“I am a rapper who likes to write”, MC Solaar in French class with students from Jean Perrin college

The 6th grade class of Jean Perrin college, in the 9th arrondissement of Lyon, welcomed this Tuesday, November 5, 2024, the rapper MC Solaar. Since the start of the school year, Claude M'Barali, better known as MC Solaar, has sponsored an educational project. The artist attended a writing and expression workshop that he partly financed.

At the Jean Perrin college, this Tuesday, November 5, there was a writing workshop, but not just any workshop, a ludodidact workshop in the presence of the rapper MC Solaar.

Ludpedagogy aims to tame the difficulties of learning, in this case French, through play, autonomy,This is also the aspect that won over the artist.

“Today we welcome with joy the artist MC Solaar, who is behind you. He is here today because he agreed to sponsor this project.” White shirt and beige skirt, standing in front of her students, Virginie de Neuville, makes the presentations.

“Hello, my name is Claude MC Solaar, I am a rapper who likes to write, who likes language, that's why I'm here today. A rapper is a singer who doesn't sing.” he concludes with a smile.

The 5th grade students already know the rapper, thanks to their parents, thanks to his songs, but seeing him “in real life” impresses them a little. The smiles and looks betray their emotion.

However, it is with great discretion that Claude M'Barali, alias MC Solaar, follows what the students are doing.

Manipulate, experiment, learn, in this class, the activities follow one another. The key word in “edutainment” is independent play. “In normal class, you sit and listen to the teacher, explains Aaron, 6th grade studentthere you don't sit and do it yourself, and when you need you just call.”

“My students don't necessarily have a particular background, it's just that they are in difficulty. They were already in difficulty in primary school. My lessons are all the more adapted to them. The workshop allows them to rework concepts in a fun way to catch up a little, explains Virginie de Neuville, their French teacher. These are students who often drop out, through the game, we hang up. Working independently, developing the fun aspect of an exercise, it makes them want to come and work in class more.”

It was Virginie who had the idea of ​​involving MC Solaar in the Project, he supported her, advised her when writing the program, and he also financed part of the educational materials.

A winning bet according to MC Solaar, admiring the work done. “What I witnessed, it was a bubble without anyone with their phone. There were interactions, complicity.” The artist explains what motivated him to participate in this project. “J‘ai read a file that seemed aberrant to me on Student autonomy. What I saw today was that the students did not need to be supervised, that they managed themselves.”

Claude worked with Virginie when laying the foundations of the project. “It’s an alternative project, but there’s nothing iconoclastic about it, it’s up to them to work, to move from one exercise to another, to manage working time as they wish.”

MC Solaar readily admits that returning to college is not difficult for him, on the contrary. “I don't have only good memories because it is a place where there was knowledge transmitted by the teachers and moments of joy at recess.”

The singer has often said that school allowed him to become who he is today. “I love the school and the work the teachers do.” He continues, “The school period was important for me. Whatever happens, even under torture, he said with a smile, I will always say good things about the people who constitute national education, that is to say the teachers.

The rapper must return in a few months to study rhymes, a field that the artist masters to perfection.