the essential
Four high school students experienced a linguistic immersion between Catalonia and Gers, exploring nuances between Occitan and Catalan and dreaming of future cross-border studies.
Since September 1, Paulo and Jordem, two young people from the Narcís Xifra high school in Girona, have spent a month at the Joseph-Saverne high school in L'Isle-Jourdain. Paulo was Lou's correspondent and Jordem was Emma's. Then, from October 1 to All Saints' Day, the two high school students from Lislois, aged 17, went to Spanish Catalonia. An Erasmus exchange whose originality can be explained by the languages which served as a basis for the exchange: Occitan and Catalan.
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At L'Isle-Jourdain high school, a long Erasmus mobility exchange based on Occitan and Catalan
Lou and Emma did all their schooling in the bilingual Occitan-French section of L'Isle-Jourdain. Paulo and Jordem, of Brazilian origin, were educated in Catalan. The two students from Girona, also 17 years old, took Occitan lessons at the Lislois high school. The Lisloises went to the Catalan language course. Note that the four students also study Spanish and French.
Now, this exchange is over and the results are positive. It is the first of this type in France and Spain. Beyond the human experience, everything took place taking into account both languages. Furthermore, it was surprising to note the ability of these young people to make very detailed linguistic comparisons. For example, Jordem and Paulo were interested in the dropping of the intervocalic “N” in Gascon or the treatment of the final “L” in Latin languages. Questions and discussions of this nature are not common in first class…
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Lou and Emma participated in the life of the classes by playing between the different languages. Note, in Catalonia and Occitania, that almost all the students come from other regions or countries. This proves that Catalan and Occitan can help young people integrate in a different way, while allowing the use of Catalan and Occitan to be maintained.
This long Erasmus exchange was led by Marta Pasqual i Llorenç, from IES Narcís Xifra, and by Nicolas Rey-Bèthbéder from L'Isle-Jourdain. The overall cost was paid by the European Union. The four high school students are now friends, they want to continue talking. Emma and Lou talked about studying in Catalonia and Jordem and Paulo perhaps in Toulouse.
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