Paris: the largest dictation in the world took place on the Champs-Élysées

It’s a record: the largest dictation in the world, certified by the Guinness Book. The avenue des Champs-Élysées, in Paris, was transformed into a giant classroom, Sunday June 4. 1,397 schoolchildren of all ages took part in the dictation, the text of which was an extract from Lettres de mon moulin, by Alphonse Daudet, read by Augustin Trapenard.

A personal and collective challenge

Sentences that follow one another, and sometimes difficult words. “In the end, I made eight faults”, said one participant. Under a blazing sun and in front of the spectators, the dictation brought back, or not, good memories. “It’s a time of rest, we repeat the words several times, we chant the sentence. And it helps the child or the adult to think and put order in his head”, confides the writer Katherine Pancol, a former French teacher. A challenge that is both personal and collective, for all spelling enthusiasts.