VIVE LA FRANCE! NATIONAL FRENCH WEEK 2022

The French students enjoyed an amazing National French Week 2022 which was filled with a myriad of cultural activities in the classroom as well as in the community from November 3-10. This week is sponsored nationally by the American Association of Teachers of French and is a week-long celebration immersing students in all things French. Many activities have been curtailed the last few years due to covid but this year was extremely exciting as we celebrated the theme “Français: La Langue de la Diversité” (French, the Language of Diversity), exploring all the countries in the world which speak French. 

• All students created original tee-shirts depicting the theme and chose one shirt from each class to submit in a Francophone tee-shirt contest. The winner was French 2 Honors student Jordan Vaughn. 
• Students enthusiastically demonstrated their dancing talents as they partnered with one another in class and mastered French folkloric dances representing the various provinces in France and the departments overseas. 
• We were very fortunate to have 2 speakers with us this year who volunteered their time to help the students enjoy other aspects of French culture. Mr. Shelton Hawkins, who was featured in the Detroit Hour Magazine came to Mercy and spoke to the students about his dreams and passions about becoming a French designer and being invited to Paris for his own fashion runway show! He also generously raffled 3 of his designer pieces and the very lucky winners were Valentina Hutter, Sabrina Shea and Finley Siegel.
• Mlle Adele Jones (current French AP student) shared her adventures and experiences of studying abroad for 1 semester in France and being totally immersed in the French language and culture accompanied by a cultural powerpoint of student, family and school life in Bretagne,

65 students returned to our favorite restaurant after a 3 year hiatus, Cuisine in Detroit for an elegant 3 course french dinner prepared by chef Paul Grosz. Many parents attended as well to enjoy this culinary experience. In addition, our own Mercy café provided a week of French lunches for our students celebrating the cuisine of the Francophone world! Of course, Crêpe Day is always enjoyed in class and this year Mrs. Hutter, Mrs. Daniels, Mrs. Fusco and Mrs. Gawne generously gave up their time to help the French students enjoy this culinary tradition.

The pièce de résistance was a combined field trip of French and art students to the DIA to see the “Van Gogh in America” special art exhibit, accompanied by Mme Campbell, Mme Smith and Mme Corte. It was an exhilarating experience and the students came away with an appreciation of Van Gogh’s talents and the beauty of various styles evidenced in his paintings. It was quite a celebration of the diverse cultures of the Francophone world which will be continued in our classes throughout the semester.