Fun in French!

For La Toussaint, Mrs. O'Connell's French III Honors students celebrated with madeleines, tea, and Proust.

A French Feast from a Political Pot

Here's a tasty article from the New York Times, spotted by Madame O'Connell:

MORELS speckled the forest floor. For a lavish meal with family and friends, Françoise Branget, a deputy in the National Assembly from the Doubs region, sautéed those earthy black mushrooms with Bresse chicken, the king of French fowl, and the pungent “vin jaune” from the nearby Jura district. For Ms. Branget, this was not just a feast. It was a celebration of her campaign to unite deputies on the left and right in a national cause: the promotion of French gastronomy.

Read the full article here.

Meet Gaspard!

MBA's French students have enjoyed getting to know a special classmate, Gaspard Chantraine from Dijon, France. Here he is (middle right, navy shirt) with Madame O'Connell's Français I class. Un très bon séjour, Gaspard!

Mardi Gras Celebration

On March 8, 2011 (Mardi Gras!), not only did all French students sit for the Grand Concours, the National French Exam, but also French III Honors was treated to a visit by Kevin Buckley and bandmate Eric Michel and manager David Buckley, awarding winning country musicians from Nashville's Sister City in Caen, Normandy. Senior Douglas McWilliams prepared two beautiful King Cakes for the class, and the musicians conversed with everyone in French, answering questions about everything from Caen's soccer team to the deep friendship between the US and Normandie. The visitors finished the class with some of their live music -- what an interesting and entertaining morning for French III Honors.

'Creme' of the Crop

Inspired by Madame O'Connell's love for French culture, Douglas McWilliams shared a decadent treat with his French II honors class yesterday-- creme brulee. What a sweet way to return from MBA's snow-cation!

Another good reason to study French!

It seems that Frenchmen of ALL species have that special charm for the ladies. A male gorilla from the French zoo La Boissiere du Dore is on its way to visit the three female gorillas in the London zoo, who have been without male companionship since their friend Bobby died last December. When given photos of their charming new companion, the girls all reacted very positively: one shrieked in delight, a second one posted hers in a tree for contemplation, and a third clasped the photo to her chest and then ate it! Read the story here:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/08/28/uk.london.zoo.gorilla/index.html

National French Exam Results!

Le Grand Concours
The National French Exam: 2009

Nashville Tennessee Nation (These are the three categories for numbers you see beside each student's name!)

French I:
Sam Denney 2nd 4th 5th
Bennett Cain 6th 10th 14th
Noah Fardon 7th 11th 15th
Drew Danieley 8th 12th 16th
Paul Baker 9th 13th 17th
Rob Edwards 9th 13th 17th
French II:
Ford Altenbern 1st 3rd 6th
Sam Berklacich 10th 17th

French III:
Lewis Armistead 2nd 12th 14th
Michael Nunan 2nd 12th 14th
Will Holt 3rd 13th 15th
George Curtis 5th 15th 16th


French IVAP:
Connor Shope 5th 12th 15th
Ben Gregory 10th 18th

BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bonjour --

I just received this e-mail form the Tennessee coordinator of the National French Exam (the exam will be given at MBA on Tuesday morning, March 10th at 7:10!). These new prize possibiities sound pretty great!

Dear Teachers,

In support of the National French Contest, two prizes are being offered by the General Delegation of the Alliance Française in the U.S.: the Rotary Academic Prize and the Prix de l'Alliance Française.

The Alliance Française prize includes: Travel and accommodations for student and a parent for one week. Classes at Alliance Française for student. School of winning student will receive 125 French books/videos.

The Rotary prize includes: Travel and accommodations with a Rotary host family for two weeks. Classes at Alliance Française.

Recipients will be selected from nationally ranked students [the two prizes have slightly different criteria].

For more information, please consult the national website at: http://www.frenchteachers.org/concours/2009_AF_Rotary_Prizes.htm

IMPORTANT: to be eligible, students must submit an application form [separate form for each prize]. The form may be returned with the answer sheets from the school, or may be sent separately to me.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Will Thompson

French summer possibilities

Bonjour! One of the most exciting aspects of language study is combinining what you are learning with travel. There are two wonderful ooportunities for French students now. First of all we recently had a visitor from The Experiment in International Living program -- they offer many possibilities for meaningful stays in French speaking (and other countries, too!) countries. Then, Nashville is part of the Sister Cities program with Caen, France. Caen is about 20 kilometers from the D-Day beaches and is an excellent and touching place for Americans to visit. Here are the details about this summer's exchange. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at oconneb@montgomerybell.com!

Sister Cities of Nashville is an active volunteer organization connecting Nashvillians with friends around the world through cultural exchange and community partnership. Sister Cities of Nashville has historically maintained high school exchanges with Nashville’s sister city in France, Caen.

We are currently organizing the student exchange for this summer. The exchanges typically bring French students to Nashville for two or three weeks during the regular school year and send Nashville-area students abroad for approximately the same length of time during the summer.

We are looking for students interested in going to Caen who have taken a minimum of two years of French. Students are generally 15 years old and up. The date for the exchange has not been confirmed yet, but we are looking at probably two weeks in June.

The program fee for participation in a student exchange is $250. This amount covers host family placement, pre-departure orientation, chaperone accompaniment, room and board, and roundtrip airport transfers to and from host family residence. The program fee does not include airfare, telephone charges, local public transportation, entertainment activities, and other incidental costs incurred by the student.

For more information about Sister Cities of Nashville, please go to our website at:http://www.scnashville.org/index.html

If you know someone who is interested in either participating in any upcoming student exchange in Caen, France, or hosting a student from Caen, please contact me at the number listed below or reply to this email. We look forward to hearing from you! The deadline is March 1st.