C'est si bon!
One hundred years ago in Lafourche parish, my grandmother spoke French at home, English at school. The reason? If the schoolchildren were caught speaking French, they would receive beatings from the nuns.
La Louisiane has come full circle.
28
You know, only in America would it be necessary for an administrative official to say "We can still be wonderful, loyal, patriotic Americans without erasing our various cultural backgrounds." I'm now sure what that says about a country when that kind of insecurity is taken as the norm, but it can't be a good thing.
27
I get great assistance in continuing my love of learning French (which began in high school many decades ago) by listening to “News in Slow French” (subscription service), in which a man and a woman converse about the day’s news and event, but in a slower cadence than most native French speakers, which allows me to reconsider and fully integrate my learning. Also, there are a vast multitude of YouTube features in French, with closed-captions (in French, of course) for native French speakers with hearing difficulties. May I recommend the Netflix three-part documentary.
I began learning French in New Orleans, in my Junior year, continuing later in college. I have always felt more confident in approaching knowledge in another language because of that experience. One of my great joys is reading the French text “Alcooliques Anonymes” since I am already intimately familiar with it in the original English. It is, by the way, not a strict word-for-word translation, but in authentic vernacular French.
I earnestly support the teaching of both continental French and its integration with Cajun French. A niece is fluent in both, having grown up in Lake Charles, her mother being Cajun on both sides.
Thank you for letting me comment.
20
I know many people all over the world who speak 3 or more languages. The problem is they are illiterate. Literacy is far more important than speaking multiple languages. I can’t hire them because they can’t read.
5
My Great-Grandmother Lucia spoke Louisiana Creole French almost exclusively, as far as I know. Grammy Noemi, her daughter, spoke it fluently. Mom lost it over the decades. The Antoine Dubuclet family has deep roots in Louisiana, and I wish I had known more about them earlier. Power to the francophone children... learn it and USE it!
13
How wonderful and heartwarming. I grew up as an Anglophone in Northern Quebec. Learning to speak french was effortless for the simple reason that I began learning it at an early age.
22
It would be better for all concerned if Trump would forget about Greenland and allow France to buy back Louisiana -- the medical problem would be solved and as well as workers rights and pensions, 30 days of paid vacation, universal child care, etc. The right-wingers would have Le Pen, the Bernie folks would have real socialists and communists to vote for, and the moderates would have Macron, and eveyone would have the opportunity to be bilingual. I can't think of a downside.
39
Why is this a good thing? Our language is English. Public schools fail miserably to teach adequate English reading skills when instructing in English.
1
@Jon: there's actually some pretty good research indicating that knowledge of a second language is quite useful in improving the use of the first and that the mental flexibility gained thereby can be also usefully extended into other subjects. In fact there's a good argument to be made that -- except in the case of some special needs students -- most education should be done using the Immersion format. The trick, of course, is in coming up with a sufficient number of competent dual-language teachers.
47
@Jon Why is it a good thing. Learning a second language is a benefit. It helps with the native language. Europeans speak more than language, sometimes two or three. More job opportunities, better test scores. There are also economic benefits. A more rounded education.Knowing more than one language is a very good thing. Less provincial A win win
32
@Jon
When you learn a second language you also become more proficient in your own language with an expanded vocabulary and have a much improved understanding of grammar. French and English have thousands of words with similar roots or even the exact same words. There are other benefits, too many to enumerate here.
31
For the past 121 years language has been a divisive issue in Puerto Rico. During the first twenty five years of U.S. colonization Hundreds of teachers were brought in from the states to try to immerse Puerto Ricans into English. Many thought it would be easy since the Spanish they heard on the island didn’t sound like Castilian Spanish, thus a dialect that could easily be erased. After twenty five years of American occupation the English language immersion policy was a failure.
Today many Puerto Ricans are bilingual, not by force but by need. Similar to most small countries bilingualism is practiced by business men, young people and by those who want to be politically aware of what’s going on in the metropolis.
Nonetheless there is one interesting aspect that points out to the failure of complete bilingualism. Despite that all English language movies are very popular among the population, all have subtitles in Spanish. Something similar happens in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Holland, countries that most folks think are fully bilingual, but if so, what’s the reason for movie subtitles?
4
How very wonderful to have duo language schools. My great grandfather spoke french in Mississippi. As a child, I learned Silent Night in French, but do not have a clue as to any of the words. French would be very helpful in my Geneology research on that side of my family. Now I wish I would have taken French in high school instead of Latin.
10
We're Americans living in France. Came for work on a two-year contract and have been here for five. As a side effect, our daughter is in a French public school and has learned fluent French: her French grades are consistently better than the French kids (in France report cards have the class average and your own child's grades). It's not only language but also culture mixing: she was elected class president last year. Of course, it's still English at home and most of her friends are American and British expats. Even most French friends speak English to her, something their parents very much encourage; teen banter being an easy way to get them to practice English. It's good to speak more than one language.
53
A common language is what bonds the citizens of a country together. In America that language is English.
8
@R.Kenney
That certainly doesn't preclude learning a second language--or even a third or fourth. English may bond the citizens of America, but an ability in other languages will help make them citizens of the world.
53
@R.Kenney: If a common language is what bonds the citizens of a country together, why aren't we still ruled by Parliament and the Crown? 240-plus years of a polyglot USA, with most of our founding fathers multilingual.
23
@R.Kenney
While in college, I worked one summer in the Netherlands and lived with a group of Dutch students. They all spoke English as well as a 3rd and frequently a 4th language - German, French or Spanish. Dutch was the official language and they all knew they were Dutch. While an official 2nd language has been divisive in Belgium and in Quebec, knowing other languages can expand an individual's awareness and appreciation of other cultures. While many Americans think of themselves as international leaders, we as a people in many ways are very parochial in our outlook. The absence of language skills is just one reflection of this insular tendency.
37
My now 20 year old nephew was enrolled in a Spanish language immersion program in kindergarten in Seattle. It feeds into one of the top 10 high schools in the country in Bellevue. 750 families applied and only 75 accepted. By high school only about 30 usually remain. They are on a parallel track with their peers and go to the same schools once they are in jr. high. On standardized tests they lag in the 3rd grade but shoot ahead in hs, taking advance college classes. My nephew did his senior year in college, only 2 hours a day on hs campus. He chose to go to the local Bellevue College for his first 2 years undergrad (already a year ahead) then was accepted into the U of Wash as a junior when friends of his who got into Stanford couldn't get into UW. He'll finish a year ahead, save a year on tuition, and is planning on going to law school. We know that bilingualism rewires the brain, is difficult at first but then reaps rewards at the other end. As an American living part time in Italy now and refining my Italian (I also studied French and Chinese) I realize how important knowing another language besides English is for overall mental health. And cultural understanding...much of a country's affekt and culture is so tied into how their language functions on a syntactical level.
29
"Cajuns" didn't come from Nova Scotia, they were Acadians forcibly expelled from Acadia (now known as Nova Scotia). Most left the French New World, but some escaped into the wilderness of New Brunswick and Maine and are still known as Acadians.
18
WOW! INDEED we are EVOLVING....
Thank You!, Thank You!, Thank You....!
14
Finally! Schools embracing another language...
It doesn't matter which one as long as kids learn the value of knowing a different language.... It easier to learn a third one too.
I speak Spanish, English, Italian and French... although I don't use the last two very much, it got easier to learn them.....
19
Whether you are Québecois, Acadien, Louisianais, Camerounais or from the suburbs of Paris, if you wish to have a knowledge-worker kind of job in the french-speaking world you must learn "correct" français. It does not mean abandoning whatever local variety of French you grew up with, but adding to it. The issue is not accent but vocabulary, syntax and grammar. Pretty much true for English, too, though Trump seems to achieved the presidency with a primary school level command of the language.
40
I’ll admit knowing French is useful for doing American crossword puzzles. Not totally a waste of time then.
1
The article states that the teacher is not prepared to teach the Cajun French dialect. In teaching,will there be a comparison of Parisian French and the dialect spoken by locals? Will the children learn the differences? It is an interesting dilemma because often the language taught, spoken and promoted in "school" is not a dialect but the one the powerful have assigned as "official." Wish this subject and distinction had been made clear.
7
Great idea for Louisiana’s future:
Louisiana should try to attract immigrants from France! Maybe sponsor some.
The Times did a fascinating article some months ago on French immigrants in Montreal.
Lots of French people would love to come to the USA and it would give a great shot on the arm to Louisiana’s French character,
Are you listening, Louisiana? A great idea!
22
@Northpamet
There are many French and Quebecois in Louisiana.
1
It warms my heart! I so miss hearing my grandparents speak in their cajun accents. I used to listen to their conversations as a kid. Therefore I can understand much, but I lack the ability to compose sentences in conversation. Great thanks to all who are doing everything to keep it alive. If my grandparents were alive today, I would ask to record them as they speak! Love my Cajun heritage.!
31
Everyone should be taught a Native American language instead of the two other white Euro languages of Spanish and French.
3
@Tee Jones What an imperial thing to say! Perhaps you meant that everyone should be freely offered the choice to learn all languages, including native American languages?
7
Born in Manhattan, Canadian farm French is my native language/culture (since altered by 3 years service in NATO France). I could not have survived and prospered in the USA without having learned American English/culture in 3rd grade. I, like other bi-cultural Americans, feel gifted with a kind of open-mind enabling us to think "outside the envelope" One needs only look at innovative tech unicorns whose founders are disproportionately multicultural to appreciate it's value to the US. A look at the US Constitution reveals the French revolution's ideas. The framers of our Republic thought outside the envelope too.
15
@edix I believe the US Constitution predates the French revolution
5
@sorry - You are correct, the French Revolution was the attempted implementation of Enlightenment ideas, espoused by our nation's founders, fortunately with more success. The French reign of terror eventually produced a dictator. The French lost sight of Fraternity and compassion in their goal of Liberty, Equality, and we did not.
Bilingualism is complicated. We left the states for Canada last fall, enrolling our children in southern Ontario public school. I bet most Americans don't know that due to bilingualism, Canada's public school system offers both public and public Catholic school, and both school boards offer English stream and French Immersion streams within many public schools and public catholic schools. I'm told many of their students are Catholic, but the Catholic schools still have a reputation for being more traditional, strict, and academic. We've learned the French Immersion here is surely a way to shelter your child from ruffians who fall into the English stream, and we weren't eligible for it. It's been an eye opening experience for us to get to know our neighbors from Syria, Iraq (think travel ban), China, etc. over here.
5
When my family moved to New Orleans in 1966 I was of course a child. In my public elementary school we were taught French. The American spinster teacher turned on the television and we watched French lessons.
4
My grandchildren attend a Spanish-only public school program in Montgomery County, MD. The two eldest are now fluent in two languages, and the third child is not far behind. They have received an incredible gift which they will use to enrich their lives.
30
Brilliant idea.
5
Americans say we need to be more diverse and inclusive to thwart the us-versus-them mentality that drives the hate crimes. Well, bring diversity and enclusivity on!
16
If it's a second language... Ok. But as a primary language. Non...NO! Language is part of what unifies a country. We have Dade county, Fl. thinking they are Spanish... not American. Now we have La. thinking... What? Language is part of culture. Culture is what unifies a country. So are we showing signs of a great fissure? Are we broken. Hey, will Milwaukee start speaking Polish? I like what the French do: bring everybody into French culture and language... At least when they protest everybody understands what's going on!
2
As a Canadian who was enrolled in French immersion classes from kindergarten through high school, I can tell you these kids will add a second language to their arsenal, not replace English, which will still be the primary language spoken at home and all around them. Having a facility in French will also help them learn other Romance languages and even expand their world.
I think it’s great, and if given the option, I’d send my kid to a language immersion program without hesitation. It’s one of the reasons I’m considering moving back to Canada from the US.
42
America is bot a country in the definition you have. We do not have centuries of customs, common tongue, and common ancestry. While everyone should know english here as a practical matter, it is not what unites us as a country.
15
@marrtyy
You are concern of great fissure, but being bilingual is an asset I’m the international competition. If you don’t understand that. I am sorry for you. Maybe there is a little bit of jealousy in your comment because you don’t speak any foreign language.
10
French Immersion teacher in Louisiana for 3 year.(2015 -2018) I just loved my experience To live with these wonderful peoples ( Cajuns and Creoles) . The food , the festivals and more. La Louisiane is a special place......I missing y'all. GREETING from Canada and keep Le bon temps roulé......
35
@B.Gagnr
Sounds great. Good to know that some white people are good people. But only if they speak French.
1
This is great. It's this diversity which makes America America. We are not one homogenized people.
20
Very progressive for a red state. I’m sure it’s a mistake. Trump will insist ICE lock up the French/ Cajun speakers and threaten to send them back to wherever.
8
@Justice4America Isn't it sad that you even think this because of the fool in the White House?
2
Actually, it’s even more sad that people can’t comment on a story like this without spitting vitriol about the president when the story has nothing to do with him.
4
Perhaps Louisiana could import some Acadian French teachers from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. This is where the Cajuns came from, being driven out by the British after the 7 Years War (aka the "French and Indian Wars"). Most likely, their French would be closer to Cajun than Parisian French. "Cajun" is a corruption of "Acadian".
25
Delightful story ! Mais Oui!
A small correction :
The US banned bilingual education long before the 1990
E.g.
" A 1919 Indiana state law banned teaching of the German language in public, private, or parochial elementary schools statewide, threatening violators with a fine of up to $100 and/or six months in jail."
https://daily.jstor.org/when-american-schools-banned-german-classes/
5
@Matt: True. Milwaukee used to start German in third grade. When WW I happened, German fries became Home fries. Braten kartoffeln are still home fries, though Freedom fries have reverted to being French fries.
4
Bill O'Reilly was the only person calling them Freedom Fries.
So is NYC hiring Gaelic and Italian and Lithuanian Hebrew teachers. I have a cheaper idea, send the Arcadians to Quebec. They did lose the war though it doesn’t seem like it.
@Rich Murphy
Arcadians speak Greek.
Acadia is not in Quebec.
What war? The Acadians in Louisiana migrated there before the American Revolution. In fact, some of them fought with the colonists against the British army.
The United States does not have an official language. Louisiana law permits the use of French and English in legal proceedings.
9
If we're going off ethnicity then the majority of schools in the USA should be teachning German as a second language.
3
@MikeDouglas
Correct. The largest ethnic group in the US are German Americans.
4
I support it, but I'm just waiting for some trumpette to berate them in the Walmart and tell them to go back to where they came from because in America, we speak English. You know, like we did when the country was great? That is, if they're not harassed by ICE, first. It will happen. You know it will, because that's the mindset of half of this country.
4
In the Texas Hill Country - small towns galore - people are proud of the area’s German heritage and you can still find some German speakers, although there was a big move away from German language education and newspapers beginning with the first World War. The half of the country that has a problem with this doesn’t just live in small or rural places.
3
Just remember - all this wonderful Great American stuff going down in French down in Louisiana could never have happened...
If one of our Presidents hadn't had the foresight to...
(drumroll)
Purchase – Louisiana...
(rim shot)
(Cajun squeezebox endless loop – fade to quiet)
PS
Once Stephen Miller shows the Big Guy how many reliably-red states we were able to carve out of Jefferson’s Big Buy – we’re just going to invade Greenland and replace all its Green Supremacists with Great American voters...
When he furthers that Greenland and the Louisiana Purchase are about the same size (if you count the offshore ice, before it melts) – Trump will already have moved the 2020 GOP convention to Nuuk, to a casino convention center he’s just decided to build there...
And Jared’ll have foundations for 56,000 housing units poured before Labor Day...
PPS
Hannity’s just now tweeted Trump, pointing out that sowing or growing Great American Turf is the surest way to get your noggin into Rushmore...
Highlighting that it was Lincoln who appointed Seward as Secretary of State – and told him to go do some business with the Russians...
Now – Pompeo’s on the phone with the Danish State Department saying major job cuts are imminent...
PPPS
What I’d suggest to Stephen to put on the list next – Chile’s pie-slice of Antarctica...
At one time, the sun may never have set on the British Empire...
But with this add, it’d always be Spring – or within a month or so – somewhere in America...
4
@W in the Middle Imagine a row of laughing emojis
I don't know... I smell cultural appropriation !!!
4
This is an excellent idea.
America falls far behind other nations as to its linguistic skills.
Children growing up bilingual are given more opportunities and have a richer life than one language children.
I would love to see this spread across the country.
20
@Vicki
Relax. English is the only true international language in the history of the Earth. No one is falling behind. My state requires a foreign language study in high school as do most universities in the state.
@Shamrock To learn a language well, one needs to start at an early age. Learning a new language in high school or later is extremely difficult.
10
Knowing more than one language is a gift. It opens up new worlds. These are lucky children.
30
French? How quaint.
French is no longer the “world” language it used to be. The number of students at our high school enrolled in French has plummeted in the last 20 years.
Arabic and Mandarin are the future and for some lucky students like ours, the present.
1
@Cousy, actually, it is one of the top 3 languages spoken bc of the growth of the language in Africa.
15
so, useless. Arabic, Spanish and Mandarin are useful in the USA.
@Phil
a few years ago Japanese was the "in" language. I would like to see more Native American language and culture taught.
2
It's nice to have a teacher from France.
Does this school system also know that there's a pool of bilingual French-English teachers to choose from in Quebec?
18
A colossal waste of time. Creole/Cajun is not French, rather French based. Those dialects need to be taught by native speakers who are versed in the tradition as well as the language. It would be better to bring in teachers from Haiti than France of all places.
@Kurt Pickard: I think you are overreacting. Yes, Cajun dialect is not francais de France, but I don't think it's very close to Haitian creole either; I think it's descended, at some distance, from Breton French. I'd applaud efforts to teach it to kids now, and there are surely speakers in Cajun country and in Quebec who could be enlisted to do that. It's also true, though, that francais de France is more useful in the wider world, and knowledge of that is desirable.
11
Unfortunately these programs should not be by application only. Multi lingual instruction should be a required part of the curriculum. I love to hear the corporate greed mongers blabber on about the global economy as a reason for underpaying workers. When it comes to creating a generation prepared for the global world crickets. Maybe their afraid they would have to sacrifice a jet or a yacht to contribute to the cost
5
Bravo, la Louisiane! As a former French Immersion teacher and a student of languages, I can attest to the lifelong personal and economic benefits of learning a second language. And yes, the research backs me up. This article from The Telegraph Uk summarizes some of the biggest benefits: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2018/03/27/learn-foreign-language-benefits-bilingualism/
13
That is the kind of project that should be encouraged. However, one should always be wary of translation issues and what that means in terms of ideology and language mastery. When looking at the article's illustration (before one clicks on it), we see that a school has translated "Together we succeed" with "Ensemble, nous avons du succès" which is a very odd translation. In French, you would rather say "Ensemble, nous réussissons" - a sentence that has a much nicer, more cooperative and less competitive ring to it.
5
This is coming almost a hundred years too late...but better late than never.
I grew up as an English speaker in Quebec...and had to learn French to graduate from high school. Exposure to a second language through my formative years endowed me with considerable intellectual benefits. It is a shame that it has taken some nations so long to learn this and apply it in their educational systems.
No offense to Ms. Renard...but I would suggest that if francophone teachers are to be imported to Louisiana, that they be imported from French Canada rather than the continent. I suspect "joual" is much closer to Cajun French than Parisian is.
12
As a retired school teacher, love it! Should have happened decades ago...
12
The bottom line on the sign is mis-translated. The french expression for we succeed is "nous réussirons".
c'est pas comme ca q'il faut faire
-- my french teacher in equatorial africa (yes I know it's equally bad)
3
An enormous thank you (and bravo!) to Mr. Fausset and the New York Times for never once referring to French as a "foreign language" in this article. French—and, for that matter, Spanish—predates English as a language of society in Louisiana, and there is nothing foreign (in a U.S. context) about a language that we in Louisiana have spoken, sometimes against great resistance, since our arrival in the New World. It is an integral part of our cultural heritage.
Un grand merci à vous. Nous ne lâcherons jamais la patate.
23
Bravo! No need to import Parisians, though. We - the Acadians - are still here in New Brunswick and would welcome an exchange with our Cajun relations.
-famille Cormier
18
Great idea. I hope it catches on. If parents or child don't have a preference, it would be good to make Spanish the default option, since we share a long border with Mexico, and it would be good to be joined by a language, rather than separated by a wall! Also, generations of U.S. high school students have agreed that Spanish is the easiest one for U.S. English speakers to learn.
21
This is wonderful! For too long, much to the disadvantage of young people and their elders, languages other than English were eliminated. What richness for children to know other languages.
27
In 1972-3 Jimmy Domengeaux, the founding head of CODOFIL, went with me to visit and observe French immersion classes in Lafayette, probably including the very one that another respondent, Karan Ciotti, attended and writes about in her earlier comment. At the time I directed research in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (U. of Toronto) and was active in supporting the research of our professors who were evaluating Canadian French immersion programs and striving to explicate the proceeses by bilingualism develops the mind. In spite of initial refusal by many pundits to believe the research results, the evaluations consistently showed that by grade 4 or 5 the Anglo kids - taught almost exclusively in French in the first grades with a little English gradually introduced - were as good as or better than their comrades taught in English only. Similar results were achieved in provinces where French was reintroduced as a language of instruction for children of French speakers following decades of forced assimilation of Francophones in English schools. I applaud the fact that Louisiana has managed to expand these programs and to encourage the survival of the great Cajun tradition. It is time that the US wakes up to the richness of the languages within its borders as a national resource and uses schooling to develop bilingualism for the benefit of all, starting with the children themselves.
25
When I worked in the Gulf during the early 80s the radio calls between boats was mostly in Cajun. Some areas it was mostly Vietnamese. The boat's cook remembers being chastised on her first day of school for greeting the teacher in Cajun.
12
I won't go through the comments but my experience applauds this movement. I was part of a generation of progressive educators God bless 'em - decided Latin and Greek in schools was "elitist" - hmmmm - gotta re-think THAT one. Hmmm maybe I will spend time reading comments. Interesting! Important.
7
Two years ago, my family returned to Louisiana after living in Switzerand for five years. My two children had each completed three years each in a French speaking school in Lausanne and two in a bilingual German/English in Zug. I tried very hard to work with the Lafayette school system to enroll them in one of these French immersion programs before we returned, but the administrative walls surrounding the schools were near impossible to penetrate. We were rejected via telephone by the primary French integration school because they would not accept transfers - from anywhere. (I couldn't even make it through the first layer of screening; the phone operator wasn't familiar with the country of Switzerland or the languages) And basic questions regarding the curriculum couldn't be answered by anyone. These programs project an air of sophistication, but at the end of they day they are still managed by a beurocratic school system that builds a giant wall between intention and reality. I applaud the teachers, parents and students who succeed despite the administrative barriers and incompetence.
29
As a parent of a child who is currently in French Immersion middle school here in Lafayette, LA, I can attest to what a fantastic program this is! She started in kindergarten and will continue through high school. She has had teachers from Niger, Canada, France, Belgium and Cameroon. It has been a tremendous experience, and a Cajun it is moving to hear my child speak French as my father did. Vive l’immersion Francais!
127
@Cherie Pay close attention when the kids get to High School. My son is in Spanish Immersion and they seem to be phasing out classes for Juniors & Seniors. I've spent a month trying to get help from the school board so he can continue his language studies but I'm being met with stupidity and indifference. Juniors in Spanish Immersion this year have no class. Instead, they are being told to watch videos from a MOOC in the UK. Loved the program up to this point but now they are tossing the kids aside and don't know what to do with them. So disappointing, frustrating, and infuriating. So be careful and pay attention to High School.
8
These programs produce dubious results when it comes to actually turning out kids who are bilingual. In several areas they seem a not very subtle attempt to further segregate urban populations of schoolchildren, since minority and low income parents aren't nearly as inclined to apply for language immersion programs.
2
My son is in his last year of a dual language Spanish English public immersion school in California. He is fully bi-literate even though we don't speak any Spanish in our home. I was thrilled when the school opened and only wish it had been available to his older sister. I know it works because I hear him gaming online with the entire conversation in Spanish punctuated by the occassional "dude" because "dude" is the same in any language. I personally would be happy to have all public schools offer bi-lingual educations. It stretches the student to their very highest level.
45
My mom and dad, who both grew up in the Cajun part of Louisiana in the 1930s and ‘40s, were sent home as punishment from school if they were caught speaking French. I myself, a child of the ‘60s, bought into that contempt for the Cajun dialect, considering it as just another example of Southern backwardness that it refused to die out. But it was the ‘60s radical movements themselves that revealed to me that that whole attitude smacked of nothing but an oppressive linguistic imperialism that refused to recognize the essence of a people in the language they spoke. Now I am an ardent Francophile proud of my heritage and learning new French words every day.
67
@Donovan I am a German and English speaker. One way I practice and improve my German is by finding German tv stations and watching their saved programming in something called a "Mediathek." Cop shows, comedies, romances, etc. For someone wanting to learn French, switching the spoken language to French on DVDs and the subtitles to English can be a painless approach. Good luck. Bonne chance!
9
I'm more fascinated that Ms. Renard would be willing to move to such a remote location. I'm sure it's a wonderful small town for the people from the area, but as a foreign national in a strange country (that's known for being suspicious of immigrants, even European ones) where you don't know a single soul... That has to be somewhat daunting. I suppose if the town is invested in an immersion school like this, they would be inclined to embrace Ms. Renard warmly, but it still has to be difficult for her. Bravo for Ms. Renard's bravery! I'm sure her students lives will be forever impacted by the work that she's doing.
57
@Kat For goodness sake, she's going to a small town in Louisiana, not Mars. Cajun country is full of warm, welcoming people and they love their French heritage. And perhaps a small town is a nice break from Paris?
10
@Kat As a french student studying in Golden, Co, in the mid 2000s, I can attest that small town America is much more easy to integrate to than big cities (where a lot of my friends attended universities). Sure you get the occasional teasing on your accent and politics (my rugby nickname was "Freedom", after the infamous Freedom fries), but there is also a true interest in who you are as opposed to the sophisticated and mostly superficial emphasis on where you're coming from. America is a great place populated by a vast majority of great people regardless of the location.
9
@Kat One of mu cousins teaches in an elementary school in Lake Charles that has native French speakers teaching there. She's told me that the teachers are often bored socially and most weekends head off to New Orleans or Houston. From what I understand from my cousin, those teachers are much beloved and appreciated by the students, faculty, and parents.
9
What a wonderful story.
34
@DR
and good news in troubled times
5
When I was a child in the 1950 my bilingual parents chose not to teach me either of their ancestral languages. French in the case of my mother and Swedish in the case of my father.
Their reasoning was that it was the McCarthy era and they wanted to fit in. This even though my mother was a native born American of Canadian decent and my father a WWII US Merchant Marine veteran and naturalized American Citizen.
I still regret that because of bigotry and jingoism I was deprived of the opportunity of being raised multilingual. I took German in Collage and while I can read and write the language I cannot converse because of lack of opportunity to practice. It is such a shame.
30
@Richard From Massachusetts I can sympathize. My grandfather was against me learning Italian as it was more important to be "American" than to learn to speak the language of my ancestors.
Such a lost opportunity.
10
It's good to see French is being taught by a teacher who speaks the language.
Sixty years ago, my Canadian french teacher didn't speak french. It was mindless memorization. Very boring. No conversation.
Sadly the same story is being repeated in the Yucatan in english.
The kids can read and write, but can't speak english.
Cross culture communication is very important for economic
development.
ps
netflix with french or spanish audio and english
subtitles helps.
11
My wife and I are both French-born US citizens. We sent our two sons to bilingual (French/English) schools from beginning to end. And we spoke both languages at home.
Result: they are completely at ease in both the US and France, not just in language but in culture as well.
Even better, one of them lives with a Mexican woman with Anglo-American parents. She speaks perfect English and Spanish. With a little bit of luck our grand-children will be trilingual and tricultural !!! With even more luck, our great-grand-children will be quadrilingual and quadricultural (I can only dream).
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Let's not forget the important role of slavery in the history of Louisiana and the making of this bilingual culture. At the start of the fight for freedom from slavery in Haiti, French colonials who "owned" enslaved Africans and African- Haitians escaped with their "property " and their language to Lousiana. I hope these kids - blacks, whites and natives - will be taught their history and origins, alongside the French lessons.
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@Immigrantalso
I agree, though this should not apply only to French lessons. What you've said is true of of English, Portuguese, and Spanish in the the Americas as well.
3
Meanwhile, back in Brooklyn, the dual language programs in middle schools are being dismantled by the Chancellor, by design or by mismanagement it’s hard to say.
The new District 15 Diversity Plan was written to allow heritage French and Spanish speaking children automatic placement in the two dual language programs in the district. It was communicated to parents in many languages via the school directories. But the DOE didn’t honor that. When parents sought answers, we were told we were “leveraging our privilege”. I had to translate that phase into Spanish for some of my fellow parents who have limited English.
So instead, middle school placement was a lottery and Spanish speaking kids were placed in French programs and vice versa. Or places in schools with no language.
Thanks, Chancellor Carranza.
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This is my son’s class!!! We are extremely proud to share our school, new teacher, children and town with NY Times!
This French Immersion program is a GIFT to my son and his future! I can only sit back and be amazed how far they have come in only 2 years... our teachers are angels!
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In addition to French Immersion, some school districts, like Lafayette Parish, also have Spanish and Chinese immersion. My son was in French Immersion and my daughter was in Chinese immersion. Both are fluent French and Chinese respectively.
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It is a great gift to help a child be multi-lingual. If they can be fluent in more than English it will benefit them the rest of their lives in many ways. Kudos to Louisiana for making this commitment!
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Went to graduate school in New Orleans where I also learned about doing business things but also about the culture of Southern Louisiana. It was helped by my aunt and uncle and their daughter (who had been born in NOLA).
It was a bit of a culture shock for me and my wife but we adjusted. Our oldest son picked some up as a toddler in his preschool while I was in class and mom was at work.
Sadly my cousin is the only one remaining in NOLA. Hope to visit again soon. JT
1
I was in that inaugural CODOFIL class - second grade at Woodvale Elementary in Lafayette, 1972-73. I kept taking French even after my family left south Louisiana. Ended up getting a small scholarship to take classes at the University of Nice in the mid-80s. My French is still passable, but the much greater benefit - to me and my children - is the curiosity those French grad students inspired in me. I never would have gone to France - alone, at 20 years of age - if not for CODOFIL.
And the travel bug bit me hard. Thirty years later, I started dragging my kids across Europe. Traveling was their Christmas present, birthday present, spring break - any excuse I could come up with and as often as I could scrape together the funds to make it happen. When work would require me to travel overseas alone, I was always thrilled, never nervous. CODOFIL made me realize there was a big, really interesting world out there, and knowing a little French made me brave enough to start exploring it. Shortly after my daughter’s 20th birthday, she headed off to Europe alone (and on her own dime!). All of this goes back to CODOFIL. As I got older I’d sometimes wonder why these young, well-educated French men and women would travel to south Louisiana to spend their days in a classroom with a bunch of elementary school kids. Maybe Mme Logie, Mr Abel, and Mr Pichereau knew they were making life better - for my generation, and the next, and the next ...
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Really wonderful story. The janitor in my high school was from Louisiana and when he heard a few of us speaking in French after class one day, he told us how his grandparents, who are African-American, also spoke French. It's great that Louisiana recognizes the importance of bilingualism.
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@Shane My children go to a foreign language immersion school (French, Spanish or Mandarin) in Baton Rouge, La.
3
French immersion may increase the chances of keeping the language alive in LA. However, I think it should only be open to those whose whose parents speak French at home. My experience has been that the others don’t stand a chance. Perhaps if my son’s teacher had been a bit more patient when he didn’t understand, it might have worked but I doubt it. It’s really unfair to throw students who speak French all day in with those who only speak it at school.
@Anonymous your kid had a bad teacher. That's all. Learning languages is beneficial in many ways. Not sure why it should be limited only to those who speak it at home. I learned English in school, Spanish on my own, in addition to my mother tongue being French (I'm from Quebec). Proudly tri-lingual and it has helped me in many aspects of life.
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@Anonymous My kids attended a Spanish immersion school K-6. Very beneficial; both are fluent in Spanish and using it in their professional lives. My son has gone further and learned three additional languages -- including passing the European tests for German at a level high enough to attend graduate school (for free!) and get a master's degree. But I did notice that, perhaps like athletic ability, foreign language immersion was harder for some kids. I don't think having language used at home explained the difference, it's just the way our minds work. Math was harder for my kids.
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@Anonymous
I don't see why. Where I come from, there are quite a lot of immersion programs (due to the history and situation of the country) and most kids don't speak that other language at home.
I myself am bilingual, having attended school up to the end of the primary education in one language, that wasn't the one mostly used within the family, then switched to the other after that. Still, I'm totally fluent in the first language and speak it as any kid that has been raised in it.
Sad it didn't turn out that way in your experience but I believe that's no reason to deprive others of the possibility or segregate those programs according to family origins or ancestry.
2
All three of my daughters were in K-6th Spanish language immersion programs; and, 20 plus years later, they are all fluent speakers and readers, and proficient listeners (dialects and colloquialisms can be a challenge).
On the down-side, since their primary school science education was in Spanish, they still don’t know the English words for all of the body parts of a cricket.
35
@David Eike
We had a similar experience. My son did poorly on a test he should have aced because he hadn't been taught mathematical terms in English.
Still, dual-language elementary school was absolutely worth it. And having spoken Spanish from the age of 3, my son picked up French easily in high school.
19
What an uplifting story !! Congratulations to the State of Louisiana and the local school boards, administrators, teachers, and parents for having such vision to expand the experience of their students. I am learning French online as a middle aged working person; I would love to have had the chance to learn a foreign language as a youngster. Well done all around !!
88
I attended elementary outside of New Orleans in the late 80s and early 90s and I remember learning French in the 4th and 5th grade. It was fun but was only a short part of the day a few times a week. I think I would have learned more if it had been full immersion and would have made my college-level French so much easier.
The Louisiana education system is not the best, ranks toward the bottom, but at least they are trying to do something different. Multilingualism is not a bad thing. Never understood why America is afraid of children learning another language early.
51
@Gabby When one learns a language because it is identity based then it is easier. My grandfather came from the Southwestern part of France and that motivated me to learn French. Being bilingual one uses both lobes of the brain and this may help prevent Alzheimers. The bottom line is your whole world opens before you when you know another language. I can speak with relatives in France, watch cinema, and read literature etc.
I really appreciate this article. Chapeaux!
15
@Gabby My children go to a foreign language immersion school in Baton Rouge. Students either learn in French, Spanish or Mandarin. It is one of the highest ranking elementary schools in the state. Also, it ranks very high in English language arts scores.
5
Bravo, Louisiana. With this shrinking world and global interdependence it is an asset for a child, an adult, too, to know and speak another language. When our children were in grammar school in the Sacramento area back in the 80's, a volunteer would come in on a weekly basis and teach Spanish from K through 8. In high school, they were offered a choice of Spanish, Italian, French, German, and, yes, also Latin. That being said, and for those who intend to excel in their careers and professions, kids nowadays must also become proficient in writing, speaking, and reading English. That has been, is, and continues to be a necessity for progress here in the US.
21
I would have jumped at the chance to have my children attend a public school with an immersion language program. It is one of my biggest regrets that we could not provide this advantage.
27
I feel that this paragraph is not provided with enough context for readers not abreast of modern france:
“I’m fascinated by this culture,” she said of America generally. She called it a jewel. She found it exotic, and found Louisiana to be “the exotic inside the exotic.” She praised the forward-leaning state of feminism in the country and marveled at Americans’ religiosity.
A link here to the coverage of Me too in france (and the different attitude towards womens rights and place in society), along with a link to an article about the strict anti religious nature of french government, would illuminate why this was a unique experience for the teacher in question.
Also just using her quotes on these topics might be more useful.
8
This article warms my heart. The pictures are just too cute. Kids all excited for a new school year. This is what we need to focus on in America, making sure those kids get our best. Not the last crazy tweet.
31
i was delighted by this story - both because I used to live in Louisiana, and because it counterbalanced the most recent headlines about Trump-induced despair and nonsense. Please print more stories like this. Even as we must hold the president accountable, we need to keep our faith in humanity.
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Great move. I was brought up bilingual and it is a blessing.
Perhaps such a move will encourage immigration from Quebec, France and other primarily French-speaking territories in the Caribbean to Louisiana.
Vive le bilinguisme.
24
There are many French-Canadian teachers in Quebec who would love the experience of teaching in Louisiana. They would understand the Louisianan dialect because it is similar to Quebec's. Why recruit from France?
21
@H that's exactly what I was thinking. They should be sourcing their teachers from Quebec and New Brunswick. The accent/ dialect is much more similar compared.
1
@H How do you know they are only recruiting from France?
4
CODOFIL teachers are recruited from Canada, France, Belgium, Cameroun, Senegal... even local Louisiana. The majority are from France, but they are recruited from everywhere.
6
Hope her standardized French is what mostly sticks.
Dialects won’t take you too far in the world.
If you want to travel the Congo, your Cajun or Arcadian or Creole dialect won’t go far.
11
@DD I don't think fluency in the Francophone world is the primary objective here. This is really about recognizing the cultural uniqueness of a people and giving back to them what was taken away.
16
Actually my Cajun dad did just fine in Vietnam and Cameroon.
4
@DD
Not quite.
I've traveled in France and French speaking Canada many times more than getting by with Cajun French. Most French and Canadians were interested to know what dialect it is, where did I learn, and could I please speak a bit more slowly.
The only disapproval came in Paris and Quebec City. No surprises there...
Laissez les bons temps rouler...
9
A good and wonderful thing to happen in America. I know because my country also enjoys two of humanity's greatest languages : English and French! ( with a multitude of many other languages , of course!)
33
Additional language learning also makes you aware of how perceptions can be molded by language. I studied French for enough years (in public school in suburban New York) to realize (to my shock) that some philosophical statements make perfect sense in French but are baffling when translated to English. And I studied just enough Yupik (a native language on the western coast of Alaska) to realize how language shapes a worldview to be very different. (Professionally, I'm in information technology, and computer languages also carry a worldview of their own. You'd be surprised.)
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@Kim from Alaska How language molds perception gets even more interesting when bilinguals code switch when speaking to each other. Evidently, the majority of bilinguals or multi-linguals do code switch in conversation with other speakers of their languages, sometimes more than once in a single sentence.
1
It should also be noted that Louisiana and New Mexico are the only two states of the Union which have two -official- languages: either language may be used to submit legal actions. In Louisiana, the languages are of course French and English. In New Mexico, the languages are Spanish and English. Both circumstances devolve from how both states entered the Union.
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@GWPDA
Hawaii, which is also a state, also has two official languages--Hawaiian and English--and many successful Hawaiian language immersion schools, a statewide program that has gradually expanded since the 1970s.
14
@GWPDA and Louisiana is the only state whose rule of law is the Napoleonic Code.
9
@GWPDA Thank you. I moved here from Minnesota because I am bilingual and feel most at home in a bilingual state. It's sad that many of my Hispanic friends don't speak Spanish because it was prohibited when they were young.
5
What a wonderful story and a well written one.
I love Louisiana and Cajun folks in particular.
I lived in New Orleans but worked in Abbeville, Lafayette area - the belt of Cajun country.
I have taken in Momou Cajun music festival - music that I still occasionally listen to.
This observation by this young French woman caught my attention:
"...She praised the forward-leaning state of feminism in the country and marveled at Americans’ religiosity...."
Why, that's almost Alexis de Tocqueville - replace his "state of associations and organizations" with what Ms. Renard said.
When I was growing up in Mumbai - I learned French at Alliance Francaise.
They are famous for teaching French.
Whatever their method is - it is very successful. I still remember it and can put sentences together 5 decades later - though never lived in France. I go to Le Tour de France often - my Alliance Francaise still comes handy.
Allez Les Cajuns !!!
36
this is wonderful opportunity for students to be more well-rounded and part of the world. years ago i was proficient [read/write/speak] in french and russian. having no one to speak these with outside of the classroom, though, i eventually lost most of both.
20
This is a long overdue effort to preserve an unique and distinctly North American "langue minoritaire" within the United States, whilst also validating the fact that, despite the beliefs of some, the U.S. has never had an "official" language. We are a pluralistic nation and this pluralism has more often than not been essential to our nation's development.
For instance, during World War II, Cajun soldiers filled an essential role as translators and interpreters. The loss of their language has certainly made it more difficult for the U.S. to carry out diplomatic functions in Francophone nations.
That said, Mme. Renard herself admits that she is not familiar with Cajun French, a branch of the language that is to modern Parisian French what Appalachian English is to British English. The effort to revive Cajun French would be greatly aided by the inclusion of Quebecois speakers, whose speech is much more similar to that of the Acadians who migrated to Louisiana in 1755 and who are, furthermore, much more familiar with 18th Century French customs that have persisted in North America.
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@John
I do appreciate your wisdom.
My ancestors were Acadian. I learned Cajun dancing and love the music. My parents as children only spoke French as children; 1st generation born in U.S. Their parents spoke no English.
This article gave me a sense of joy to the return and acceptance of language duality.My longing to live in the glow of the French language is never ending. I believe culture and language is in our DNA, no matter where we are born and raised.
21
@John The Acadian version of French is still spoken widely in New Brunswick and it differs from the predominant Quebec dialect. The Louisiana version is said to be close to the New Brunswick variant.
19
@John
Acadian is a distinct language and culture and Quebec has unique languages and cultures and because the quiet revolution happened in my lifetime in many areas middle-class and working class have unique sounds, vocabularies and cultures. We are a real democracy and we are not bilingual we are Quebec.
Bilingualism is not a panacea but knowing how different the same word like say liberal and conservative can be makes Louisiana worthy of study.
Politically and socially we are the unLouisianna. When I grew up Parishes defined who and what you were today we are secular zealots.
4
It would be especially nice if Acadian Francophones from the bilingual province of New Brunswick -Nouveau Brunswick could visit the class while the Lousiana French immersion students could visit their counterparts in Canada. The story of the evacuation of Acadia is an important part of history that is theirs to share.
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@Harpo
With the sinking of South Louisiana, many might need to return to Canada in another generation.
10
@Harpo
Cajuns were not "evacuated" from Acadia. They were forcibly driven off their land, eventually creating new Acadian communities in south Louisiana.
Now, another story of displacement is beginning to unfold, as the land disappears from under us.
The irony is rich.
7
I've visited Acadiana, the French speaking region of Southwestern Louisiana, several times. There remains a segment of the population, albeit the older population, who still speak either the Cajun dialect or Creole French (the distinction is important and is often blurred. It is incorrect to group the descendants of the Acadian movement to Louisiana--'Cajuns' with the descendants of freed slaves, descendants of people from Africa, the Caribbean and other lands--'Creoles' as one group). The move to restore fluency in French goes back to at least the early seventies and was spearheaded by activists. Examples of the revival of their languages abound: KRVS, the NPR affiliate in Lafayette, advertises itself as "Radio Acadie" and features French language broadcasts each day. Both Cajun and Zydeco music, which are very popular in the region, are primarily sung in French. Poet-writer-musician-activist Zachary Richard has been publishing French language poetry for decades. I'm pleased to see bilingual instruction becoming part of education in Acadiana: after all, children were disciplined for speaking French in schools for many years.
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@Famdoc
C'est tellement bon! Merci beaucoup. I'll turn on KRVS, "Radio Acadie" today. :)
4
Terrific! Fei chang hao! Tres Bien! Molto bene! Muy bien!
In today's global economy, anybody who finishes high school without being at least conversational in a second language is going to be at a severe disadvantage.
We should take things one step further and make competence in a second language a HS graduation requirement.
74
Love it! Two tongues are better than one! Kids that speak a second language have proven better test scores and problem solving skills. Good work LA!
26
My two elementary school kids attend a language magnet school. It feeds to our district's International Baccalaureate middle/high school. It's not an immersion program, though it used to be a decade or two ago, because there is a shortage of language teachers. The situation is likely to get worse as US universities cut language programs. https://www.chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Lose-a-Stunning-/245526
12
The story is a treat -- the content, the spirit. A heartfelt American welcome to Ms. Renard.
131
English is still going to be the primary language of choice for conducting business on the global stage but I highly encourage our children to become proficient in more than one language. And please, teach them to be proficient at a conversational level. Past second language training I had and have seen does not push the conversation side hard enough.
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@DC One method I have been exposed to that was amazingly effective was Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS), also known as Comprehensible Input (CI). Teachers trained in this method can get students fluent in a surprisingly small number of hours, and it avoids the frustrations of mostly grammar-based courses with lots of memorizing of verbs and little-used vocabulary.
9