St. Aug students experience French culture

On a brisk morning in late October, St. Augustine High students taking French language in school took a field trip to the Beauregard-Keyes House in the French Quarter to hear Nous Foundation executive director Scott Tilton explain Louisiana’s Colonial history and development of the French language to the point that by the mid-1940s and 1950s, 1.5 million Louisianians spoke the language. 

“My students were there and learned why the French language is important to preserve in Louisiana,” said St. Augustine English/French teacher Raymond Price. “French students got to see that French is not spoken just in France and Africa but in other places in the United States.”

Standing alongside them were high school students from Lasalle St. Denis School in St. Denis, France, who were in town Oct. 18-30 as part of St. Aug’s exchange program. The students also joined together at the Oct. 21 football game against John Curtis.

This exchange program with St. Denis School began in the 2022-23 school year. Price said he was familiar with the school since a friend, Ines Aniorte, whom he’d met through a French exchange program while he was teaching at Ursuline Academy, worked there. The exchange was the impetus to bring back the French language as a course of study this year at the all-boys’ St. Augustine High School, Price said.

“No French was being taught at St. Augustine,” Price said, “so we thought it would be the perfect time to add the French language to the curriculum.” (French was removed from the curriculum in the late 1990s, St. Aug’s Mel Cordier said, to make room for Spanish II.)

Practical applications
Having taught French at Ursuline Academy, Price knew of the Nous Foundation and its offerings of cultural and educational experiences for students outside the classroom. So, he met with foundation representatives over the summer to cement a partnership with St. Aug.

The alliance offers Price access to resources, guest speakers, funding and help with building “partnerships with national and international partners to support St. Augustine High School’s language programs.”

The field trip was just one of the many experiences planned for the 11 St. Aug students taking French this year. In class, French students have participated in scavenger hunts throughout France and learned about monuments and explored a French café. The French Alliance of New Orleans has a “My French Bookfest,” and St. Aug. students started reading French fables in French.

Students are gaining much from the new partnerships.

“Even in my first year of high school, this opportunity helps to build a bridge with another country and culture through another language,” said freshman Jude Villavaso, a  French Club/Foreign Exchange Program scholar. “When you learn a new language, it opens more doors for travel, networking and new job opportunities. It’s important to start these opportunities early, and I am very grateful to have a chance to take advantage of this.” 

And, for what is believed to be the first time, St. Aug students competed in a French oratory contest Nov. 11 sponsored by the Council of French Societies in New Orleans. 

“I believe it’s important to have French taught at St. Aug because we are in New Orleans and because a lot of our students identify as Creole and have Creole heritage,” Price said. “It’s important that they are in touch with their cultural, linguistic roots.”

What is Nous Foundation?
The Nous Foundation invites speakers and musicians into the classroom “to introduce students to cultural leaders actively engaged in keeping Louisiana’s unique French and Creole-speaking heritage alive.” 

“Teaching a second language requires motivation and excitement that can be found in lived experiences,” said the  Nous Foundation’s Tilton. “By partnering with the teachers at St. Augustine, we hope to give students these experiences and educate them about how the French language has played a vital role in creating the culture and heritage of this city.”

Price is confident that through the exchange program, students will better connect with the language by learning more than just speaking it for a test,  but also understanding its application worldwide.

“By the end of the semester, they must be able to recite four prayers in French perfectly,” Price said. “We’ve done everything from verb conjugation to exploring the Francophone world (Tunisia, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, Haiti, Canada). You can go anywhere in the world and speak French. It’s the language of diplomacy, history.”

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