French Fun at Calvert

Monday, November 23, 2009

French is Everywhere!

The Fall project for the 10th Agers was to look for French all around them - French words and pictures found in newspapers, magazines, catalogues, and on food labels, game instructions, household products, . . . just to name a few. What a great job they did on this assignment!

Cousin, Cousine

Quelle chance! Lucky for us, one of our 8th Age girls has French cousins. They came to visit us this afternoon. Their father is French and their mother is American. They speak only French at home. They are fluent in English and in French. We sang for them and they sang for us. We also got to ask them questions while enjoying the cookies that they brought.What a great experience!

Chefs Fantastiques!

Today, the 8th graders had a special surprise waiting for them first period!Everyone got a chance to make their own delicious crepes - cooking, flipping,

and filling each one with combinations of confiture, sucre, jambon, et fromage. By the end of class, each student was happy and full and quite the

expert in the art of crepe making.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Sewing Stars

French Club was off to Belgium this week where they enjoyed sewing mini pillows and bags decorated with authentic Belgian lace. Students also saw a short film about Belgium and enjoyed a take-home treat of Belgian waffles.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

French Club Architects

French Club is new to Calvert this year and we have sixteen members from the 8th, 9th, and 10th Age classes. Each week, we meet for an hour after school. We are doing fun activities that represent French speaking countries. On our first day together, we flew off to Paris (back in time for pick-up, of course.) Students created their own Eiffel Tower souvenirs while enjoying a delicious treat of baguettes, brie, and French limonade.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Fantastique!

During our first few weeks back at school, students shared their French experiences from this summer. A lot of students ate French food at home and at local French restaurants and bakeries : croisssants, baguettes, pain au chocolat, croque monsieur, frites, omelettes, ... An 8th Age boy told us that he saw Monet's painting "Japanese Bridge" in his hotel room while on vacation. Quite a few students heard French-speaking people here in Baltimore as well as in Washington D.C., Florida, California, Pennsylvania, and Maine - at the pool, on a boat, at the beach, at a restaurant, and in a museum. Some of our Calvert families traveled to Montreal and Quebec this summer and were able to speak French at restaurants, hotels, and other places that they visited. In addition, many Calvert families went to France this summer - climbed the Eiffel Tower, went to the Louvre, saw Notre Dame, ate in restaurants and cafés, spent time in the Louvre went to the Palace of Versailles, visited Monet's garden in Giverny, - all speaking some French along the way.
What a fantastique, full-of-French summer!!

Monet Masterpieces

This week, French Club members had fun creating their own Monet masterpieces. After drying, each painting was mounted on blue or purple paper and taken home to enjoy.

Why Study French?

First of all ... learning French is fun!

Ask any Lower School student who is taking French. We sing songs, play games, do fun projects, perform skits, read, write, and speak French. French Club, available to 8th and 10th Age students who are taking French, is one of the Lower School's most popular after-school clubs. After finishing Lower School French, students are well prepared for further study in the Middle School. Calvert French students then go on to place very well at the high school level.

Secondly ... did you know ... ?

French is spoken in 55 countries by over 200 million people.

French and English are the only two languages spoken on five continents.

French is second only to English as the world's most influential language.

French provides the base for over 50% of modern English vocabulary.

Knowledge of French has been shown to enhance performance on standardized tests.

French is one of the official languages of international organizations such as the UN, NATO, UNESCO, the International Olympic Committee, the European Union, and the International Red Cross.

French plays an important role in the national and international job market in disciplines like business, medicine, aviation, law, transportation technologies, global/international distribution, and luxury goods.

French has had an enormous influence on American culture, art, music, fashion, cuisine, architecture, literature, history, philosophy, and language.

FRENCH IS ALL AROUND YOU!!

National French Contest

9th Age French

Classes meet three times a week for thirty minutes. Continued emphasis is placed on listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.
Students learn through stories, skits, songs, games, and various hands-on activities.
Material learned in the 7th and 8th Ages is reviewed and incorporated into this year's topics: numbers 61-100, sports, places, directions, menu vocabulary, ordering expressions, value and use of the euro, transportation, travel vocabulary, and an awareness that French is everywhere (in art, history, dance, music, science, fashion, literature, architecture, politics, sports, consumer goods, the English language, and countries around the world.)

10th Age French

Classes meet three times a week for thirty minutes. Continued emphasis is placed on listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Academic grades are given every other marking period. Students learn through stories, skits, songs, games, and various hands-on activities. Material learned in the 7th, 8th, and 9th Age is reviewed and incorporated into this year's topics: French accents, telling time, dates on a calendar, adjectives, directions, regular "er" verbs in the present tense, irregular verbs "être" and "avoir", how to form the negative, house vocabulary, French holiday customs, and French-speaking countries around the world. Students participate in Le Grand Concours, a national French contest.

More French Fun in Baltimore

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

February and March

Fifth annual Tournée Festival brings seven French feature films to the Homewood campus.

THE CHARLES THEATER

Cinema Sundays

Le Cinémathèque, built in collaboration between La Maison Française at the Embassy of France, the French-American Cultural Foundation and the Charles Theatre, is a French cineclub that provides a great opportunity for Baltimore movie-goers to discover the newest of French films. Indeed, every month - typically the third Tuesday of the month -the program features one of the latest films from France. As a member of Le Cinémathèque (the subscription is FREE), you will be among the first informed of upcoming events and you will enjoy one free film after attending five screenings! Join and discover the latest French movies!

THE BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART

One of the best Impressionist collections in the country. The internationally renowned Cone Collection of modern art is the crown jewel of the BMA. In the early 20th century, Baltimore sisters Claribel and Etta Cone visited the Paris studios of Henri Matisse and began assembling one of the world’s most important art collections. They acquired an exceptional collection of approximately 3,000 objects, which were displayed in their Baltimore apartments. The highlight is a group of 500 works by Matisse, considered the largest and most significant in the world. The sisters also acquired masterpieces by Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, and Vincent Van Gogh.