Les Aventures en Français at CWDHS
MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
May 26, 2011
by Christina Schilling, Curriculum Leader
Upper Grand District School Board
FERGUS, Ontario — On Tuesday, May 17, 2011, students at Centre Wellington District High School participated in “Les Aventures en Français,” a career fair hosted by the Upper Grand District School Board and the Career Education Council.
Presenters were greeted by grade 10 and 11 student ushers. Grade 10 student Iona H. was the master of ceremonies. She welcomed the students and presenters and MC’d in both French and English. At the end of the afternoon, Iona hosted a French quiz game and handed out prizes to the participants. In total, 220 grade 9, 10 and 11 Core French and French Immersion students attended three different presentations during the afternoon.
French is a living language, and this was proved as students heard from people from the community about their life experiences and how French has had an impact on their career choices and life directions. The speakers volunteered their time to spend the afternoon with the students, and this is greatly appreciated. Thanks so much to all who participated.
Students heard from local business owners, such as Jacques Dion of the Café Crêperie and Roger Dufau of the Drew House.
“It reinforced me and my thinking about studying French after high school,” was one student’s comment after hearing from a French Studies graduate from the University of Guelph, Alanna Trubic.
Other speakers included Constable Guy Morin, pilot John Lance Howie, policy writer Dorota Osowska, translator Manon Gagné-Kellman, entrepreneur Margaret Markvart, physiotherapist Sarah Eby, artist Julie René de Cotret, and Francine Poissant and Christine Wenger from OMAFRA, and Wellington Health Care Alliance CEO Jerome Quenneville.
Students learned that French enriches one’s personal life, career paths, and travel experiences. “A bit of French can go a long way,” as commented by a CWDHS student after one of the sessions.
Why not study French? Studies have proven that learning a second language increases and enriches brain activity. Learning a language opens new doors, increases cultural understandings, and changes one’s perspectives. As one student said, “the greatest value [of the day] was that I learned that French can get me many places in life. This has inspired and convinced me to continue to take French.”
The event would not have been possible without the energetic leadership of Lori Arsenault and Cheryl Faye, from the Career Education Centre, and Camille Lockstein, Department Head of Languages at CWDHS.
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