Like seven other classes from Dordogne (1), they are participating in the “L’école des Odyssées” competition, launched by France Inter and Laure Grandbesançon, the journalist and producer of the children’s podcast Les Odyssées, in partnership with Belin Éducation and the Mutuelle assurance de education (MAE).
“Cartoon for the ears”
For about an hour a week, the schoolchildren work on their “cartoon for the ears”, as Jérôme Bousquet, their teacher, describes it. To understand the composition of the podcast, the sound elements that construct it, and its content, students regularly listen to an episode of Laure Grandbesançon's show.
With this fun medium, students are involved, participate, and are more motivated. “They are fully engaged, it’s very participatory”
This week in December, Marie Curie was in the spotlight. For nineteen minutes, the 26 young Périgourdins discover biographical elements about the scientist's youth. They therefore learn that it was not she who discovered curry, contrary to what one of the young people interviewed thought when the teacher was trying to find out who knew her in his ranks.
With this fun medium, students are involved and are more motivated. “They are all in, it’s very participatory. I want a unifying theme,” notes Jérôme Bousquet. Who adds: “It’s a great project, which calls on a lot of skills such as French, history… I like projects which combine different educational materials. »
The class has already followed two webinars created by Laure Grandbesançon, and will have a final one in January. For the competition, the class will have to produce a text describing the chosen character and a presentation sound module, or even a piece of the podcast that they imagine. And the schoolchildren at the Marcel-Fournier school are excited at the idea that they could be on the radio. “Everyone will be able to listen to our story,” smiles one of them.
Fight against screens
The objective of this competition? “Making people see through sound,” summarizes Laure Grandbesançon. A project like this allows everyone to find their place, that everyone is put forward, between research, writing, technique, etc. » The journalist hopes to see among the little ones the “sharing of something that fascinates them”. More broadly, this competition is part of a desire to “open children’s minds to something else” in a context of “fight against screens”. In this regard, the creator of the competition concludes: “Sound emancipates while screens imprison. »
The winning class, among the 1,400 groups entered, will be known in June 2025. The winners will go to Paris to discover the Maison de la radio and record the episode of their podcast.
