Schoolchildren from Saint-Etienne have the opportunity to do their schooling from kindergarten to CM2 in bilingual French/Occitan classes. Learning Occitan is not only about mastering reading and writing, it is also about discovering a very rich culture and a whole art of living. At kindergarten Christine Lahoreau introduces toddlers to this language. She submitted to her teaching colleagues in the bilingual classes of Saint-Etienne and Nègrepelisse the idea of a meeting of all the pupils during an Occitan ball. The project was validated and for several weeks, during rehearsals, the walls of the schools let out the notes of traditional songs and dances. Did the children even have the idea of what a traditional Occitan ball is when they boarded the bus in the direction of the Aimé Padié hall in Nègrepelisse? Everyone already knew the traditional music group Bassacada which intervenes in schools. Dressed in Occitan colours, red and gold, they sang and danced happily to the sound of the violin and the accordion. All are now ready to accompany their parents to the trad ball where they will be the ones who can teach them the polka, the scottich, the breaker…
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