Friday, 22 May 2020
Thursday, 7 May 2020
The 9th of May is Europe Day!
To celebrate Europe Day 2020,
the Section européenne of the Institution Saint-Pierre in Courpière
has organized a Europe Day Youth Forum!
For details, click: HERE!
Tuesday, 5 May 2020
Music is not a luxury in times of epidemic uncertainty, it is a necessity! Do you agree?
Maxime: Yes, I agree,
because music is something that is beneficial, it can help you relax
and help you pass the time. Music can also help you to work and can
be a source of inspiration. We can listen to it in different ways
depending on our mood of the day. Music is, I think, even more
important right now with the coronavirus and all the problems related
to it. It can make you forget the hard things of life and it also
helps you to feel reassured. Music can slow life down and make it
more beautiful and less stressful.
Jonathan: I totally agree
with this statement, because I can’t spend my day without singing
or listening to music. I think it’s very important to listen to
music because it can help someone when he or she is in a bad mood or
having a bad day. Also, music can be an excellent means to bond
socially: we can meet people in concerts or in cafés and we can sing
and dance, in short: enjoy ourselves!
Charlotte: Yes, I agree.
Music can be a way to escape especially during this difficult period.
With music we can express ourselves. I listen to music all day long;
it helps me think about something else during the lockdown and far
from my family.
Emma: I agree with this
sentence because when you hear music you can relax and release your
stress. Certain people do not like listening to music, but personally
it can make me feel happy during a difficult period or when I have
had a bad day.
Manon: Yes, I agree with
this. The period with coronavirus affects a large number of people
and they need happiness to overcome it. Music can be a remedy but can
also be a source of inspiration for a lot of music lovers. Famous
French singers have made protest songs against the politicians to
support the nursing staff and to encourage people to stay at home.
Even people like me, with no particular talent for music, have
created little songs because they have had the time. And, during the
lockdown, I am listening to a lot of music, often happy music because
this helps me pass the time and gives me joy. Songs develop the
imagination which is very important especially now; we need escape!
Paula: Yes, I agree with
that. During this period, we need to be strong together and to help
each other without actually being together. So sharing music through
the cities and streets is a way of bonding with each other. Music
exists in all kinds of styles and can please everyone. Also music
brings a lot of emotions like happiness and can release us from the
stress of the lockdown. I personally always listen to music, all day
long. It’s a way of bringing joy and to dance. Even if I go outside
inline skating for an hour, I listen to music. Also, I play piano and
sing with it, and it’s amazing to express myself and enjoy the
moment while I’m playing.
Gabriel: I think music is
a kind of outlet and thanks to it we can forget all our problems.
It's beneficial physically because when we love a song our brain
creates a lot of molecules which are very important for our mood. I’m
a musician and for me when I'm playing guitar, composing or just
playing a famous song, it’s one of the best moments of my life
because I can explain what I want. The only problem with balcony
concerts is that people do not have similar tastes and that can cause
conflict within the neighborhood.
Emile: I agree with that
statement because I think that music is a very special art and we
need to listen to it because it makes us happy and think about
something else. Now I think that it is a necessity to think about
something else and not all the time about the Covid-19 or about
homework. I think that it is very important to think about escaping
from reality for a while and music can help us to do that.
Malaurie: I agree with
this opinion. I think that happy music can be beneficial during this
time because people need to have fun. Music can be useful to raise
your morale and to entertain. For the people who practice an
instrument, this period can only be beneficial to them because they
can progress and practice more. I play flute and, since I have time,
I play every day, I discover new scores and I record myself and make
videos of myself playing flute. I play also with my mother and with
my orchestra, we're recording on our own and we created a video where
we play all together. With music, you can pass the time away and give
joy.
Thank you to the section euro première members for their wonderful answers!
Tuesday, 14 April 2020
Tuesday, 7 April 2020
Wednesday, 1 April 2020
Wednesday, 25 March 2020
Can Art save the planet? By Elise Auzance (terminale pupil)
How
can Art of all things, possibly save us from doomsday (and when I say
“Art”, I mean art in its various guises of course: literature,
music, dance, theatre, cinema, painting, sculpture, drawing,
architecture and so on)?! I believe the man-made climate crisis is
being exacerbated and accelerated by our lack of solidarity and the
waining of morality; can Art really help us stem the tide? Well,
yes is the answer, it can help...
Artists
can raise awareness of the dangers of pollution, the destruction of
biodiversity, the harm we cause to the fauna and the flora. For
example: photos which show emaciated polar bears lost on the melting
ice cap can shock people into feeling concern for their plight and to
support a charity like the World Wildlife Fund.
Artists
can make us aware of the consequences of human activity on the
environment through protest songs, in documentary films, through
street murals, political cartoons, sculptures, protest banners and
slogans, etc. Art can inform, inspire us to act, give us hope...
Art
can also convey the necessity for us to act together. Indeed,
nowadays, people are more individualistic than before; they only act
for themselves and don’t think about the consequences of their
actions on others and on the world in general. Art can bring people
together in a common cause, because if enough people are moved and
challenged by a work of art (on an environmental theme), if their
curiosity is raised, be it in an art gallery, during an Arts class,
on a visit to a museum, on TV or radio, or just in the street, they
will share its message, comment it, discuss it, be inspired to come
up with ideas to act, become committed to a cause that tries to make
the word a better place...
Art
is especially powerful as a means for children to learn about the
state of the world; it will help them become more open-minded and
responsible; they will think about how they act on a daily basis and
how the adults around them behave. If they discover Nature through
cultural activities they will be more inclined to want to protect
the planet, surely?
Art
encourages us to see the world differently, to perceive the
extraordinary and find joy in in the ordinary. Eric-Emmanuel Schmidt,
the French philosopher who wrote “Lorsque j’étais une oeuvre
d’art”, said: “L’art aide à vivre” (“Art helps us live”)
and I think that it is so true, don't you? Through art we learn to be
amazed, to see how wonderful life can be, to appreciate the planet as
a beautiful work of art in itself.
What
did Fyodor Dostoevsky, the writer and philosopher, mean when he
wrote: “Beauty will save the world”? By
“the world” Dostoevsky, back in the 19th
century, meant people. I
think human
beings strive to exist because they see meaning in beauty and a sense
in trying to preserve it. Our planet is surely the ultimate work of
beauty and therefore needs, literally nowadays, to be preserved. So
many of us have lost our sense of awe at the beauty of the world that
our lives feel meaningless. Artists have a vital mission: to give us
back meaning through beauty, thanks to their works of Art, and so the
will to exist and to cherish the world on which we depend...
Wednesday, 19 February 2020
Seconde euro visit to St-Gervais-sous-Meymont 1/02/20
Alexandre, Théo, Mali, Maxime, Lou-Anne, Lilou, Rachel
We thought this was a nice place to take the group photo; it's the main entrance of the church in Saint-Gervais-sous-Meymont. We have just come from the Maison du Parc, which is the headquarters of the PNR Livradois-Forez, where we interviewed the deputy Director and two of the development workers. We wanted to find out what the Parc is and does, and how it helped the town council of Courpière in its project of rebuilding the rampart and belvedere (the PNR was in charge of getting EU funding for the project, which, apparently, is a long and complicated process).
We found our trip very useful and interesting and fun. We were warmly welcomed and we were given lots of beautiful posters showing the different activities supported by the nature parc.
The posters make local people and visitors to the area aware of what
the PNR does. The nature parc authorities help boost the local
economy by attracting tourists (via its website) and helping people
set up businesses; they protect Nature through their ecological and
educational initiatives; they help local councils and associations
embelish heritage sights especially in the historic centres of small
towns. Basically, the PNR plays a fundamental role in the sustainable
development of the Livradois-Forez!
Our visit to the Maison du Parc inspired our next class project: we will carry out a nature study of our school buildings and grounds. We will then ask the PNR for expert advice on how we can encourage greater biodiversity within the grounds of the ISP (by putting up bird boxes, planting certain types of bushes, etc.). Mali, our class naturalist and bird-watcher, will be in charge of this project!
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