Benoit Le Devedec, Jane Ross, September 2015
Defining Curricula in the French Heritage
class
What is the French Heritage Language Program
Different students, different needs
Challenges and initiatives
Curriculum High School
Curricula Elementary School
Online resources
¤  The FHLP is an educational program of FACE
Foundation, a non-profit organization in partnership
with the Internationals Network for Public Schools and
the French Embassy in The United States
¤  Provides free French classes to students of French
heritage background in underserved public schools
and community centers across the country
¤  Currently serves 11 sites for 250 students grades K-12 in
New York City, mostly afterschool
¤  Helped create partner programs in Florida, Maine and
Massachusetts, serving an additional 250 students at
elementary school level
Where or are students from? 3 Different students, different needs
¤  High school students (New York)
¤  1st generation immigrants from Africa and Haiti, English
Language Learners. All had French as the education language
in the home country, but sometimes with Interrupted Formal
Education
¤  French not necessarily the language or only language spoken
at home
¤  Need support with literacy in the home language and want to
maintain their heritage language at school while learning
English
¤  Elementary school students (NY, ME, FL, MA)
¤  Mostly 2nd (African/Haitian) or 3rd+ (Franco-Americans)
generation immigrants who began school in the United States.
Rare cases of 1st generation immigrants who attended 2 or 3
years at school in the home country
¤  English is the 1st language, but may not be the only language
spoken at home or in the extended family
¤  Some may have partial understanding of the heritage language
but very few can speak or read it
Initial challenges
¤  High School (1st generation immigrants, ELLs)
¤  Different cultural backgrounds, different personal histories with French
¤  Some students wanted to maintain their French, others could understand
it but were reluctant or sometimes had been discouraged from speaking
it (parents, school). Some boasted excellent command of the language
and wanted to continue improving their language, and take
examinations
¤  Different grades, ages, and language needs in the French class
¤  Traditional French textbooks inappropriate, both in terms of language
and cultural needs. No existing curriculum or material available
¤  Afterschool context and volatile attendance
¤  Elementary school (2nd + generation immigrants)
¤  Language needs close to those of French as a foreign language
learners, but with an affective relation to the language and culture
¤  French is sometimes spoken at home or in the distant family, meaning
partial understanding of the language and use of some vocabulary
(“Pepère/Memère” in Maine, or Creole words for Haitians)
¤  French as a Foreign Language methods are useful, but lack any relevant
cultural contents that put heritage language learning within the
perspective of a specific heritage culture
Curriculum in High School
¤  English Language Learners who want to keep and
make the best of their French in the US
¤  Multilingual speakers trying to adjust in their schools and
new environment
Teaching strategies High School
¤  Adopt common curriculum for all classes
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Manage and value diversity of French variants and cultures. Include other home
languages
Resort to collaborative, group activities to build confidence, well-being and social
cohesion in the classroom
Project-based differentiated pedagogy, based on the successful method
developed by the Internationals Network for Public Schools
oral skills to develop academic language and skills transferable to other subjects at
school
¤  Create incentive for students and schools
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Integrate other subjects’ content (History, global studies, science…)
Offer extra curricular activities and summer camps
Have school validate French class with high school credits
Prepare eligible students to Advanced Placement French exam so they can get
college credits
Reinforce college readiness by partnering with higher education institutions to offer
“College Now” programs through the French class
¤  Systematic assessment proficiency in the language and cultural background /
Comprehensive students’ satisfaction survey
¤  Teacher’s training
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Teachers receive initial training and year-long support by program coordinator
Play an integral part in projects and curriculum development
Examples of High School curriculum
contents and projects
¤  2014-2015 Common curriculum projects for all our high school classes :
¤  Immigration and the American dream: write your own immigration story and
adapt it into a video self-portrait
¤  Living together: students create a fiction-based group class project in the form
of a theater performance or short-movie
¤  Global challenges: students tackle various topics like the environment, human
rights, science and technologies and take part in a persuasive essay writing
contest
¤  College and career readiness: students learn how to write a resume and
cover letter in both English and French and set up mock job interviews
¤  Other notable year-long projects
¤  “Paroles de Jeunes”: a weekly radio talk show conducted live every Monday
by one of our classes in Brooklyn
¤  “Amidou & Toya”: a semi-professional musical, performed live by our students
with internationally recognized musicians as part of our May 2014 benefit
event
¤  College readiness
¤  2014 and 2015: 90% of the students we prepared to the AP French received
scores between 3 and 5, making them eligible to college credits
¤  We have partnered with LaGuardia Community College to offer a College
Now course offering college credits and a college experience to all of its
participants
Curriculum in Elementary School
¤  Learning a new, yet familiar language, becoming
bilingual
¤  Learning one’s heritage culture, connecting with the
older generation
Teaching strategies Elementary
School
¤  The FHLP worked with teachers from the bilingual New York
French American Charter School to develop an original
curriculum for the 5-7 and 8-11 year-olds
¤  Integrating components of the French as a mother tongue
curriculum from France with techniques and objectives of the US
French as Foreign language standards
¤  Including cultural concepts and traditional themes
¤  Adapted to an afterschool context with recreational activities,
including singing, dancing and visual arts
¤  A blueprint for other French Heritage Language programs
¤  The New York curriculum served as the basis to develop new
original curricula in Maine and Florida
¤  Language objectives remain similar, but cultural contents are
adjusted to students’ heritage cultural background
¤  In Maine, the focus is on North American French, FrancoAmerican and Acadian cultures, but also includes an
introduction to the diversity of French in the world
¤  In Florida, the focus is on Haitian and Caribbean cultures
Example of a French Heritage
curriculum for Elementary school
students
¤  http://www.mfhlp.com/curriculum.html
Current needs
¤ Develop strategies to further Integrate heritage
language teaching into the the public school
system (selective scheduling, impact on college
and career readiness index)
¤ Further promote heritage language learners’
needs among the community of French teachers
¤ Make material and teaching resources better
known and available to teachers and their
students
¤ Replicate and diversify the program into new
regional initiatives and bilingual programming
where is needed
Find more curriculum resources at:
http://face-foundation.org/french-heritagelanguage-program/teaching-ressources.html