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A Level French from the Caribbean
Miss Baudéan organsied a very special French lesson all the way from the Caribbean and sent this report:
This is what Maximilian in Year 13 said about the lesson...
In our A Level French class we have been learning about social exclusion and its impact on society. To help us understand this topic further we had the amazing opportunity to have a live call in French all the way from the Caribbean with Mathieu Guérard, co-founder of the association KAP Caraïbe. The association was founded in 2012 as a result of the first LGBT parade in Martinique. Their work consists of helping the vulnerable within the LGBT community; offering art and musicotherapy, education, advice and support to the young person and their families to prevent tragic outcomes like suicide or social exclusion. Even though Martinique is one of the very few Caribbean Islands that legalised homosexuality, Mathieu clarified that enforcing legislation is very difficult as there is still a large proportion of the population opposed to embracing the LGBT community. This is why associations like KAP Caraïbe are so important, they ensure that future generations are educated on the LGBT community and hopefully spark a new way of thinking in Martinique.
We asked Mathieu a wide range of questions, gaining a deeper understanding on the topic of social exclusion. Some of the information, specifically statistics surrounding the troubles of the LGBT community, shocked us. For example, 1 in 4 teenage suicides in Martinique are due to the stresses of sexual identity. The difficulties individuals face in denying their sexuality highlight how their societies are yet to accept these differences, hence highlighting the importance of KAP Caraïbe’s work.
This experience was eye-opening for the entire class, and everyone was involved in speaking French, as we had many questions to ask Mathieu testing our understanding and helping us to recognise vocabulary important to the conversation. We very much appreciate the time given by Mathieu Guérard and the KAP Caraïbe team to educate us about their amazing work and we would love to hear back from them in the future to discuss any developments made through their intervention in Martinique.
Miss Baudéan also said:
Je suis tellement fière! The Year 13 students were so very sensible during the conversation with Mathieu and the range and quality of questions about matters relating to the LGBT community was outstanding: from the impact of religion, necessity for funding and political support to the need for education to support the LGBT community show how well they are embracing their French A Level studies. Mathieu was impressed by how smart our students look, by their level of French and also very pleased to see the sheer interest of these students. He said: “We have hope in this new generation, we believe they will lead the way to a new way of being and accepting.
