Secondary Schools Celebrate National French Week With Francophone Activities

Secondary students in the North Syracuse Central School District recently had the chance to participate in some unique Francophone  activities as part of National French Week, which was Nov. 3-9. Jessica Keane, a French Teacher at Cicero-North Syracuse High School, shared photos from the District’s four secondary buildings, along with a list of activities students enjoyed during individual school celebrations. Language teachers from each building, Lisa Ryder (Gillette and Roxboro Road middle schools), Maureen Scoville and Elise Brown (North Syracuse Junior High) and Lyssa Newport and Jessica Keane (C-NS High School) worked together to plan their school’s activities and encouraged students to learn more about the French language and culture. Among the various activities, schools promoted daily trivia questions and French Wordles on their announcements, set up posters and displays for students and staff, held French-themed Chalk-the-Walk artwork and even held cheese tastings and discussions on French agriculture. National French Week is an annual celebration led by the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) and is designed to celebrate all things French. AATF members and any other interested are asked to use the week as a reason to bring the culture out of the classroom and demonstrate all the reasons to learn French. Although 2022 is the AATF’s twenty-first annual celebration, it is the first time all of NSCSD’s secondary schools have come together to participate. Jessica Keane spoke about the collaboration and her excitement at having the instructors work together. She said, “"As World Language educators, we are constantly striving to introduce diverse cultures to our students and to inspire exploration of those cultures. We are all very passionate about our field of study and love sharing that passion with our students and school community.  It was fun to come together as a French department and brainstorm ideas designed to spark a fire for French in our schools. We are looking forward to sharing more experiences with our students over the rest of the school year, including a trip to Montreal for our high school students."