Hunting the elusive French 3

[auntyamethyst]

Daughter's paperwork arrives from High School. But alas, her class schedule for Junior year lacks French 3. I question the school only to find that the class is not offered at all, because "there might not have been enough students, or the 'language department' might have decided that they needed more beginners' classes"; ha! Lillian loves

Comments

French 3

[auntyamethyst]

Hi Mme. French teacher,

Hope you've had a wonderful summer away!

Just in case you missed the followup, Jerry sent the following letter to Dr. Erb, the curriculum director (when did we get one in the school district), school board and Editor of the Mercersburg Journal:

"As a parent of a junior at James Buchanan High School, I have become very disturbed at the cancellation of the higher level French curriculum at that school. In the last two years my child has taken French courses, and each year she has received excellent marks in those classes. She was certainly looking forward to advancing her knowledge of French. However, neither French 3 nor Honors French will be offered this year. Why?

I have recently read in the June 2008 “Tuscarora School District Newsletter” an article submitted by Rodney Benedick that the school will be “… offering new class levels in foreign language and math in order to better match student interest level and aptitude.”
It appears that what Mr. Benedick describes as “new class levels in foreign language
and math” is actually cutting the intermediate and advanced language classes, adding introductory French classes to the non-college preparatory curriculum and adding remedial mathematics classes for students unable to meet state standards in math and English. Why?

So what we appear to have here is a case of the students who have done a good job learning math and French must sit in an additional study hall in order to free up class and teacher resources. That’s not a fitting reward, is it?

In fact, my other children, who have graduated from James Buchanan and been very successful at the post secondary educational levels, were given the opportunity to study French beyond the introductory level.

If I am not mistaken, were not Mr. Benedick and some members of the school board given the opportunity to study intermediate French at James Buchanan in the not so distant past?

In September, the School District will be voting on a $39 Million (sic) bond issue, which will have many benefits especially to computer use and athletic facilities. How can I support this level of indebtedness for such items while core instructional needs (i.e. French) are being slashed?

Finally, I believe that learning foreign languages is more effectively done by younger students with their more receptive minds. Students who must wait until college will never be as proficient in French as those receiving training in High School. I urge the Superintendant, the Curriculum Director, the Tuscarora School Board Members and the Principal of JB to reinstate upper level French Classes.

Thank You"

We never received a reply; how rude!

I'm sorry there won't be upper level classes. Our feelings of disappointment include you, "Poor Madame! Having only beginner classes to teach!" from your students in our family. Has this ever happened before in your experience?
.

Re: French 3

[maryosmanski]

I finally saw Jerry's letter just today after I'd picked up my mail. A fellow teacher who knows I normally don't see the Mercersburg Journal sent me a photcopy.

I knew when we added German to the foreign language curriculum several years ago that a time might come when there would either be not enough students or not enough class periods in the day to offer the advanced third and fourth-year courses of both languages every single year. The policy at that point was to opt for French over German (one reason was that we already had the French textbooks and teacher materials). Then a year came when there were more students who wanted German 3 and not enough (the minimum is 5) for French 3, and it was decided that alternating French 3 one year and German 3 the next would work. I did not foresee in 2001 that "not enough class periods" would happen due to an administrative decision to reduce the number of class periods in the day.

The currciulum director position is not really a new one. There was one several years ago for a while, and then the work became the responsibility of someone with a slightly different job title who retired at the end of the last school year. Dr. Johnston was hired to replace that person who retired, and I think that was when the job title was resurrected.