La Dictée PGL, a competition that brings together

This text is part of the special Francophonie booklet

Let’s cultivate a just and egalitarian world! : this is the invitation issued this year by the 32^e edition of the Dictée PGL, whose ambassador is Aly Ndiaye, alias Webster, hip-hop artist and history buff.

“How to promote access to quality education, an egalitarian, equitable and inclusive education? asks the spokesperson for the event. How to make you and us engaged citizens aware of inequalities and their privileges? Indeed, this wonderful celebration of the French language in the world also carries humanist messages on the challenges related to access to education, especially for women and young girls, as well as for marginalized people.

Values ​​and identity

“Each year, the dictation includes three parameters: the promotion of the language, the protection of our environment and sharing and solidarity”, explains François Gérin-Lajoie, who succeeds his father as chairman of the Board of the Paul Gérin Foundation. -Joy. These cross-cutting themes are so many common threads that have fed the text of the dictations for the past thirty-one years.

Added to this is an annual theme — telephony, diversity or the automobile, to meet the interests of students, from kindergarten to junior high school. Only students in year 5^e and 6^e year can go further in the competition. The dictation is associated with the Picking of Sharing, a fundraiser in which parents participate and half of which goes to the school and the other half to the PGL Foundation.

However, dictation is also a preparation in class with educational tools adapted to students of all levels.

The tests take place at the school, under the supervision of the teachers, “volunteers who do not count their hours to supervise this event which arouses a lot of enthusiasm”, wishes to underline François Gérin-Lajoie.

An inclusive dictation

Inclusion, the Dictée PGL also demonstrates it by addressing two categories of students: French-speaking students and those in French immersion classes. The latter have only one out of two paragraphs to execute during the eliminatory tests which take place throughout the month of March.

The grand international final will bring together, in May, a few hundred finalists in the Bernard-Landry room at UQAM. Some 50,000 students from Quebec take part in the regional stages, to which are added 15,000 others from the rest of Canada.

In French-speaking Africa, participation is particularly well attended, with in particular 260,000 students in Senegal alone. Unfortunately, some young people who are selected cannot reach the final, for lack of a visa granted by their country. “In all, the Dictée PGL reaches more than 300,000 people across the French-speaking world”, summarizes with enthusiasm François Gérin-Lajoie, who is already working, with his team, on large-scale projects to mark the 60^e anniversary of the Ministry of Education, partner of the Dictée PGL since its very beginnings.

Since last year, the Foundation has also been organizing the Dictée PGL de la Francophonie, for company employees, many of whom are former participants in the school version and who are now active workers (the final will take place on March 22 at HEC Montreal). A way to defend and promote the French language at work.

This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.

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