French and Global Opportunities
Opening doors for global opportunities
Eight students of Class 9, TFFS in the MATHS EN JEANS, an international congress to be held in April, 2024!
M-A-Th En J-E-A-N-S is the acronym for Méthodes d’Apprentissage des Théories mathématiques En Jumelant des Établissements pour une Approche Nouvelle du Savoir, which means Methods for Learning Mathematical Theories By Pairing Schools for a New Approach to Knowledge.
The aim is to make students understand how Math is useful in everyday life, solve problems using innovative methods, and meet international researchers in Mathematics. The students get an opportunity to research on a topic designed by researchers of international repute, collaborate with twinned students of the participating schools and present their work on mathematics in the presence of the researchers.
The South Asia Congress is going to be held this year in India, hosted by The Lycée Français International de Pondichéry from 1st April to 4th April. Singapore, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), China (Pekin and Shanghai) and India (Pondicherry, Chennai and Kolkata) are the represented countries.The Future Foundation School (TFFS) Kolkata, a FrancEducation Labeled school, is the only Indian school participating among French High Schools (Lycée Français).
The eight students traveling to Pondicherry with the French and Mathematics teachers (guides in their project) are as follows:
- Hriddhima Das
- Hemakshi Mukhopadhyay
- Riddhid Roy
- Aharshi Nandi
- Kinjal Bose
- Arnesh Das
- Parthiv Bhattacharya
- Abhinav Keshri
The Future Foundation School always strives to foster an experiential way of learning – and this accomplishment to present at an international level is shining evidence of the school’s unique methodology.
French Ambassador visit to TFFS
His Excellency, Mr. Thierry Mathou, Ambassador of France to India on a diplomatic visit to the School expressed his views on the importance of learning the French language. He went on to congratulate the parents for choosing the French language as an option for their wards. He proudly declared The Future Foundation School as the only recipient of LABEL France, in India, with a highly structured manner of teaching the language. His Excellency highlighted the bilateral agreement between India and France, signed on the occasion of the Prime Minister of India's visit to France in July 2023. The agreement lays special emphasis on academic exchanges and an increased effort from the French side to welcome a growing number of Indian students on French soil. Furthermore, he emphasised on the importance of learning the French language before embarking on an academic pursuit in France, he warmly encouraged parents and students to consider France as a destination for Higher Education.
TFFS is the first school in India and one of the first few in Asia to get the coveted LabelFrancÉducation accreditation and probably the only one now in India, in recognition of its bilingual system of teaching, by the Ministry of Europe & Foreign Affairs, Government of France.
Since 2017 to date it is the only establishment in the Label FrancEducation network in India.
The school has a bilingual section where nearly 1054 students learn the French language in a modern and interactive way through a team of dedicated and experienced teachers. 609 students learn French as a Salient Language (Second Language) where some non-linguistic subjects like Art, Physical Education and Mathematics are also conducted in the French language. 447 students learn French as a Tertiary Language (Third Language). The learning of French as a Salient Language starts from K.G. 2 which continues till the Secondary level and of Tertiary Language from Class 1 and continues till Middle School Level. French is also offered as a Modern Foreign Language in Classes 9 and 10. The students had appeared for the Class 10 Board Examination (ICSE) with French as the Second Language for the first time in 2023 and have scored very well.
It is equipped with one of the most qualified and experienced francophone team of teachers in India. All the teachers (9) teaching French have the certified level to teach the language and they undergo vigorous training both in-house and the ones organised by IFI, Alliance Française. The teachers benefit from an ongoing language training plan and educational training scholarships in France. Since July 2023, the school is hosting one civic service to organize linguistic and cultural activities. The Academic Consultant/Head of the Department is a French national who has been especially hired to ensure that there is a bilingual environment where the French language elements are inclusive.
There is rigorous investment to establish a proper French Resource Centre in the school premises which is the only library in India with more than over 1000 children’s books.
There are round the year initiatives to create a francophone environment with complete immersion into French culture and language. The students and teachers also participate in the various workshops, seminars, cultural programmes, etc that are organised by IFI, Alliance Française du Bengale.
The students taking up French are introduced to the Delf Prim and Junior examinations (French International Examination) where the students have shown excellent performance consistently for the last several years, thus holding certification of their language proficiency, equipping them to gain admission in prestigious colleges in France and other francophonie countries.
The students are also engaged in sustained exchange programmes with reputed schools in France, like École Alsacienne, Lycée Gambetta and Lycée Galilée.
The students are exposed to career fairs and various cultural and academic workshops with French personalities of distinction. The school works in close association with the French embassy, Institut Français en Inde and Alliance Française du Bengale to expose its students to the best international curricular initiatives.
The school has a tie-up with Lycée Français de Pondichéry which is the oldest French school in Asia, administered by the French government. Students of The Future Foundation School who would like to do their studies in France or at other francophonie countries at the undergraduate level, choose to join the Lycée, after satisfying all admission requirements and formalities. The students and teachers also undergo exchange programmes in various subjects. Excursions are also arranged between the students of the two schools.
‘Apprentice Scientist’, a scientific experiement inter-school competition has also been designed and executed for the last several years in collaboration with Lycée Français de Pondichéry, where students of different schools from the middle school level have been exposed to scientific methods of enquiry with special sessions to meet scientific luminaries from the French research centres/universities.
Since March 2023, students in bilingual sections of Classes 8, 9, 10 and 11 (fourth-first) have been prepared for B2 certification so that they can, if they wish, study in France in a French-speaking course. The first, and second year, students will take the DELF Junior B2 in April 2024 and will be the first class of certified B2 high school students in India. This restructuring of teaching was made possible by a reduction in numbers per class with additional teacher support (22 students against 45), the construction of four additional classrooms, and an increase in the number of hours in French, an ambitious recruitment policy and in-house training for teachers. Four annual intensive extracurricular training sessions complete the bilingual section's school programme.