Dis-moi dix mots 2024 : On your marks, get set, compose! [fr]

What is it about? From September to July, the "Dis-moi dix mots" initiative invites everyone to play and express themselves in literary and/or artistic form around ten words chosen by the French-speaking partners of the OPALE network (French-speaking network of language policy and planning organisations). The aim is to use a list of ten words to illustrate the richness of the French language, its capacity to evolve and its ability to describe all contemporary realities.

What was the theme? This year’s theme naturally revolved around sport and the Olympics. For this year’s competition, participants had to play with the following selection of 10 words: adrénaline (adrenalin); aller aux oranges (go for the oranges); champion (champion); collectif (collective); échappée (breakaway); faux départ (false start); hors-jeu (offside); prouesse (prowess); mental (mental); s’encorder (rope up).

Not only is sport essential to good health, it also instils values of respect (playing as a team, roping up) and of surpassing oneself (getting the adrenalin pumping, breaking away, achieving feats, becoming a champion). Sport is also about determination (mental toughness), accepting the rules (false starts, offside) and the need to take a break (going to the oranges).

Physical activity helps to combat failure at school and helps to reduce social and cultural inequalities, so the "Dis-moi dix mots" competition was an opportunity for pupils to explore this theme and illustrate the love (or loathing) of sport, the fear of failure and the taste for victory.

Training, repetition and determination are essential if you are to progress in any discipline and reach the podium. But sport is also about teamwork and solidarity. It is driven by a collective dynamic, just like the French language, which lives and thrives on the diversity of its manifestations around the world.

The Irish podium:

First place:
La Flamme est Allumée (Loreto College, Cavan, Co. Cavan)
Mrs McEvoy’s class

loreto college cavan la flamme est allumee

Second place:
Calligrammes et Haikus (Lycée français Samuel Beckett, Foxrock, Co. Dublin)
Mrs Cayet-Fernandez’s class

calligrammes haikus dis moi dix mots lfi cm1-cm2 bcf

Third place:
Les 10 mots à Scoil Mhuire ( Scoil Mhuire, Strokestown, Co. Roscommon)
Mrs Brudell’s class

DmDmScm2

Bravo to all the students and teachers who took up this literary challenge with flying colours!