Chapter News - September 2010

CHAPTER NEWS - September 2010

Arizona Chapter, Robin Noudali & Ruth Eiseman, Co-Presidents

The Chapter intends to produce a monthly newsletter that will include several teaching ideas, a profile of an AATF member and a review of teaching materials. The letter is intended to help teachers in the Chapter to connect with each other.

Central New York Chapter, Mary Ann Cooper, President

Highlights for 2009-2010 include

October 31, 2009: Eileen Angelini was guest speaker at the fall meeting. She spoke on ''Samuel de Champlain to La Révolution tranquille: the Importance of French to North America.''
Spring meeting: Awards banquet for Le Grand Concours.
The most important event was a benefit concert for Haiti presented by Josée Vachon. Forty-one teachers donated to pay for the concert so that the proceeds of $2000 were contributed through Partners in Health for Haiti Relief.

Connecticut: Tom Betts, President

National French Week was celebrated with two concerts by the Cajun group Feu Follet. Each concert was held at a different high school with a total attendance of over 1000 students.
The Chapter participated in the fall COLT conference. Vice-President Mary Louise Ennis represented the Chapter at the AATF booth.
November 2009, a Wine and Cheese reception was followed by a presentation by Marie Murcia, Assistant Director of the French Resource Center at the Yale Center for International Studies.
In May the Chapter held an awards ceremony for winners in Le Grand Concours with over 200 students receiving awards. Fabrice Jaumont, Quentin Jouberton, and Marie Murcia represented French Cultural Service and spoke to the students and their parents about continuing their studies in French. Klevisa Kovad received a $500 prize as the outstanding Senior student.
Again, later in May, the Chapter held a luncheon in a French restaurant. Isabelle, co-owner of a nearby pâtisserie spoke about the tradition of bread in French culture.
Tom Betts and Mary Louise Ennis were reelected President and Vice-President for the year 2010-2011. Adina Alexandru, who had enrolled 2,945 students in le Grand Concours agreed to continue as Administrator of that event.

Eastern Massachusetts: Brian Thompson, President

In conjunction with the state language association, the Chapter sponsored the French Strand, featuring Amale Bourhim, an official museum guide in Paris and art historian, held a six-hour workshop on Impressionism as well as two 3-hour workshop, one on the political and the personal adventures of Henri VI and the other one on ''Art à la Carte'."
At the same conference the Eastern and Western Chapters held a joint meeting where Brian Thompson showed attendees how to use the new Web sites, including the blog and the ning.
In May the AATF joined the state association for three workshops at La Journée de la diversité. This year's theme was ''Nouvelles Voix de la Francophonie.'' One of the workshops will be repeated at ACTFL in Boston in November 2010.
The Chapter will sponsor a concert by Eric Vincent during the ACTFL meetings in November.
National French Contest Administrator Janet Wohlers enrolled 6,432 students in Le Grand Concours that led to the Chapter's first place position in enrollments! There were 861 students who won national awards.
The Chapter has established a Book Award to be given each year to the most promising French student in Massachusetts, in honor of Bess Harrington who was a long-time active member.

Hawaii Chapter, Catherine Pettit, President

In November 2009 the 9^th Annual Workshop for French Teachers and Graduate Students took place. Kathryn Klingebiel presented a program entitled "Miam Miam Glou Glou: Fun with French Food."

Maine Chapter: Chelsea Ray, President

Le Grand Concours was a major event for the Chapter, with 44 students earning national awards.

Metropolitan New York Chapter, Vera Junkers, President

Annual Journée de Gala in March featured presentations of pedagogical and economic topics by Josée Dufour (Montclair State University), Irene Finel-Honigman (School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University) and Heidi Holst-Knudson (Columbia University). There were exhibits of textbooks, realia and travel programs.
The luncheon speaker was Ambassador Moussa Makan Camara, Observateur permanent, Organization internationale de la Francophonie. The afternoon events focused on Haitian folkloric dancing by the Mikerline Dance troupe with drum accompaniement. The program ended with a Grande Tombola.
Ambassador Camara spoke at the awards ceremony in June for winner of le Grand Concours.

Nassau County, Deana Schiffer, President

Fall meeting: outing to a Lavander plantation at Marion, Long Island. Luncheon was held in a restaurant overlooking the sea and was followed by a tour, in French, of the planting fields, led by the owner.
National French Week: French breakfasts, poster contests, games, films, excursions and a dinner at a French restaurant where teachers were afforded the opportunity to speak French, share ideas and enjoy a fine meal.
Le Grand Concours attracted 1,779 participants, for the third year of increased enrollment for the chapter. The increase was 9.8% above the 2009 enrollment. One hundred forty-seven students won national recognition.
Hockey night: more than 400 students, parents and teachers from Nassau and Sufolk counties attended. Before and after there were speakers as well as questions and answers with one of the Islanders' players from Quebec.
Aline C. Desbonnet Poetry Contest: this contest, held in April, had approximately 200 winners.
Awards Day was held in May with speaker Emmanuel Laine, Vice-President in charge of Educational Matters for the FIAF. He offered two scholarships to the first place level three winners for use on courses given under their auspices over the following year. First place winner in level five was presented with a ''French Experience in NYC." It includes a gift certificate for lunch for two at a French restaurant owned by chef Daniel Boulud, a tour of the kitchen by the chef and an autobiographical cookbook.
French Cultural Service in New York City sponsored an Eiffel Tower competition in the fall with the award ceremony at the Embassy in New York City. Five Nassau Chapter members submitted winning entries.
Plans for the future include a fall get-acquainted and idea-sharing dinner; work on the chapter Web site; promotion of membership recruitment initiatives; and joint ventures with Suffolk and Metro Chapters and with the AATSP.

New Hampshire: Michelle Cotnoir, President

National French Contest Administrator Jim Lambert enrolled 1521 students of whom 153 earned national awards.

New Jersey, Viviane Levy, President

The Chapter has suffered significant loses because of the education policies of the governor. However, the Chapter continues to work for and to motivate teachers of French.
Fall 2009: pedagogical workshop focused on the use of the ''Ning'' site that was developed by Fabrice Jaument and his assistant from the French Cultural Service in New York.
National French Week: the young Cajun group from LaFayette, LA, Feu Follet, entertained more the 800 students at a local high school with their interactive program. This group also went to a number of schools in the Connecticut Chapter.
December marked the first Hockey Night with the New Jersey Devils. More than 1200 students, teachers, and parents assisted the game with the Montreal Canadians. Following the match there was a question and answer session with Pierre Luc Letourneau-Leblond. Because of the success of this event we plan to have two such programs in the next year.
French Immersion Day, March 2010, was held in conjunction with the Foreign Language Educators of New Jersey. Tammy Wubbenhorst and Marie-Laure Hoffmann presented a program on the use of films in the foreign language class.
The final program of the year consisted of a presentation on "Les Chansons de Carol Fredericks" by Connie Fredericks-Malone, Alice Cataldi, and Calandra Jackson who demonstrated how to use the materials at all levels of French classes and for all ages from primary school through university.
The conclusion of this last program was a presentation by Marie-Christine Massé marking the 50^th anniversary of the death of Albert Camus. She presented L'Hôte, showing how to use it in the classroom.
Le Grand Concours: New Jersey was ranked third in the USA with 4,160 participants. Prizes were awarded to 300 winners from the first level through the fifth.

New Mexico Chapter, Lorraine Leftwich, President

Chapter member Jennifer Jones received the Summer 2010 SWCOLT scholarship for study in French. She spent the summer in Quebec in a Médecins sans Frontières language course. She teaches at West Mesa High School in Albuquerque.

Northern California Chapter, Clotilde Paule Gres, President

During National French Week Ivan Bertoux, Attaché culturel from San Francisco, sponsored a visit by the French-Chinese author and illustrator Jiang Hong Chen to several Bay area high schools who told his personal story of leaving China for France.
The annual Journée de Printemps, an all-day workshop was held. The theme was "À la découverte du Maghreb." It included a presentation and video interview of Yasmina Khadra by Bernadette Theisen along with lesson plans for teaching selected texts from Azouz Begag and Leila Sebbhar by Anne Jensen and Helen Chan. It also included an introduction to Moroccan music by Mari Housni-Adler. In addition, a panel of parents and teachers discussed issues ranging from colonialism to discrimination against immigrants into French society. Nicole Naditz shared her project on creating a museum with her French classes. Ivan Gertoux, from French Cultural Service announced scholarships for winners of Le Grand Concours and travel-study programs for teachers.

Pays du Nord, David Graham, President

Chapter members have participated in local Tables françaises in both Plattsburgh and Potsdam.
Chapter President David Graham continues to work on a grant for update and revision of the book J'Aime New York: A Bilingual Guide to the French Heritage of New York State. He anticipates finishing it by September 2010 while the release date is anticipated for December 31, 2010.
The chapter has established a Web site: http://sites.google.com/site/pdnaatf and is cooperating with the Central New York Chapter on a common newsletter and new membership campaign.
The Chapter has plans to hold an immersion experience and to cosponsor the play Piecework: When We Were French starring Abby Paige during National French Week in November.

Rhode Island: Michael Hébert, President

The President communicates regularly via e-mail with the members of the Chapter as well as sending a quarterly newsletter to them.
The Chapter has had many activities to celebrate National French Week as well as La Semaine de la Francophonie.
Michael Hébert has developed advocacy initiatives and increased coordination with several other Francophone organizations in the area.
In August the Chapter participated in the Pawtucket Arts Festival with President Hébert serving as master of ceremonies for the ''Celebration of the French-Speaking World.''
The Chapter participates in the Rhode Island fall conference of language teachers. Its session ''The French Advantage,'' presented by professors Lars Erickson and Alain-Philippe Durand of the University of Rhode Island, won ''Best of Conference'' for 2009 and will be presented at the 2011 Northeast Conference in Baltimore.
For National French Week the Chapter presented a concert by Brice Kapel who is originally from Togo. Over 600 students from 12 area schools attended.
During La Semaine de la Francophonie the Chapter organized ''la Franco-fête'' in collaboration with several other associations at Le Foyer in Pawtucket.
The Chapter's Web site has been updated with a new advocacy page that has samples of letters to superintendents, principals and school board members to be used when programs are threatened. This year the Chapter worked to keep five programs. As of this date two were left intact, one has been eliminated, and two are still in limbo.

Southern California Chapter, Amy Likover, President

During National French Week the Whittier College French Department sponsored a theatrical presentation in French, Le Poète voyageur, directed by Marie-Magdeleine Chirol, for students from the Los Angeles area. The college had received a AATF Small Grant award to help defray the costs of the production.
Chapter members were able to attend two workshops:
- Emmanuelle Rémy-Riley of Cal State University-Los Angeles sponsored a workshop on Vietnamese song and film entitled "Bonjour Viet Nam ou à la découverte de la Francophonie asiatique."
- Panivong Norindr of the University of Southern Califonia sponsored a workshop on Francophone film entitled "L'Indochine réimaginée dans le cinema français et francophone."
At the annual award ceremony for Le Grand Concours the Chapter initiated the Yves Magloé Francophonie Award. According to President Amy Likover: ''Yves was an active member of the Southern California Chapter committed to celebrating the many faces of the French-speaking world. His passion for the subject was contagious...." The first recipient of the award was Tatiana Zavala.

Suffolk County, Sarah Jourdain, President

The fall meeting was held at a local restaurant as a ''meet-and-greet'' affair. This was the fifth year for the event.
For National French Week Fernande Wagman spoke on "Vichy France and the Holocaust" in which she shared her experiences growing up in Nazi-occupied France.
Hockey Night was held in April along with Nassau, Westchester, and Metropolitan New York Chapters. Teachers, students, and parents were treated to a pre-game presentation by the Canandian Consulate. Following the game, player Bruno Gervais and coach Dan Lacroix rounded out the evening.
The spring Poetry Contest was held. It consists of a recitation of classic French poetry as well as the creation of original poetry by students in grades seven thorough twelve.
The Chapter will award the ninth annual Kathleen Ann Lyons Memorial Scholarship for Excellence in the Study of French Language and Culture. The $500 scholarship is awarded to a graduation senior who plans to pursue the study of French in college.
The spring meeting was held in a local bistro.

Western Massachusetts/Vermont: Claire-Frierson, President

The Chapter's main activity was the spring meeting. Guest presenters were Samantha André from the French Consulat in Boston. She spoke about the many resources and programs available for teachers of French.
Tom Potter shared his experiences in Senegal where he spent a year on a Fulbright grant.
Nancy Avard Holden from Mount Holyoke and Susan Michalski of the Williston Northampton School offered different approaches to incorporate videos in the classroom.
Suzanne Polo, Contest Administrator, enrolled 363 students with 27 of them earning national awards.

Western New York, Brenda Benzin, President

National French Week began with poster and essay contests followed by Beret Day in all the schools.
Teachers participated in the Grand Gala during National French Week with wine and cheese and hors-d'oeuvres. Included in the evening was the annual Friend of French Award which was presented to Professor Bill White who teaches French and education courses. In 2008-09 he gave a methods course that met once a month for the entire year that was open to all members of the AATF who wanted to update their methods. Music for the evening was provided by a jazz combo that includes AATF Chapter Board member, Bernard Kunz.
During National French Week students appeared on The Weather Outside at the local ABC affiliate.
Annually students of French in middle school and in high school visit Old Fort Niagara for an interdisciplinary interactive program known as French Heritage Day.
Le Franco-Festival du Beau-Fleuve annually celebrates the French-speaking cultures of the area with music, arts, crafts, video-clips, foods from Francophone countries, an African drum and dance workshop, story-telling, poetry readings, folk dancing, games, exhibits and shopping.
The French Cooking School at an international market in the area has chefs who present foods from Francophone countries to students who attend.
The Chapter presents a Career Panel for high school and college students to hear from people who use French in their careers.
La Soirée francophone consists of a panel discussion of issues pertinent to the French-speaking world. Recently Dr. Jean-François Gounard spoke on La Francophonie; Dr. Aimable Twagilimana spokde on Léopold Sédar-Senghor; and Dr. Rafika Mérini spoke on a variety of Francophone women authors.
The Beaujolais nouveau event presents another time to celebrate in French.

Utah Chapter, Linda Bayes, President

In April chapter members met to share activities promoting oral proficiency. They shared oral games, guessing games, a form of ''speed dating," getting-to-know-you activities and songs.
The Chapter Web site will soon have lessons and referece materials.
Several new French immersion programs are being established in the western part of Utah near Salt Lake City. Ivan Bertoux, Attaché culturel in San Francisco, is working closely with officials at the state department of education in Utah to establish a Memorandum of Understanding in order to foster exchange programs for students and teachers of French and to create immersion programs.

Created: September 5, 2010
Last Update: September 5, 2010