Amity School of Languages (ASL) organized a two-day Conference cum Competition entitled "Francophonie for Young Learners " on Feb. 1 and 2, 2024 between 10am-5pm both the days. The Welcome Address for the event was delivered by honorable Vice Chancellor, Amity University Rajasthan, Prof. (Dr.) Amit Jain. Chief guest of the inaugural session was Ms. Marine Michel, Attaché for Language Cooperation (North India), French Embassy, New Delhi. She highlighted various aspects of Francophonie culture and citing Hon. French President Emmanuel Macron’s republic day speech. Following that, Prof. Dipa Chakrabarti, convener Francophonie For Young Learners spoke about the event and the pertinence of the event in the contemporary scenario.
The two day event had five sessions of competitions where the young French learners from various educational institutions participated and presented on French and Francophonie related topics. Esteemed juries for were Ms. Pooja Arora, Assistant Professor, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Dr. Inderbir Kochhar, HoI, Amity School of Foreign Language, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Amit Chaudhary, French language teacher, Sriram School, Dr. Vandana Sharma, Assistant Professor (French), VIIT, Vellore, Tamil Nadu and Mrs. Anuradha Karkun French Language Trainer, President, North Zone, IATF.
The event witnessed a presentation by Ms. Ayushi Nagpal from Campus France. She discussed about various scholarships and official procedures for higher studies in France.
During the conference Dr. Arunkumar Santhalingam, President AIFPRO discussed about the topic “Francophonie for Young learners: Careers in French’’ . He emphasized on diverse career opportunities in the very domain . Mrs. Anuradha Karkun, French Language Trainer, President, North Zone, IATF highlighted on how learning French language will help the students to become global citizen. Her session was moderated by Dr. Akshay Jain, Director, Marketing and Admission cell, Amity University Rajasthan.
Day two introductory session was taken by Dr. Inderbir Kochar. The theme of his discussion was “Reception of Francophonie by Young Learners in India”. This session was moderated by Prof. Abhijit Karkun, CFFS, JNU, New Delhi. The speaker of the next session was Prof. (Dr. ) Anjali Bagde, Professor, dept. of French and Francophone Studies, EFLU Hyderabad. She discussed about various avenues for Indian Youth in Francophone studies specially in the international scenario.
The event witnessed more than 269 participants who joined online during two days across India. Apart from Amity University Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai students participated from Delhi University, Doon University, Calcutta University, Biswa-Bharti University, Christ college Bangalore, New Horizon School, Nasik, and various other education institutions.
The conference concluded with the valedictory session. Valedictory address was given by Prof. (Dr.) G.K. Aseri, Pro Vice Chancellor, Amity University Rajasthan. The guest of honour Prof. Akhilesh Kumar, Head, Dept. of French Studies, Banaras Hindu University shed light on strategic partnership between France and India.