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Secondary Level
Music
This project aims at studying the French language through songs from the Caribbean, Africa, France and Quebec. Each new song becomes an opportunity to share opinions and feelings, and to practice the language through presentations, descriptions of the rhythms and instruments, video clips, and the reading and explanation of the lyrics. Of course, the students also engage in thorough vocabulary and grammar work, which leads to the writing of their own songs.
Litterature
In this project, the students study the works of African and Haitian authors such as Dany Lafferière, Camara Laye, Raphaël Confiant, or Léopold Senghor. The students are assigned a different reading task each week: they summarize, illustrate, explain key ideas, imagine sequels, state opinions, and formulate hypotheses. They also link what they read to their personal experiences, or to the realities of today’s world. Eventually, the students make cardboard posters to display their work in the school.
Cinema
This project is devoted to the study of one or two francophone films, as well as major international film festivals such as FESPACO (Burkina) and Cannes (France). Here, the students acquire the basics of film lexicon. With the help of online searches and class discussions, they become improvised film critics, which also requires them to identify and learn the appropriate elements of speech. The students also create their own synopses.
Media
While developing their reading and communication skills, the students reflect on how the media reports on events. They analyze authentic press articles from Francophone news websites as well as TV and radio segments. The ultimate goal of this project is to sharpen the students’ analytical skills. As a result, the students become mature readers, as well as alert members of the community. This projects leads to the creation of a small class newspaper. The students also create a survey on media usage in their families.
Porfolio and Blog
Here, the students work on portfolios that include presentations, interviews of a family member and essays on subjects such as the cultural differences between the United States and their countries of origin, historical events, traditions, music, religion, education, or sports. In addition to the paper version of their portfolio, the students also get to publish part of their work online in a blog that is especially created to become a space where they can express their opinions on a variety of topics.
Preparation for the SAT II French and the French Regents
To further enhance the recognition of Heritage students’ French language skills (which are reflected in the high scores they usually achieve), we include weekly SAT II test preparation sessions (one hour/week). Highly valued in the world of higher education, SAT exams are often a prerequisite for access to many universities. Registration is free for students, as the fee is entirely covered by the Heritage program. Some of our students also take the French Regents with outstanding results, increasing their chance to earn an Advanced Regents Diploma that includes a foreign language exam.
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