The game, a springboard to secondary school

A few days ago, they were the big guys at their school. Next year it will be completely different. In order to prepare for their entry into secondary school, young people aged 6^e year received visits from artist-mediators throughout the year. At the heart of their approach: play. The Press attended their last workshop.

A excitement fills the young people in Geneviève St-Maur’s class as they sit in a circle. The oppressive heat that enters through the windows of the premises reminds them that summer is upon us. This promise of imminent vacation is not, however, the only reason behind the smiles of the 18 students of 6^e year.

For the tenth and last time, the group from Saint-Clément school, in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district, receives a visit from artist-mediators Sandy Bessette and Simon Fournier, from the company La marche du crabe. Since September, young people have been participating in the Passages project, one of the objectives of which is to give them tools to better experience the transition between primary and secondary school.

A few days before the end of classes, it is time to take stock. The two facilitators would like to look back on the eight workshops and the two plays that the students attended as part of the project.

“We have 50 minutes. This is too short ! We won’t have time to tell each other everything,” Simon Fournier warns them, with regret.

Place to play

But before opening the discussion, it’s time to play. Because during the year, games were at the heart of all the workshops. No question that this ultimate meeting will be an exception.

“We are going to play the name game,” announces Simon Fournier.

The students are visibly delighted. Without being asked, they list the rules: the first to stand up 10 times and say their name loud and clear wins. If two people stand up at the same time, they are eliminated by the judge.

And what is this judge like? “Ruthless and cruel,” say the children with enthusiasm.

Game on. Some get up repeatedly, hoping to reach the famous ten before everyone else. To prevent a friend from winning, a boy dares to move at the same time as him. Exclamations congratulate this sacrifice. Laughter breaks out.

Speak

What takes place in the classroom seems to be just a game. And yet, through this, and all the others explored throughout the year, students acquire skills. During a previous meeting, they were called upon to create political parties in a fictional city and take a stand on divisive issues. “In Frog City, is it allowed to have cell phones in class? », asked them, for example, the judge – always ruthless and cruel. Through this exercise, they had to form an opinion, find arguments to defend it, debate…

Listen

“The Passages project, I think it gave them confidence. It allowed them to take their place, but also to leave room for others,” notes their teacher, Geneviève St-Maur.

Because if the games led by artist-mediators invite people to speak, they also encourage listening. “In all of our discussion games, they have to let the people speaking finish their turn before saying anything, whether they agree or not. It develops their ability to communicate in society,” explains Sandy Bessette.

And what do the students take away from the project? “Don’t trust the opinions of others,” replies a girl. “Give your opinion without embarrassment,” adds a boy. “Leave room for imagination,” chimes in a third.

This last remark echoes Victor, one of two alley plays presented to them as part of the project. In this work created by La marche du crabe, we follow friends the day before they enter high school. On the verge of leaving childhood for adolescence, each of them has apprehensions about this new stage. The friends meet in their alley to play like old times and immerse themselves in their imagination.

During class discussion, students draw several similarities between themselves and the characters. Some people won’t go to the same high school as their friends and that worries them. Others are excited by the idea of ​​being able to reinvent themselves. Everyone seems to agree that for some time now, they have been delving into their imagination less often.

Through their own experience, Simon Fournier and Sandy Bessette try to show them that allowing themselves to play can be very nourishing. After all, they learned a lot this year thanks to sometimes trivial games.

Open up to others

The students of Saint-Clément school were not the only ones to participate in this first year of the Passages project. A reception class from Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix school, in the Verdun district, also attended the workshops.

A few times during the project, young people from the two schools met. “When we go to high school, we sometimes leave our friends from little school. We are obliged to come into contact with other people,” underlines Sandy Bessette, who sees this twinning as a way of “testing these first new encounters”.

For Roxane Boucher-Desrochers’ reception class, the workshops represented a certain challenge since the majority of students arrived in the country less than two years ago. “It allowed them to develop both the language and their self-assertion, their self-confidence. It’s very beautiful to see,” the teacher points out with pride.

The company La marche du crabe will present the pieces in the open air Victor And Amarelinha a few times this summer, in Montreal and elsewhere in Quebec.

Consult the performance calendar

Read “A word to adults aged 6^e year ”