Recently, there has been a special event in a French weekend school. It was a singing and composing workshop, mainly targeting students in the school’s French elementary course. This was a special occasion with a French singer, Bastien Lanza as the main guest.
 
Bastien Lanza conducted an hour long singing and writing lyrics workshop for the students and teachers in the weekend school. Students from the second grade to high school were all part of it. At the beginning of the workshop, we had a short question and answer session with our guest to break the ice. After that came the live performance by Bastien Lanza. The singer introduced and performed few of his favorite songs. Then, we had some time where we could ask some more questions about him and his performance. Near the end, the students and the singer wrote the lyrics of a short song together and everyone sang it together. The song was about how the singer loved this workshop and loved Korea. Everyone was enjoying the workshop and the opportunity to meet with an actual singer.
 
Before the workshop started, the students were all quite nervous and shy because although they went to school together, there were many classes into which they were split and therefore, many students didn’t know the other students. However, as the workshop progressed, everyone became more relaxed listening to song performances and having some conversation. By the time the students were doing a sing-along with the singer, it was clear that they were not so bashful anymore. They actively participated in the workshop, communicating with each other without showing shyness they felt before the workshop started. All students and teachers were smiling, and at the end of the workshop, everyone was clapping loudly and shouting for an encore.
  
After the event, I interviewed a fourth-grade student who was a participant of this workshop. When asked what in her opinion the most enjoyable part of this event was, she said that it was when the singer and the students were composing a song together, from the melody to the lyrics. Then I asked another interviewee, an eighth grader, what she thought of this event. She said that this whole event in general was very memorable and that she felt it was a really good opportunity to be able to meet with a French singer. She answered that it was very beneficial because the students were given a chance to ask questions and have conversations in French with someone other than our teachers, and that would help improve our French. Another thing she said was that listening to French songs live was not a frequently given opportunity, so she was glad that we got that chance. Also, she said that in her opinion, the most enjoyable part of this event was listening to the singer’s live performance, because she could just relax and listen which was a pleasant experience.
 
This workshop was a good chance to have fun and enjoy while learning something. Students had an extraordinary experience of listening to French music, singing a song with lyrics they wrote themselves, and connecting with students in school. I look forward to other special workshops like this too.

 

 








Grace Lee
Year 8
Cheongna Dalton School
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