Au Revoir, Châteaulin

As I write this I am now home for the Easter holiday with my family. I came home three days ago and the rest of the exchange group will be coming home tomorrow. I am still reflecting on the experience, as it was one filled with new learning about people, cultures, and how we best educate kids.

Here’s some thoughts swimming around in my head, in no particular order of importance:

• Many thanks to Monsieur Gérard Benoît and Madame Leslie Gildersleeve for inviting me to be part of this! They work so hard to make this exchange be the tremendous success that it is!! Magnifique!



• Their counterparts at Le Collège et Lycée Saint-Louis, Mme. Magali Ropert and Mme. Ani Dréan, and M. Claude Toscer are top-notch teachers and people as well! Many thanks to them.



• I’m glad I got the opportunity to reconnect with my friend and colleague, the director of Le Collège et Lycée Saint-Louis, Monsieur Olivier Queneuder. He is a fine leader, as he is bright and hard-working, but most importantly, has a vision as to where he wants to take Saint-Louis.



• To Olivier’s wife, Ann Marie- merci!! You were a remarkable hostess and your excellent command of English was my saving grace as I fumbled through my attempts at French! You’re an outstanding teacher and mother!



• The 13 students that Monsieur and Madame brought to France are amongst our best and brightest. They have represented Mansfield with nothing but class and pride. I certainly hope that this experience has been filled with meaningful learning for each of them. I know you’ve taken your command of French to a new level… I hope you’ve established some new, life-long friendships as well. I know I have.
  

À Bientôt!

Bienvenue a France!

We made it! After a six and a half hour flight and staying up for over 36 hours, this year's French exchange group made it to Paris on Wednesday morning at 6:30 am Paris time. It has been cooler than usual Paris in April standards, as it has barely made it to 55 degrees. Nonetheless, we have all had a great and educational time. Some high points in Paris included a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower (it really is stunning architecture and mind-boggling how high it is!), to the 12th century cathedral Notre Dame, to the majestic Palace of Versailles, and of course, to the Louvre. I can say that our students have been awestruck by the richness of the culture and history of these places.

It has been a whirlwind tour.... very little time to sleep as Madame Gildersleeve and Monsieur Benoit have run everyone ragged. Traveling the Metro, sight-seeing, shopping, and dining everyday from 8 am to 12 midnight!

Above, Lindsey Beise, Laura Burnham, and Ashley Goverman do their best thinking in front of Rodin's famous statue at the Rodin Museum.

Madame poses in front of the beautiful cathedral, Notre Dame.

Andrew Moomey, Chris Menz, Monsieur, and Andrew Marcaccio at the top of the Eiffel Tower.

2011: A French Odyssey

I have to admit that I'm very excited to be going to France in three short weeks with Madame Gildersleeve, Monsieur Benoit, and 16 very smart MHS juniors and seniors that have been studying French for the past 4 or 5 years. As part of the annual exchange with our sister school, Les Eleves du Lycee St. Louis, we will be traveling first to Paris and then to the remote Brittany village of Chateulin, where the school is located. Once there, I will stay with my friend Olivier Queneuder, who serves as the principal of the school. In a sense, Olivier is returning the favor, as I housed him during his travels to Mansfield last school year.

So right now I'm anxious. Real anxious about my knowledge of the French language. For the last 2 months I have been hitting the Rosetta Stone software package, trying to get some of the basics down. It's just so hard to commit the hour or two per day that it really requires. So when I can, I sit on my family room sofa with my laptop, headset in place, looking at screens like this:

With the program there isn't a single word of English, as it is supposed to be "immersion" as you're learning the language intuitively, much like a young child would learn his/her first language. And that's pretty much how I feel with French.... like a toddler! I've been trying to tell Madame Gildersleeve of my latest French understandings, but they're still real, real rudimentary. Last week I was making small talk with Madame and Chris Kalinowski, MHS' math department chair, and Chris said to me, "Hey, how is the French going?" I made a grimace and Chris replied, "What's wrong? You're just not a French kind of guy?" With her typical dry humor, Madame replied, "Well he certainly knows how to say "The cat is under the table" real well!" (BTW, that would be Le chat est sous la table.)

Okay, maybe I'm being a bit impatient. I do, however, feel like a 7th or 8th grade student at QMS learning French for the first time. The Rosetta Stone takes some getting used to, as it does not teach the language in a classic way. From my three years of studying Spanish in high school, I am still expecting to conjugate verbs in the classic way. With this program.... not so much. At this point, I just have to give it my all and put my best foot forward. I am told that the French love the Americans that give a good faith effort at the language. Still... I'm kept up at night with nightmares that go like this:

Me, with a group of teachers from Lycee St. Louis:

Them: Que pensez-vous à l'administration d'Obama ? (What do you think of the Obama administration?.... Those French, they love talking politics...)

Me: La pomme est verte.

They start laughing hysterically. I break out in a cold sweat...

I need to hang with some French speaking people.... and fast! Excusez-moi, j'ai besoin d'étudier mon français!

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!