School’s out: Migrants learn French on banks of Paris canal
paris — Sitting in rows on a grassy embankment overlooking a Paris square, around 50 asylum-seekers recite the alphabet in French following a young woman pointing to letters on a whiteboard.
“Ew”, 22-year-old Louise shouts, attempting to make herself heard above the passing traffic and the music spilling out of a nearby bar.
“Ooh!” comes the reply from the group of mostly Sudanese and Afghan youths, struggling to pronounce the tricky French ‘u’.
The migrants are attending free open-air language classes organised by a refugee support group at a dozen locations around the French capital.
On a warm July evening two classes are under way on the banks of the Bassin de la Villette, part of the canals in northeast Paris near where migrants are often found sleeping rough.
While Louise, who did not wish to give her full name, teaches beginners, Pierre Piacentini, a retired nurse, instructs Level 2 students on how to describe the various ailments they may find themselves explaining to a doctor.
Many in Piacentini’s group are regulars at the daily classes, who show up come rain or shine.
“They were here when it was minus 5ºC, they’re here when it rains, when it’s hot, when they have the sun in their faces. They’re really into it basically,” the energetic, whitehaired volunteer said.
A rare sight anywhere in the world in the 21st century, the teaching taking place under the trees in Paris causes passers-by to stop and stare.
Founded in November 2015 at the height of the migrant crisis in Europe, the association BAAM aims to give asylum-seekers some of the support withheld by the state while their asylum claims are being processed.
That includes language classes, with the French government only offering lessons to people who have received refugee status.
“The problem is that the asylum processing times are very long. People want to learn French and they can’t,” complained Julian Mez, one of the founders of BAAM (French acronym for Office of Reception and Assistance for Migrants). —