“Harry Potter” classes charm students
[ad_1]
“A standard model wand and cauldron in pewter size 2.” This is what the pupils of CM1-CM2 of the primary school of Villeneuve-de-Marc (Isère), a small village of just over 1,000 inhabitants located about fifty kilometers south-east of Lyon, will find on their back-to-school gear list. Right next to it, a letter of admission to Hogwarts, the famous school of magic attended by Harry Potter, to which their teacher, Mallory Tinena-Monhard, will have added a train ticket for the famous “track 9 ¾” and others odds and ends necessary for the apprenticeship of young wizards.
It’s been ten years since the forty-year-old, bewitched by the universe that emerged from the hat of British author JK Rowling, launched this themed class, where The world visited in June, just before summer vacation. “I use it for class management and also a little for learning”, she explains then, in jeans and Converse, without cape or pointed hat. Daily life is punctuated by rituals borrowed from Hogwarts. Here, one does not enter without a password. “What do you call a polygon with twelve sides? » From 8:30 a.m., the CM1-CM2, clumped together on the stairs, grind their neurons. In front of them, a plump lady dressed in a toga looks down on them from a large poster plastered on the door. After a few unsuccessful attempts, the word “dodecagon” finally emerged. You will have to remember that all day.
In the classroom, not a single space escapes the world of the famous wizard: posters bearing his effigy, characteristic red bricks, brooms, hairy grimoires, parchment posters, stuffed owl and “magic sorting hat” welcome apprentice sorcerers every morning. and witches. At the back of the room, a few floating candles adorn the coats of arms of the four “houses” that structure the magical teachings: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, each with its own characteristics.
From the start of the school year, the students took part in the ceremony of the magic sorting hat thanks to a video edited by the teacher who distributed them to the different houses. “In a double level, it allows to mix the students”, details Mallory Tinena-Monhard, who confides that she herself is a Ravenclaw. Every day, positive behavior and small challenges earn points for their team. Moreover, today as on the eve of all school holidays, it’s time for reckoning: it is a question of designating the winning team of the Cup of the four houses. Hufflepuff, who wins it with 476 points, earns the right to open Gringotts’ bank safe, which contains small treasures and treats, sometimes even the famous “chocofrogs”. All the teams are applauded. “I try to make each house win at least once a year”, adds the teacher. Gryffindor is therefore not more advantaged, contrary to what happens in the novels. Each student, for his part, sees his efforts rewarded with “galleons”, common currency among wizards, which has become a tool of exchange in class to buy “spells”, a form of privileges tinged with magic. For example, an “invisibility cloak” will allow you not to be interrogated for a day, while a “polyjuice”, a transmutation potion well known to wizards, allows you to sit in place of a comrade.
You have 60.64% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
[ad_2]
Source link