Y10-13 students studying French at BCG have just finished their French project about the play The Little Prince. I'll let you check out their work that they translated into both languages.
Ms Delmet - Secondary and IB French teacher
The project - by Amir and Saad Y10
Firstly, we organised our groups and then with the help of the native speakers of the class we learned about the biography of the author, Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Second, each group was allocated one scene from The Little Prince to read and perform. Ms Delmet and the native speakers helped us translate the words we didn't understand. Thirdly, we designed the costumes for our characters, ready for the performance. The next day, we watched the film adaptation of The Little Prince (in French with subtitles) to get more context and understand the story as a whole. On Monday, it took us 30 minutes to get to the theatre in Barcelona. We watched the play for 1 hour and 15 minutes, and when it was over, we came back to school by bus. Finally, we worked in groups again to prepare our texts to be published in the Newsletter. In conclusion, this project was very entertaining. It was an interesting and new experience for many. We enjoyed the play at the theatre because of how well the actors were performing. However, one thing that we can all agree on was that there was a lack of costumes and background decorations.
Who was Antoine de Saint-Exupery? - by Semyon and Eric Y10
Antoine de Saint-Exupery was a famous French writer born in Lyon on 29th June 1900. Born into an aristocratic family in 1921 he became a military pilot in Strasbourg. He did very well in school , In 1923 he had a plane crash which demotivated him from flying therefore he started to write. After 1932 he entirely focused on writing and he began by making reportages in Spain, Vietnam and Russia. After the armistice was signed, he moved to New York where during WW2 (1943) he published “Le petit prince”. Going back to 1943 after his publication he moved back to France and rejoined the air force and in one of his missions in Corsica on the 31 of July 1943 he left for the mission and never returned.
Presentation of the play - by Niels and Santi Y10
This play was originally published in English and French in the United States in April 1943. It was translated into 535 languages. The 5 main characters are the Little Prince, the Pilot, the Fox, the Rose, and the Snake. The journey is based through 7 planets and asteroids. The story is about “the Little Prince,” a small boy from a tiny asteroid, who travels the universe, planet-to-planet, seeking wisdom. On his journey, he discovers the unpredictable nature of adults.
Some scenes we studied and performed in class:
Scene 2 - by Bella Y10
The scene I worked with was Scene 2 or The encounter. There were 3 characters in this scene: the Little Prince, the Pilot and the Puppeteer. In this scene, the pilot meets the Little Prince for the first time. The little boy asks the Pilot to draw him a sheep (“Dessine-moi un mouton...”). The Pilot draws him three different sheeps but the little prince says the first one is too sick, the second one is not a sheep because it has horns and the third one is too old. Then the Pilot then draws a box and tells the Little Prince that the sheep he wishes for is in the box. I think the Little Prince is happy with the box because it lets him imagine his perfect sheep inside.
Scene 9 - by Alina Y10
Scene 9, which is titled Le Roi (the King), talks about the trip of The Little Prince to a new planet where he finds a king. Those are the only people there. The King, after ordering him around, tells him that he rules everything, including the stars. The Little Prince asks him for a sunset and the king says he will give it to him… at 19:30h. The Little Prince tells him that he has no use here and starts leaving, though the king tries to get him not to leave. He is presented as an all-powerful ruler who just wants attention which we can compare to humans who also do things for attention no matter how ridiculous they might seem. The Little Prince leaves saying “Les grandes personnes sont bien étranges” (Grown-ups are very strange).
Scene 21 - by Ivan Y10
In the second to last scene, there is a dialogue between the Pilot and the Little Prince. The Pilot sees him talking to a snake. After questioning him about it, the Little Prince indirectly says that the snake will send him home to his planet, by poisoning him. The Pilot is obviously saddened by this and promises that he will not leave the little Prince. The Little Prince tries to persuade him, but the pilot refuses.
In contrast to the other scenes, where you can see the Little Prince’s innocence, in this scene the Little Prince speaks in metaphors, E.g. saying that he will become a star in the sky - he will always remain in the pilot’s memory. This gives off the feeling that the Pilot is innocent, unlike the Prince giving the whole book a more philosophical and deeper meaning, rather than the explicit one you get from reading it once.
The theatrical adaptation - by Sophia, Julia, Raphaël and Leo Y10
This Monday, February 27, we went to the theatre “Le Casinet d'Hostafrancs” in Barcelona, to watch a very famous French play called “Le Petit Prince”. This theatrical piece was staged by the ADG Europe company, which consists of four actors: Gaspard Legendre, Jessica Saraf, John Kenny and Grantly Marshall. This troupe of French (and British!) actors took a rather unusual approach to portraying this play as they all played multiple roles and they incorporated music, dance, puppets, and even video theatre.
Although we found it quite entertaining, what confused some of us was the contrast between the film and the play; certain events and specific scenes took place at different times and the story even ends in an entirely different way. Moreover, we noticed the minimalist approach to the costumes which still caused a lack of detail. In our opinion, it must have been a choice of the actors so that the audience focused more on the text of the work than on the costumes. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a touch of comedy that made us all laugh!
This theatrical piece comes highly recommended by our class of 10s!
The Little Prince and the IB: useful connections for the oral examination
The theme of innocence - by Max Y12
In class we watched the film The Little Prince and I will define the relationship between the story, the topic of innocence and the French language B course of the International Baccalaureate. Innocence is represented by the little Prince, a child who is not influenced by society, unlike adults. Let’s be honest, in reality a small child is not as innocent as the Prince but I understood Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's message which has a real connection with the theme of Identity and Values.
Childhood is the time when you are unaware of the problems around you, it is living without worries. You become an adult when facing the social problems of independence. Also, adults are being influenced by society and the gaze of others, they prioritise the image they send back and validation, such as the character of the Vain Man who never stops saluting when applauded. Therefore, identity can and certainly changes a lot through all stages of life but we must not forget: ‘You only see clearly with the heart.’ (Saint-Exupéry).
The theme of money- by Maraike Y12
Over the course of the school year, we have studied a vast array of topics, such as money and the value it holds. The famous work, The Little Prince, exhibits this with one of its characters, “The Businessman”, a man obsessed with money and the power that comes with owning all of the stars and, therefore, monopolising the Universe. He constantly counts and recounts his stars, seeing as he prioritises material possessions, and is depicted as a villain, who does not think of happiness and helping others, but is rather consumed by his need for wealth. What I find surprising is that the philosophical messages behind the book are still relevant nowadays, despite having been written in 1943. This possibly references current social movements, like the Yellow Vests in France, who condemn social injustice and unfair distributions of wealth.