The direct from the international space station will not be there, but the magic will.
“Thomas Pesquet is a dream.
I was contacted by an overwhelming number of moms who told me they wanted to do the dictation when they knew he would read the recorded text up there and be on screen.
For me, it's already won!
»Rachid Santaki, the writer who lives in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis) and organizes the famous Giant Dictées, will engage in an unprecedented exercise this Sunday at the Air and Space Museum, at Le Bourget .
The huge classroom will be set up on the tarmac at the foot of Ariane 5. One of the teachers will be European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, currently on a mission 400 km above the sea. Land, aboard the international station.
It is under a sky that promises to be radiant that the public is invited to rub shoulders with a text taken from the book they have chosen: “Un Barrage contre le Pacifique”, by Marguerite Duras.
And why not a thousand participants?
Several hundred people (children and adults) are expected for this free event, as will the collection visit that day. "I already know that there are families who will come from Sevran, Saint-Denis and Romainville", specifies Rachid Santaki. The Air Museum would even like to reach a thousand participants in the Giant Dictation. The meeting, which is co-organized with France Culture, will be broadcast on its airwaves on September 11 at 5 p.m.
"I really like the principle of making fun - I hope - an exercise that sometimes has a bad reputation", explains in his message Thomas Pesquet, himself the son of teachers.
Unfortunately, it will not be live "because there are very few slots in mission, they are not easy to plan and they are reserved several months in advance", we specify. at ESA.
The astronaut, who is on a mission in space for about six months, will read the extract for the first time, before handing over to Rachid Santaki, who will slowly resume the text for the session of spelling and grammatical agreements.
The moment of self-correction will end the collective literary experience.
"The Giant Dictations are encounters and human contacts"
“Often, we perceive dictation as a cold exercise, led by a teacher.
Les Dictées géantes is, on the contrary, encounters and human contacts, explains the novelist, who has more than 500 to his credit.
Some took place in a remand center, others with disabled children… I come out of it blossoming.
The writer must also publish a small collection telling many anecdotes on the subject.
The idea of renewing the genre of dictation, with the presence of an astronaut, came from the Air Museum.
"Thomas Pesquet is an ambassador for space, a very good communicator", summarizes Yu Zhang, of the establishment devoted to the history of aviation and aeronautics.
“We discussed with each other for several weeks to set up the operation,” he adds.
Read also Le Bourget: discover the hidden face of the Air and Space Museum
Free guided tours will also be organized this Sunday, around the exhibition devoted to military space imagery.
Dictation of space (from 10 years old), this Sunday, September 5, between 3 and 3:30 p.m., at the Air and Space Museum, at Le Bourget (Seine-Saint-Denis).
Free.
The copy is provided but remember to bring a pen.