France, July 19 -- More than a thousand French teachers from around the world gathered this week in Besancon, eastern France, for the 16th World Congress of the International Federation of French Teachers. RFI spoke to a young professor from the University of Madras in India, Srunika Kannan, who is among them.

India now has more than 600,000 French speakers, according to the International Organisation of Francophonie (OIF) and French is the most widely studied foreign language in the country.

For Kannan, her love of the French language began at the Alliance Francaise of Madras in India, from the moment she had her first lesson at the age of 19.

"French is my love. It changed my life. It gave me my career," she told RFI.

She teaches ma...