Say the unspeakable. How to talk about the attacks with your students.

Last updated on 21 February 2025

How to say the unspeakable? How to discuss with your students on Monday the terrible events that occurred this weekend in Paris? How can we react to children's questions?

Difficult questions many teachers are asking themselves this dark weekend for the Republic. Here is a list of online resources that I hope can help you. Feel free to add your own resources, your own findings and your own thoughts to the comments.

“Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world” Nelson Mandela

Several resources below were released at the time of the Charlie Hebdo attacks last January. More news was added during this long weekend. Countless resources demonstrate an unprecedented mobilisation of the educational community.

Psychologists

• It is absolutely necessary to tell the children! Counsel to Serge Tisseron psychiatrist, PhD in psychology at Université Paris VII Denis Diderot.

Links: Article from his blog. – Video on the website of Les Kindergartens

• Professor of psychology, specialist in kindergarten, Agnès Florin invites to let children express themselves and give their full place to the sense of the collective.

Link: The blog teacher in campaign

• Let's give children a voice Ewige Chirouter tells us in an article in his blog on Philosophie Magazine.

Link: Article by Edwige Chirouter

• ‘You have to explain to them what happened’, says Catherine Jousselme on the Bayard Presse website. Astrapi magazine only recently published a poster illustrating the word fraternity.

Link: Advice from Catherine Jousselme

• More than the event itself, children are receptive to the anguish of their loved ones. This is the opinion of Jean-Luc Aubert, psychologist, child and adolescent specialist in the newspaper The World.
  

Link: Interview with Jean Luc Aubert

• Speech is one of the best weapons against anxiety. There is nothing worse than saying ‘you are too small, you cannot understand’ explains Frédéric Kochman, head of the clinic for teenagers Lautréamont in Loos-lez-Lille in an interview in La Voix du Nord
  

Link: Interview Frédéric Kochman

The press

• Bayard Jeunesse published a useful special issue this Sunday of Astrapi magazine.

Link: Astrapi Special Attacks

• My Daily published a special issue last January after the attack on Charlie Hebdo. The editors announced on Twitter this morning that they were preparing a new issue dedicated to Friday's events. Promise held it is available this Sunday evening on the website of the newspaper. Small Daily for 6-10 year olds and My Daily for 10-14 year olds.

Links: Special number The Little Daily to download Special issue My Daily to download

• A good online resource on the site of 1 day 1 actu des Editions Milan. 
  During the attack on Charlie Hebdo, they had released a special issue to decipher this information for a young audience. The special issue is always online as well as a practical sheet to organise a debate in class and two or three videos to introduce the discussion.
  

Link: 1 day 1 actu

• Following the terrible events, "Libération" offers you a special edition of its format for 7-12 year olds.

Link: Release Junior

• Several interesting articles to talk about the attacks with 7-11 year olds on the site The Square de l’Info

Link: The Info Square

Institutional and miscellaneous resources

• Najat Vallaud-Belkacem's message to all teachers following the November 13 attacks.

Link: Message from Najat Vallaud-Belkacem

• Know how to welcome children's voices after the attacks. A very complete updated sheet on the Eduscol website to address topics of violence in the classroom.

Link: Eduscol

• What pedagogy to address the attacks of November 13, 2015 in Paris with students?An excellent report from a working group of teachers brought together by the Cahiers Pédagogiques circles.

Link: Cercles des Cahiers Pédagogiques.

• Scientific resources to help geography teachers think on the major issues raised by these attacks on the GeoConfluences portal.

Link: GeoConfluences

• A good article from La Passerelle to explain the context and events to college students.

Link: The Gateway

• Another compilation of resources on the SE UNSA union website

Link: UNSA Attacks

• Finally (already) a full article on Wikipedia dedicated to the attacks. A very complete article even. "Work in progress". The article is constantly evolving.

Link: Article Wikipedia Paris attacks.

• @gallisse had the good idea to open a public folder in DropBox to collect and share images to evoke attacks in class.

Link: Shared DropBox of images and drawings on the attacks.

A selection of my 60 favorite illustrations to evoke the attacks gathered in an article on the site

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So much for these few resources available online. Feel free to complete the list in the comments.

Three words and two pictures to finish. Two images that came to mind this morning after that terrible sleepless night. Two photos from last January to illustrate three words on the pediment of our schools:

To the horror, let us oppose the values of our #Republic: #Freedom – #Equality: #Fraternity