Bonjour amis!

Late Thursday afternoon 12 students from Les Eleves du Lycee St. Louis (loose translation: St. Louis High School) in the village of Chateaulin, France arrived at MHS. As part of the annual exchange program, 12 French students come and stay with 12 of our students who take upper level French for approximately 10 days. Our 12 students had spent time with the same students last April when they traveled to France. Additionally, they have been accompanied by two of their teachers, who in turn are staying with two of MHS' French teachers, Leslie Gildersleeve and Gerard Benoit. Also accompanying the French students is their principal, Olivier Queneuder (pictured above). I have had the pleasure of hosting Olivier for the past couple of days.

Olivier's school- and world- are very different than mine. First, St. Louis is a Catholic high school with a student enrollment of approximately 500 students, ages varying from 12 to 24. Rather than sorting students by the traditional grades, French students are grouped by academic and developmental ability. The students' parents pay the school 40 euros per month in tuition (which is equivalent to $60), however a sizable portion of the total tuition is subsidized by the French government as a voucher system exists. The school day is longer than the American one, as Olivier's students go to school from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, with no after school sports or extracurricular activities as part of the school's offerings. Classes meet for roughly an hour, and students have lunch for 90 minutes! From Olivier's descriptions, the pace of the school day sounds markedly slower, with a "laid back" feel. Unlike a Bishop Feehan or a Xavarian Brothers High School, St. Louis students do not wear uniforms, however, the typical class size is typically over 30.

Interestingly enough, the teachers' work week is only 18 hours long, as they must be present at the school only for the time they are teaching students. They also have 16 weeks of vacation annually. According to Olivier, most are paid a salary of 24,000 euros ($36,000) annually.

This is Olivier's first time in America, and he has shared with me that some of his preconceived notions about America (e.g., big cars, big houses) have lived up and some have not (e.g., our classrooms looking like those depicted in the film, "Dangerous Minds"). On Friday, he and his teachers had the opportunity to sit in a multitude of classes, including AP Calculus, Visual Basic, Chorus, Studio Art, English 11, and of course, French 2. At the end of the day when I asked Olivier what he thought, he described MHS students as "serious." When I pressed him on what exactly he meant by "serious," he stated how impressed he was by the behavior of our kids and how they seemed so committed to academic success. He commented on our teachers' excellent classroom management and how the students responded so positively by focusing on their own learning. Good feedback!!

Merci to Madame Gildersleeve and Monsieur Benoit for all of their hard work in providing this great cultural and learning experience for our students! So far it has been a great learning for me as well!