Students of French Language and Culture win Exceptional Extracurricular Achievements award
On Tuesday 7 September, during the faculty year opening ceremony, vice-dean Martha Frederiks presented the Exceptional Extracurricular Achievements award in times of corona to students of French language and culture for their booklet ‘Guide de voyage immobile’. This booklet is perfectly suitable during the corona pandemic, as it is full of travel tips that do not require physical travel. The booklet is made by students, for all students of the French department, to cheer them up and inspire them in times of corona.
Guide de voyage immobile
Rozanne Versendaal about the course Invitation au voyage
Rozanne Versendaal, teacher: “The course Invitation au voyage is about travelling and travel literature. As a teacher, I knew that this subject would gain in importance in times of corona and could lead to very interesting discussions. With the strict travel restrictions in place at the time, I saw the course as an opportunity to re-evaluate the concept of travel with the students.
Using the at first sight very paradoxical, perhaps even oxymoronic concept of 'voyage immobile', an expression attributed to philosophers and poets Paul Valéry, Gilles Deleuze and Fernando Pessoa, the students began to reflect on the possibility of travel without geographical displacement. During the course, the students threw themselves wholeheartedly and enthusiastically into this complex but exciting challenge.”
Tess van Buuren about the project
Tess van Buuren, student: “The project was a lot of fun and it helped us to utilise French in a creative way. It was nice to work together with a group on a stimulating and creative project during times of corona, not just working behind your laptop. Everyone was immediately enthusiastic. In the beginning, we found the assignment difficult and had to brainstorm several times, but because of the broadness of the assignment, everyone was able to find a suitable subject to write about.
I myself took an art minor alongside this course, which we could put to good use. With my group I wrote about Van Gogh. Other groups wrote about things such as the interiors of expensive houses in France, virtual exhibitions, tips for making discoveries close to home and ideas for bringing foreign countries closer through food and drink. What was nice is that some of the teachers from the programme also wrote pieces, which allowed us to get to know them better.
Our fellow students thought it was a successful booklet. We heard, for instance, that first-year students had been gawking at houses on French Funda. The aim, to cheer up our fellow students, has worked well.”
Read the award-winning booklet
You can find the booklet 'Guide de voyage immobile' here. The booklet is an accessible, approachable way to get started with the concept of 'voyage immobile'.
From the jury report
Guide shows great creativity
The jury found that “the ‘Guide de voyage immobile’ testifies to the great creativity of students. The Guide is beautiful, multicoloured and multifaceted and underlines the power of imagination. Because the Guide was distributed to all French students, the project goes beyond the level of the course. The jury was particularly impressed by the way the authors of the Guide managed to link corona with education and thereby contributed to the reflection on the impact of corona on both education and the personal lives of teachers and students. The jury also praised the creative and intellectual embedding of education in the Guide.
It was precisely because of this creative and intellectual embedding of both educational content and the impact of corona on education and life that the jury unanimously agreed to award the students of: ‘Guide de voyage immobile’ the Humanities Faculty award for Exceptional Extracurricular Achievements in times of corona.”
Jury members
The jury consisted of two students, Rosa Bos, student representative in the Board of Education Directors and Chiara Stam, chair student members of the Faculty Council, two education directors, Dieuwke van der Poel and Sigrid Merx, the secretary of the Board Martine Paulissen and two vice deans, Ted Sanders and Martha Frederiks.
The jury received three nominations and found it difficult to choose. The jury report can be read in the PDF attached to this article.
The award-winning students
Students who followed the course Invitation au voyage in block two of the academic year 2020-2021: Anne Brouwer, Tess van Buuren, Swen van Geel, Sterre ‘t Hart, Dounia Laaouina, Jente Ligthart, Clarien Twigt, Yaël-Naomi van Den Born, Anna Verhoeven, Mark Wijnholt, Freek Wolter, Ahmed Zekhnini, Anna Zwart, Anne ter Welle, Pol van Tilburg, Naomi van de Braak, Inge van de Bruinhorst and Adelinde van der Haar.
The prize-winning students give the money they have won (€500) to Cercle, the study association for French language and culture, so that it can benefit all French students.
About the Exceptional Extracurricular Achievements award in times of corona
The year and a half behind us has been an interesting time. A time that demanded and still demands a lot of creativity, flexibility and perseverance from everyone- students, teachers, support staff and administrators.
Individual students and groups of students and teachers took all kinds of initiatives to encourage each other and others during this complicated, and for many lonely, period of time. This gave the Board of Education Directors the idea of instituting a Student Award for Exceptional Extracurricular Achievements in times of corona, in order to recognise a student, a group of students or a study association of the Humanities Faculty who has made a special effort for others in society, inside or outside the UU, during the corona pandemic.