our students. We have introduced the French exam, the DELF exam in our schools, which is an alternative exam to the CXE exams and it allows us to give students who may not choose French as a subject for CXE to have an internationally recognized certificate. These certifications, as well, if students continue, could allow them to access university studies in Martinique, France, French Guyana, Guadaloupe, or any other French country as it may be, provided they have attained the appropriate level and they have their certificates from St. Lucia. School in Martinique for a long time has been a secret that has been guarded preciously, but going to school in Martinique for a lot of our students will not cost as much, probably about 2,000 ECIA, and having the French will allow them to do that. Of course, we have our curriculum as well that we're looking to develop curricula for as part of our heritage, and we are also expanding the DELF program into some of our secondary schools so that most students have an opportunity to access these diplomas. In schools, we're creating, excuse me, we're creating centers in some of these schools, along with the help of the alias Francaise. So we're looking forward to not just French, but other languages as well, and we're hoping that this will augur well for our society. And I'm happy to announce I'm just going to speak a little ahead of what Madame Bergera is going to say, but I'm happy that we will have public activity this year during Francophonie Month, which will allow families to celebrate and to learn a little bit more about Francophonie. This is one of the things I would have liked, I was asking for for a number of years, so I'm happy at least we're starting and we're hoping that in the future it will be something that will continue to grow. So without further ado, I'd like to give our blessing from the Ministry of Education's end for the Francophonie Month and I guess I can declare on behalf of the Commission and the Ministry the month open. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Robinson. Mr. Robinson has given you just one indication of the activities that we are going to have for this month. But what are the other activities? And this is why we have two presenters for the presentation of the Program of Activities for the Month of March. I would like to call on the National Correspondent for the Francophonie, Ms. Marcia Sinforian, who will begin on the series of activities that we have in store for the public at large. Ms. Sinforian. Thank you very much, Ms. Henry. As I indicated in my introductory remarks, we've placed schools at the center of the Program of Activities for Francophonie Month for several years and of course the reason for doing so is evidence. We want to encourage students to learn the language so that they can benefit from having that language acquisition in developing themselves and getting opportunities outside of St. Lucia for higher education but also for employment. And so for the Program of Activities we have our usual school-based competitions. The first is the Concours de Poésie, which is the poetry competition. This competition targets students from upper secondary and tertiary level. So Sir Arthur and the other schools in the south and that will be held on... Well, it has started. We launched it in February on the 23rd and it's running until Friday the 15th of March where the competition will be closed. Then we have the poster competition which targets students from the primary schools and the secondary schools. This competition is one of the favorites, especially for the primary level and it requires students to basically demonstrate the theme that is chosen for the year in art form. And so these two competitions will be running simultaneously and ending on Friday the 15th of March. We want to encourage all of the schools who have not yet started. We want to let them know that they still have some time to complete their submissions and to ensure that it is in by Friday to allow them to win some of the very exciting prizes that we have for the students each year. On March the 20th, which is Francophonie Day, we have a number of activities. The first would be, of course, what we call Activité d'Alice, so the students will be organizing students and teachers of French will be organizing activities in their schools, in their respective schools. They have over the years taken to this activity and many schools submit to us photos and videos of the activities that they've organized over the years in their respective schools and so on. The 20th of March, which is Francophonie Day, the schools will be on showcase displaying their own portrayal of what Francophonie represents for them at their schools. And this, of course, targets primary schools as well as secondary schools and it will be for the day. On the 20th as well, we have a very special addition to our program this year. As I indicated earlier, we have very good bilateral relations with our French counterparts who are based in St. Lucia. And one of the programs that has become significantly welcomed by the Ministry of Education is the Moroccan Scholarship Program. And on the 20th, we will have a representation by the Moroccan Embassy. They will be presenting the Moroccan Government Scholarship Program to the students at the Souther Louis Community College. And that will be at 9 a.m. on March the 20th at the Souther Louis Community College. Following the presentation of the Moroccan Scholarship Program, we will have a dictation competition. This competition targets the students at St. Arthur as well as students who will be coming from the schools in the south who are at tertiary level institutions. So that is happening following the presentation of the Moroccan Scholarship. We have the dictation competition. On the 20th as well, we have our reception which is offered by the French Ambassador. This activity, of course, is graciously hosted by the Ambassador's residents every year to celebrate Francophonie Month. On the 22nd of February of March, Apologies, 22nd of March, we have our spelling bee competition. The spelling bee competition is one of those that has become extremely popular over the years and we have had to stop the competition over the last two or three years. But we are now re-establishing this competition which is a very popular one among students and we are really looking forward to having this activity this year. It will be hosted at the St. Mary's College and it will be starting at 9 o'clock on Friday the 22nd. Following the spelling bee competition, we will be having the official closing of the school activities and prize-giving ceremony to all of the winners of the various competitions. Poetry, poster, dictation and the spelling bee competitions. The activity on the 22nd is also an opportunity for the committee to recognize some of the stalwarts in the education sector. So there will be presentations made on that occasion to persons listed significantly to the promotion of French and the development of French within the school system in Saint-Douche. These are the activities that are being hosted by us for Francophonie Week 2024. Thank you. Thank you Ms. Inforian. The activities we are soliciting the public's help to share the information with everybody else who would like for you, your students, everybody to participate in the activities that we actually have this month. They are very much interesting and fun, especially for the students. We try as much as possible to make it fun for the students. I would like now to call on the representative from Allianz-Forses de Saint-Lucy an enterprise in Saint-Douche very well known, not only for the promotion of the language, the French language but also the French culture. Please allow me to call on Madame Fanny Bergerin to present Allianz's program in contribution to Francophonie Month 2024. Thank you very much Ms. Henry. I would like to acknowledge the protocol that has been established. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are very delighted to participate in that Francophonie month with the French Embassy in Castries for the OECS with the National Conrespondent for Francophonie in Saint-Lucy, of course with the Ministry of Education and with the High Commission of Canada who is our partner for the second year. Francophonie Month is about celebrating French, of course but also the diversity of the cultures promote the cultural community, the peace the democracy and human rights it's also to support education of course with schools and training and higher education this is what we are trying to do with our different activities this month and we already started the months with different screenings for the schools, primary and secondary schools who are coming every Tuesday and Thursdays to watch a movie to discover a bit about French culture but also different French speaking countries cultures and also to practice their French so they are coming they are watching a movie, they are seeing an exhibition which is called Do We Need to Travel to be Happy and then we have a little discussion about higher education and their opportunities in March and Guadeloupe of course for us but also the scholarships from the American Embassy and also opportunities in Canada for example we also having the exhibition for everybody so you are all welcome to have a look and the exhibition Do We Need to Travel to be Happy of the Month in addition to that we all have screenings for the whole public so all families and friends of French are welcome at Allianz to watch several movies so we had our first one last 8th of March for the International Women's Day we will have our next one on this Thursday at the Pyramid it is called Encore and it's at 7 it is free for all then the following one is the 16th of March and you really want to attend that because it's going to be at Piedon Island and it's open to all and we will be very delighted to have you with us for the celebration the 21st of March we'll have the movie called it's a documentary it's called The Ocean from the Heart and it is a movie that we are screening in the collaboration with the High Commission of Canada and it will be at the Pyramid the 28th of March we'll have our last movie which is called Antoinette dans les 7 and it will be at the Pyramid at 7 so feel free to contact us and to register for these activities it is open to all and we are always very delighted to have you at Allianz and the last activity I want to share with you is the one we'll have the 23rd of March it is a play that has been created by Richard Ambrose based on different texts French and English texts and also Creole it is a play that will be performed by the students of Banterre Preparatory High School and Allianz Francis students and it will be the 23rd of March at the Pyramids as well at 6.30 and you are all welcome on this day so these are all the activities we'll have for the month and I am very glad on behalf of Allianz Francis to wish you a great month of Francophonie Vive la Francophonie et vive le Français Merci bien now it is evident from the presentations that we have catered for a wide range of our population we try to cater for everybody we look forward to seeing you in our activities this month we I would like to thank all those who presented this morning Madame Simforia from the National Committee for the Francophonie the National Correspondent Mr Robinson, Ministry of Education and Miss Bergeron from Allianz Francis the Saint Lucie in addition to that I would really like to thank our collaborators this year just like last year we are putting all hands on deck all committees have come together to ensure that Francophonie 2024 Francophonie month 2024 is indeed very very special we have the French Embassy for the OECS the Moroccan Embassy as well the Commissioner for of Canada the Allias Moussa the Saint Lucie of course is always there for us so Arthur Louis Community College and the French Teachers Association with this ladies and gentlemen again I invite you to participate in the activities for the month I look forward to seeing you at Pigeon Islet I look forward to seeing the students at SMC I look forward to your paintings and your posters I look forward to seeing you at Allianz Francis the Saint Lucie so on behalf of the National Commission for the Francophonie the National Committee for the Francophonie thank you very much for your attention and I would like to wish you a wonderful day Bonne journée, Merci bien pour votre attention et bonne fête de la Francophonie à tout le monde