Tres Bien! Intercampus French Program a Success

An intercampus, cross-curricular program between the 1st grade and the Upper School French 4 Lang/Culture class took place on Wednesday, April 26. The French 4 class, which studied Quebec earlier this year, presented a program for the 1st graders, who will be studying Canada at the end of the month. \"The program started as a collaborative effort between Jodie Gill`s French 4A class and First Grade 1S. Jodie`s son is in the class, and she approached me in the Fall about the potential to put this special event together once she heard that we were going to study Canada and Mexico, our neighbors to the north and south,\" said 1S teacher Michael Soderquist. The 75-minute program consisted of interactive presentations given by groups of Upper School students, who were graded on their productions. The mini-classes focused on four main topics: the geography/history of Quebec, popular sports, culture and cuisine. Circulating in small groups, the first graders learned French vocabulary for instruments, body parts, sports equipment and native animals. They completed crosswords and word search puzzles and received recipes and goodie bags. The importance of maple syrup and crepes was a focus and, of course, they got to sample each as a special treat. The cultural presentation featured traditional music and square dancing at the end of the program. \"The program was an absolute success!\" Soderquist said. \"The kids loved it, the upper school students loved teaching and interacting with the kids, everything was well organized and the perhaps the best part of was the square dancing at the end!\" He added, \"what a great afternoon we all had!\"