Four love songs
‘The bird of life is like love/ It leaves but does not always return.’
Drawing on the rich heritage of French song to express and write about love and freedom was the challenge taken up by Year 9 pupils at the start of the school year.
La Habanera, from Bizet’s Carmen, and its rewriting by Stromae, La non-demande en mariage by Georges Brassens, and Ma liberté by Georges Moustaki allowed the pupils to review certain literary techniques and, above all, to express their points of view and feelings.
The aim of the first writing session in class was to express, in a few verses, each student’s vision of love. This was followed by several other sessions in which the students, either individually or in pairs, depending on their choice, had to write three verses and a chorus with a pen.
One pupil’s mastery of the ‘Suno’ platform added value to the project by allowing everyone to hear their words set to music using AI. It is worth noting the participation of an allophone pupil enrolled in the DIL programme, who enjoyed copying his classmates’ verses in French during the last session.
