District 230 students French immersion night

Eighteen students from District 230 high schools enjoyed food, games and an evening of French language immersion. French 2, 3 and 4 students from Sandburg and Stagg High Schools participated in District 230’s third annual French Immersion Night. Upon arrival, students took an oath where they promised to speak only in French for the following three hours. French teachers, Laura Schmuck (Sandburg) and Nitya Viswanath (Stagg), gave a 5-minute orientation in English before students signed a pledge to speak French for the entire evening.

During the orientation, teachers reminded students that the evening wouldn’t work unless everyone committed to the effort to stay in French the entire time. This year’s participants were up to the challenge. “The students were amazed that they were able to stay in French the entire time.” said Schmuck.

Students first engaged in “speed-dating” conversation activities to get to know one another. They then worked in teams to cook savory crêpes and a salad for dinner and sweet crêpes for dessert, and later participated in a trust walk while blindfolded. Table topic cards were strategically placed at each event to give students ideas for conversation starters at moments when there were awkward pauses or lulls in conversation. The students showed commitment to their language studies by participating in the event outside of the regular school day and engaging in only French conversation during the entire evening. Teachers and students reflected on the importance of using language outside the walls of a classroom.

“Our students pick up so many life skills in language classes” said Viswanath. “They learn to think on their feet, communicate clearly, show politeness and respect, and show curiosity about others by asking questions and responding to others.”

This event began three years ago thanks to a grant from the D230 Foundation. Immersion nights like this one offer students a chance to try out their language survival skills, and to find ways to improvise and still get their ideas across.

“Immersion Night was a great experience! It challenged me while I still had fun talking in French with friends and cooking,” shared Stagg French student Rini Theodoropoulos.

“It really put into perspective, how much I really know about the language,” shared Sandburg student Ahmad Abuisneineh, who also added “It was awesome to have the opportunity to try out a language outside of the classroom.”

After participating in the French immersion night, students felt a new confidence in their language abilities. Language immersion nights like this one are organized all over the country to help students engage
in sustained language use, longer than the length of a typical class period.

“French is spoken all over the world by more than 200 million people, so we want our students to be able to speak confidently whenever they meet a fellow French speaker,” shared Viswanath.

Immersion Nights give students a quick taste of what it would be like to be in a city where only the foreign language is spoken.