For mini Francophones and Francophiles alike, Les Explorateurs offers scouting fun and adventure with a French twist.
Based in Canberra, Les Explorateurs delivers the official Scouts Australia program in French, supporting kids to use their French language skills outside of the classroom.
Group leader Darren Kriticos says the group started in 2011, when parents of children attending Telopea Park School banded together to create an opportunity for their children to utilise the French they learn at school, outside of the classroom.
โ[Itโs] giving the children exposure to some of the scouting opportunities for fun and learning, but also giving them exposure to French outside of the school context,โ Mr Kriticos says.
โWe notice that thereโs a natural thing with the kids, that once they go out of the classroom, they tend to revert to English.
โWeโre trying to give them a context where we can validate their use of the French language and itโs an opportunity to inject a bit of French culture โฆ Weโre building a bridge between the Francophone and Francophile communities.โ
With around 60 children participating, Mr Kriticos says the group is about โlearning by doingโ and โlearning by funโ, encouraging the kids to get out of their comfort zones.
โItโs a very self-directed program; weโve got guidance and opportunity, but the kids can chart their own courseโฆ and put emphasis on the things they want to learn,โ he says.
โItโs exactly the same program [as โregularโ Scouts], we just deliver as much of it in French as we can.
โThe thing we do a little better, I think, is the cuisine. We try to โFrench upโ the old camp cuisine, and weโve got a bit of a reputation for that.โ
Participants are placed in their appropriate age group โ Joeys, Cubs and Scouts โ and do activities like camping, pioneering, canoeing and surfing.
โThe kids love it,โ Mr Kriticos says. โLast year, we took a group of Scouts over to England and France, where they could go and see the origins of scouting and the first place [founder of scouting Lord Baden-Powell] ever had a scouting group.
โThe benefits are being able to see the kids grow. They come in and they donโt have a lot of confidence, and thatโs one of the biggest things we can do, we can go and build their confidence โฆ and we see that in the feedback we get from the parents but itโs also the feedback we see directly from the kids.โ
Les Explorateurs meet each week at the Ainslie Scout Hall, offering programs from ages five to 15. For more information, visit explorateurs.org.au
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