The newcomers at the Athénée Royal Victor Horta •

The definition of a newcomer

A pupil or student is considered as a newcomer under specific conditions (as mentioned in the French Community Council’s decree of 14 June 2001) 1. Age: between 2.5 and 18 years old 2. Having applied to be granted the status of refugee or any person accompanying someone who has introduced a request to be granted said status or having obtained the status of a refugee or a stateless person 3. Having been in Belgium, for less than one year 4. Never having been enrolled in a Belgian school before The Athénée Royal Victor Horta has been organising specific classes for newcomers since 1990. They were started on Mr Robbrecht’s initiative, director of the Athénée Royal Paul Delvaux (as the school was then called). At the beginning, there were 2 classes and the pupils were grouped according to their age. Later the Athénée Royal Victor Horta had up to 6 classes with a total of 115 pupils. The newcomers attend the so-called ‘clap class’ (a special class for pupils who can’t speak French) during one year. The following year they join the regular classes according to the following criteria: 1. with appropriate school documents, recognised diplomas and the necessary pedagogical skills ; the pupil joins the class that corresponds to the grade or level attained in his or her mother country 2. with appropriate school documents, recognised diplomas but without the necessary pedagogical skills ; the class council advises the pupil to attend the courses in the lower grade 3. no school documents : two possibilities to put it simply even though other situations exist (see deliberation chart) • if a pupil is under the age of 16, he joins the ‘first accueil’ • if a pupil is over 16, he goes to the 3rd vocational form In September 2004, the teaching staff decided to change the regrouping criteria. As a matter of fact the classes would be formed according to the pupils’ skills. The era of modules had begun. •

The modules

On the first day of school, all the newcomers are gathered in the study room where they take a French test, which is then corrected by the French teachers. The next day pupils take a test in maths. On the third day, both French and maths teachers organise the classes according to the children’s results. The teachers will operate with these groups for the next six weeks; during that period all the French teachers will teach the same subjects, of course, according to their own methods but the pedagogical content is common to all the groups. After the pupils have taken their second French test, the groups are reorganised according to the test results. To avoid disputes the teachers do not correct the works of their own groups. The class criteria are as follows: From 0 to 5/20 – group of illiterate or very weak pupils

From 5 to 10/20 – group of quite weak pupils From 10 to 15/20 – group of weak pupils From 15 to 20/20 – group of better pupils These class changes are expected to take place every 6 weeks. The next stage is the Christmas examination. However if, at the end of a given evaluation period, we notice that the level of achievement is similar among the pupils in one group or in different groups, the groups remain unchanged. •

A specific project : theatre

Writing, producing and acting in a play in French with newcomers, a utopia, a daydream, a crazy project, a reality in the field? I would say all of them. Actually, the Athénée Royal Victor Horta offers a alternative way of teaching French. This experience dates back to 2001 when the teachers, who had been teaching the newcomers for some years, came to the conclusion that French could not be acquired only by means of classical methods. It was necessary to innovate and allow children to communicate between themselves and with the outside world. “It was time to take away the chairs and tables and make room for creativity. French is not just a matter of grammar and conjugation. We have to give the children the willingness to learn and to express themselves in French. Children shouldn’t be afraid of speaking and writing even with mistakes.” In practical terms, it means that one third of the 15 hours planned for the learning French is devoted to theatrical expression. The preparation of this performance is part of a real teamwork. In addition to the French teachers and an actress who work directly with the classes, five teachers work in the background in order to help the children approach this unknown ‘French language’ at their own pace, gaining or regaining selfconfidence. •

The 3rd General form French as a foreign language

At the end of their first year in Belgium some newcomers have the opportunity to join the 3rd form FLE (FFL=French as a foreign language). The timetable is the same as in the regular 3rd general form except that they have an additional 5 hours of French per week (i.e. 10 in total instead of 5 in the regular classes). This class was organised 3 years ago and has also taken part in a tale-telling project for 2 years. As mentioned above the pupils take a test on the first school day, which enables the two French teachers to focus on the student’s individual deficiencies and to prepare a course adapted to their specific needs. Bringing competences of pupils up to standard is being done with the agreement of the Inspection of French. Such flexibility of the programme allows us at the same time to promote individual learning and thus, to work in self-access with the whole class. These pupils can attend the 4th general FFL the year after. This class still provides the same amount of French teaching sessions (10 hours per week).

Development of the newcomers’ classes In the first years of the newcomers’ classes the pupils’ parents were very often political refugees; generally the children had a good academic background. However as the years went by, the teachers were more and more confronted by economic migration, with subsequently, a gradual deterioration or weakening of the children’s educational background. Sometimes, some children hadn’t even had any schooling at all in their countries of origin. This is how teachers gradually had to cope with illiterate pupils. By definition an illiterate person is “someone who can’t read nor write in his mother tongue” So how can we teach children any French if they have not any knowledge of how to write or read in their own language? Since September 2006 our school has had a class of 18 illiterate pupils. This specific public needs adapted pedagogy; teachers have to find out all sorts of tricks and tools to enable them to understand the pupils, but also to be understood by them. It is not exactly easy to achieve “preset targets” with them as they belong to a minority that is very often neglected in the school. Indeed, no real structure has been foreseen for their inclusion. That’s why we have thought of their inclusion via plastic arts, which is a recreational way to tackle written texts. Plastic Arts, as well as dance, theatre, music and circus contribute to building the pupil’s personality (intellectual, emotional, psychomotor aspects are always involved in the process of creation). Far from the traditional teaching methods, this one allows the pupils to open their minds to art history, photography, patrimony, architecture, design, etc. In fact plastic arts should be considered as visual arts. Indeed, visual arts very concretely reproduce a world vision that will be preserved whereas drama and theatre are very ephemeral… Aims of the “Painted walls” workshop The class of illiterate pupils have created a 325m² fresco in the main courtyard with the help of two visual artists. This fresco will serve as the setting for the show in which each of them will perform. The newcomer have been busy all year writing the dialogues of the show and the performing act. The students of 3G FFL have improved their French (narration, diction, and memorization), thanks to tale telling. A professional director has supervised stage direction and the actor’s performances. Moreover, we wanted all the students in the school to have access again to their everyday environment: indeed, a dirty and derelict school environment does not encourage them to keep the place clean. Now, their old courtyard that has been artistically repainted by the group of newcomers will command all the students’ respect. In this way, the school has every chance of being a place where children have fun rather than a dull place where they are forced to go. For the volunteering teachers, this creation is also a way to celebrate their 10th year of theatre workshops and somehow beyond the marks left in our memories and our hearts, to leave a concrete and living mark of their work in our school, the place where we spend most of our time. Besides, art is not just a matter of leisure or a profession; art affects everybody’s life. It is not only a subject to teach, but a way of shaping our lives, a discipline to be acquired as well as a tool to process information and knowledge. Art is to be practised by every human being in order to create the masterpiece of his own life.