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WEEK of March 7, 2005 |
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Mush!
Mush! by Jeffrey Stanley Twenty-six Middle School and Upper School students recently spent Presidents’ Day weekend in Quebec along with Middle School French teacher Marie-Christine Perry and foreign language chair Sue Aaronson. The students were comprised mostly of seventh and eighth grade French students but two Upper School students who missed the last Quebec trip two years ago tagged along on the adventure. The excursion to the great white north was no ordinary vacation. “We had a French Quebecois guide, Marc Leveque, who was with us for the entire trip,” said Perry, “as well as Marcos, our driver from the Dominican Republic.” Students stayed with French speaking host families in Quebec City, the provincial capital. “We do this trip through a company called Prometour, which is based in the Province of Quebec,” explained Perry. “They find and screen the families.” Students participated in a host of activities including dog sledding, for which they got to drive the teams themselves. They also went “snow tubbing” at the Valcartier winter resort and visited the new Quebec Aquarium specializing in Arctic wildlife, then visited an historic armory and took a class in repoussé work at the copper museum there. Students and their chaperones spent the evenings warming up with their host families. “The weather is very, very cold!” explained Perry. “It snowed a little but there was already quite a bit of snow on the ground. We had to wear long johns, one pair of pants and a pair of ski pants over that, and undershirt, shirt, light sweater or sweatshirt, sweater, and heavy jacket! Also two pairs of gloves made it bearable, as well as two pairs of socks.” Perry pointed out that aside from all the fun, the purpose of the short trip was to immerse the students in a French speaking environment and expose them to a bit of the French culture that exists in North America. “It was a great success.” Aaronson agreed. “This is a comprehensive and tiring trip although it is exhilarating and very educational. Teaching foreign languages in classrooms is not real in the sense that we don’t live the languages,” she said, stressing that not all school experiences need to be based on testing and memorization. “The only way to really learn a language is to be immersed in it, and in the culture and traditions of the language and the people who speak it. The language goes from being a series of verb conjugations and lists of new vocabulary to being alive and vibrant.” The eighth graders are currently putting together a web page containing their stories and photos from the trip. Stay tuned. |
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