An All India webinar was organised by the Embassy of France, Institut Français in India and the Alliance Française network, in collaboration with Campus France India, the Ambassador of France to India, H.E. Emmanuel Lenain said on Wednesday.
During the webinar Lenain, elaborated on French as an international language and its rapid rise partly on account of increasing speakers in the African continent.
According to Lenain, “The development of the French language is part of a global scheme presented by President Emmanuel Macron in March 2018. India is a priority in this plan and boasts of the largest network of Alliance Françaises in Asia. We will encourage more Alliances Françaises in the country thanks to a large demand”.
The Ambassador also cited COVID-19 as a factor in the speeding up digitalisation of the network enabling access to students including those far away from city centres.
He enunciated the benefits of learning French especially in the context of higher education in France and working for French companies both in India and France.
On this subject the Ambassador mentioned, “Next year will not be a blank year as we will make sure that students go to France to study even if it means a few weeks of online learning in the beginning.”
Another speaker, Samuel Berthet, Director of the Alliance Française in Hyderabad highlighted that the Alliances Françaises in India, were actively contributing to the future world. David Petit Jean, Academic Coordinator for French Language at the Alliance Française in Mumbai, highlighted teaching of French as a foreign language which embraced the Common European Framework for language learning, a global standard.
Rhéa Cheryl Shivan, Campus France Manager in Chennai, informed on the 12-city network of Campus France, the agency under the French Ministry of External Affairs and the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Training.
Eric Perrotel, Attaché for cooperation in the French language, based in Chennai, spoke about cooperation with Indian schools especially development of training programmes in teaching French.