Compréhension de l'oral

Script

Zhinga Powel: I feel like a foreigner here, because you are a foreigner here. They still consider me to be “white”.

Journalist (voice over): The Ghanaian government is encouraging people of African descent to return home to Ghana – an opportunity 3,000 Americans have taken. We spoke with three black women who were born and raised in America and immigrated to Ghana, about their experience.

Lois Okudzeto: I used to just get totally fed up with everything being somehow connected to race in America. I always found it oppressive, personally, and so I wanted to get away from that. That didn't quite happen because when you are too fair they say you're “white” here!

Zhiga Powel: They'll say a “obruni” like, they call me a “obruni”, I think that's how you say, when they are saying like, “white person”.

Lois Okudzeto: When I go to the village, these people have never been out of the village and done many things. Immediately, you know, little children are calling me “yevu”, that means “white person”.

Monica Amponsah: Some things are pushed on you here, ok, you can afford it. You have to be able to afford it. You may say, “no, I don't want that”, “yes you do, Madam, yes.”

Journalist (voice over): For Ghanaians, the US is the second most common destination to emigrate to, which makes the idea of leaving America all the more puzzling to some.

Lois Okudzeto: It's difficult to convince people that there's a life outside the United States.

Zhinga Powel: There's not only opportunity in America, you can also come here and get the same opportunities, or even better.

Proposition de compte rendu en français

Cet extrait d'un reportage télévisé américain présente un phénomène migratoire qui ne concerne pour l'heure que 3 000 personnes : le gouvernement ghanéen incite des Américains d'origine africaine à venir s'installer au Ghana.

Le journaliste interviewe trois femmes qui ont tenté l'expérience, parfois depuis des années. Leur ressenti principal est un sentiment d'exclusion : elles se sentent étrangères dans ce pays, étant qualifiées de « blanches » même si elles sont noires. L'une explique qu'elle est poussée à la consommation sous prétexte qu'elle en aurait forcément les moyens. Une autre regrette de devoir à nouveau vivre ce qu'elle avait cherché à fuir : la stigmatisation par la couleur de peau.

Enfin, le journaliste note que ce phénomène est surprenant pour les Ghanéens car les États-Unis sont pour eux la deuxième destination d'émigration afin d'y trouver une vie meilleure. Pourtant, les femmes interrogées assurent qu'il y a autant d'opportunités, voire plus, au Ghana.

Compréhension de l'écrit

▶ 1. In this extract from her autobiography, Michelle Obama relates her arrival in Nairobi, Kenya, with her husband to meet her sister-in-law. As this is her first time there, she is all the more disconcerted by her lack of sense of belonging that she expected to feel. Although she is black, she stands out and feels sad that, as an African American, she seems to belong to neither of the two places.

▶ 2. The narrator has come from New York to live in Lagos, Nigeria. She is full of professional expectations, but she complains about how different the place is from the US, along with her group of expatriates – a difference exemplified by food. In spite of this, she is aware that the cities are not comparable, because their way of life is intrinsically different, and is just in accordance with the respective continents.

▶ 3. The three documents stage people of African origin who decide to go back to Africa – and they all convey a sense of loss and an in-betweenness, as all the characters express that they somehow can't fit in.

Expression écrite

Sujet A (1^st possibility)

If I had to choose how to spend a gap year, I would volunteer as a schoolteacher in Ghana. As this is an English-speaking country, I could improve my English and speak more fluently, and this would also enable me to learn about Ghanaian culture, which I know very little about.

But of course, the idea of teaching would prevail in my choice. What better way to learn about a country than to educate children? Moreover, teaching would be gratifying and fulfilling. It could prove useful in my CV for a future job.

However, this choice wouldn't prevent me from discovering the country. Indeed, I could undertake journeys backpacking during my spare time. Thus I could combine business with pleasure!

(120 words)

Sujet B

The word “home” is usually represented by a house. And indeed, it is true that home refers to the place where you belong, where you feel at ease, the place you miss when you are far from home, and you feel “homesick”.

Yet, what would any place be without the people we care for? For when we miss home, it is not only the building where we live that we miss, but also those we cherish: our parents, our siblings, our friends, even our pets. Hence the saying, “home is where the heart is”.

Consequently, I share Robin Hobb's viewpoint. There is no comfort if there is no love, and there is no home if there are not the people we love there.

(123 words)