Exploring Cultural Depth Through Folk Songs and Historical Visits

We're already at the halfway point of the trip! This group has already learned and seen so much, but we have a lot more in store for them. Over the last few days, we've done so many things that we aren't able to record them all here, but we wanted to give a couple of examples to give you a little taste. First, all students went to the Centre Occitan de Musique et Danse de Toulouse where they learned all about traditional occitan music, instruments, songs, and dances. Next, about half of the students went to the "Envol des Pionniers" (Flight of the Pioneers) exhibit which shed some light on the origins of what continues to be one of the most important industries in the region, plane manufacturing.  Allons-y!

Occitan Song and Dance

This visit included two separate workshops in which students learned about Occitan song, dance, and instruments. These students are learning to sing a famous Occitan folk song called 'La marion plora' which talks of a lover's sadness when their beloved is sent away to war. They'll soon learn a few Occitan dance moves to round out their performance.

We also got a chance to learn about and play various traditional Occitan instruments like cousins of the oboe, bagpipes, and the inimitable hurdy gurdy. After listening to some recordings and comparing it to their own notes, this group decided to start a band together! Album release date: TBA.

Envol des Pionniers

Aircraft manufacturing became an important industry in Toulouse after World War 1 and continues to be so to this day with the head office of Airbus employing nearly 30, 000 people in the region. The "Envol des Pionniers" (Flight of the Pioneers) takes visitors on a tour through early aircraft manufacturing in Toulouse. We were lucky enough to have a tour from a real-life in-flight mechanic from 1929 in era-specific garb!

We started by getting an introduction to the various buildings and roles that would have been housed at the manufacturing plant. We played the role of eager recruits looking for jobs in aircraft manufacturing. That means we quickly needed to get up to speed on how planes were constructed and how people communicated at the time, including the use of Morse code!

As soon as we felt like we were getting up to speed, an urgent message came in. One of our planes carrying supplies and mail went down near Cape Juby in Southern Morocco! They needed all hands on deck to decode the Morse code message to see what damage the plane took and what they'd need to bring with them on a rescue mission to make repairs.

The students successfully figured out that they needed to bring a new propeller and sent the rescue plane off with the required materials just in time!

It's a host family weekend and we can't wait to see what our host families have in store! After that, it's back to work on week 3 with another week of French class, community connections, project presentations, and journaling. A plus!