Augustin Trapenard, Katherine Pancol, and Pierre Rabadan Sponsor Giant Dictation Event on Champs-Élysées in Paris

The avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris will be the site of three giant dictations on Sunday, June 4, with more than 5,000 participants expected for this event called “La Grande dictée des Champs”. And the event will take place under the sponsorship of three personalities, according to information from France Culture, Monday, May 29. Three personalities will follow one another to read the texts: the literary journalist Augustin Trapenard, the author Katherine Pancol and the deputy mayor of Paris in charge of Sports Pierre Rabadan.

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In total, three dictations will be organized on the Parisian avenue: “A first dictation supervised by the judges of Guinness World Records and two other thematic dictations“, specifies the Champs-Élysées Committee, organizer of the event. Each dictation, lasting 20 to 25 minutes, will be carried out by nearly 1,700 participants. Three readings of the text will be made to them, at the end of which will take place a “first individual correction by reading and broadcasting the text on the giant screen“. “Only papers with less than four faults are then collected to be re-corrected by an independent jury of around thirty Acadomia teachers.“, says the press release.

Registrations by lottery

These one-day students will be able to put their words in front of the Arc de Triomphe. And for the occasion, blackboards and classrooms will be installed on the cobblestones of the Champs-Élysées, to give the impression of a “ephemeral open-air school” of 6,600 square meters between rue Arsène-Houssaye and rue Bassano.

To avoid any cheating, the organizers prohibit the use of ChatGPT “and other software“. Rather, they invite participants to “resume traditional training for a return to CM2“, evoking in particular the famous dictation of Mérimée of 1857 on which “Emperor Napoleon III only made 75 mistakes“.

These three dictations will be completely free and open to everyone from the age of 10, and provided that these children are accompanied by an adult. To participate, a registration platform is available on the Paris City Hall website. Already 40,000 people have signed up. The selection of ephemeral students will then be done by drawing lots.

Participants are also invited to give a second life to works from their personal library by depositing them in book boxes, provided by our solidarity partner Libraries without borders.