Paris is celebrating the hero they call ‘Le Spiderman’
Hi everyone, welcome to Episode 53 of Plain English for Thursday, June 7, 2018. I’m Jeff and you are listening to the perfect podcast for learning English. Today on Plain English, an immigrant from Mali climbed up the side of a Paris apartment building to save a four-year-old child, who was dangling from a balcony. And in the second half of the episode, I’ll show you how to use the English phrase, “shine a spotlight” on something.
Remember that you can find the transcript of today’s episode on PlainEnglish.com/53. And as always, the transcripts have instant translations from English to Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, French and Chinese. You can see those translations at PlainEnglish.com/53.
‘Le Spiderman’ saves a child in Paris
He’s being called ‘Le Spiderman’ for his heroic act of bravery in Paris: Mamoudou Gassama, a 22-year old immigrant from Mali, climbed a four-story building with his bare hands to save a dangling four-year-old.
The child was helplessly hanging from a balcony on the fourth story of an apartment building when a crowd formed on the street below, worried about the toddler’s safety. Mamoudou Gassama had been in the neighborhood to watch a soccer match when he saw people shouting and cars honking their horns below an apartment building. When he found out what was going on, he knew it was too dangerous to wait for the fire department to arrive. So he climbed up the outside of the building with his bare hands, pulling himself from balcony to balcony as the crowd below cheered him on. He finally reached the fourth floor and saved the child. He said the boy was crying and had an injured foot. Police later said the boy’s father was out shopping. Yikes.
It was a remarkable act of bravery that was captured on video and turned the 22-year-old into France’s biggest story. It was the leading news item on most French web sites and TV stations and he became a hit on social media. The video showing the rescue was viewed millions of times. In media interviews afterward, he said he didn’t have time to think and that the higher he climbed, the more courage he had to keep going.
Gassama was an undocumented immigrant in France and took a long and difficult journey to leave his home country of Mali, a French-speaking country in western Africa. He said he had passed through Burkina-Faso, Nigeria, and Libya, before taking a crowded boat from Libya to Italy. The journey through those countries to Europe is extremely dangerous due to war-like conditions. He got to France in 2017 and began working in the construction industry. He lives with his brother in a hostel in a suburb of Paris.
But due to his act of heroism, his life is about to change. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo personally called Gassama to thank him. She called him the Spiderman of the 18th arrondisement, the neighborhood where the rescue took place, and said he was “an example for all citizens.” Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, met Gassama at the Elyssee Palace and congratulated him for his bravery and presented him with a medal. He also said Gassama would be made a naturalized French citizen, and would be invited to join the Paris fire department. The French president said: “It is only right that the nation be grateful.” He was given a residency permit on Tuesday and will become a citizen at a later date.
Just days after the rescue, Gassama is already in training at the Paris fire department. He posted photos on Twitter showing himself learning how to operate a fire truck and learning how to use the equipment. The president of Mali, his home country, wanted the young hero to come home and join the military. But Gassama rejected the offer to become a general in the Malian army and instead is looking forward to being part of the Paris fire department.
The incident also shines a spotlight on the issue of illegal immigration in France and across Europe. People arrive every day from Africa, fleeing poverty and violence in their home continent—but without going through proper immigration channels in Europe. Many European leaders, including French president Macron, have said that they want to welcome refugees fleeing war, but not necessarily people who are just fleeing poverty.
Interestingly, Gassama isn’t the first immigrant from Mali to be hailed as a hero in France. You might remember there was an attack on Jewish grocery store in Paris in January 2015. A Malian employee of the store led six hostages to a safe hiding place and helped Paris authorities rescue them.
I saw the video and the one thing that strikes me about it is how quickly he got up the building. At first, I thought the video was being played at a fast pace, but it wasn’t. He really did look like Le Spiderman getting up that building quickly to help that little kid. Good for him.
So, you’ve heard of book clubs, right, where people get together to discuss a book? Well, did you know that there are also Plain English clubs, where people who are learning English listen to the podcast and then get together to talk about it? I want to say hello to one such group in Costa Rica. I got a lovely note from Ana Maria in Costa Rica, who listens with her friends Johanna, Darlo, Carlos and Javier. What a great idea—I never thought people would do that, but it’s such a good idea and thank you for making Plain English part of your group.
I want to say hello to a few other people. Liliana from Mexico, Amaranta from Chile, Fernando, an engineering professor from Brazil, and finally Rocco from Italy. I asked Rocco what was going on with the Italian government right now and he wrote me a nice long explanation in English, which was great to read and very informative. So, thanks to all of you for being in the audience and for saying hello this week.
If you would like to get in touch, check us out on Facebook and Twitter under the user name PlainEnglishPod.
Learn English the way it’s really spoken
