Learning a foreign language encourages cognitive development and creativity, increases memory and improves reading and problem solving skills. More importantly, it’s fun to learn another language! This is especially true for the Children’s classes where hands on craft projects, songs and dances are often part of the curriculum.

IMG_5911This fall, Mme Marie Odile’s Petit à Petit class completed a special project to learn about the different rooms of their house: salon, salle de bain, cuisine, etc. and the how different it is to live in an apartment building rather than in an American house. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

To reinforce their learning, the students pretended they lived each on one floor of an Parisian apartment building, cut out and pasted pictures of their dream rooms to created their own apartment; the ground floor being occupied, bien entendu, by their instructor or “concierge.”

Mme G’s SFTC class recently celebrated National French Week from Nov. 4th – 10th.  National French Week is celebrated annually in schools and other institutions around the country, and this year President Barack Obama acknowledged in a signed letter from the White House the importance of French language education, claiming that “French is essential…”

Students traveled to Pomperaug High School in Southbury on a field trip to see a live, sing-along performance of the music of Édith Piaf, sponsored by the Connecticut chapter of the American Association of Teachers of French.  About 600 CT French students and teachers attended the performance, which starred Mélanie Gall, a professional French-Canadian singer who has traveled the world performing in French and English.  Accompanying Ms. Galls singing and accordion playing was a multi-media slide presentation featuring images and videos from Edith Piaf’s life and career, as well as lyrics to all the songs.  Students were thus able to sing along loudly and enthusiastically with Ms. Gall, and the auditorium roared with hundreds of francophiles singing Piaf hits such as “La vie en rose,” “Milord,” and “Non, je ne regrette rien.”

Language learning thrives at AFNWCT and new French classes are now forming for January.

Children:

  • Bonjour Madame! – Thursdays at 4pm
  • Jouons Ensemble! Parent & child learn French together – Saturdays at 9:30am

Adults/Teens:

  • French 1 – Beginner’s class – Wednesdays at 10:30am
  • Verbs and Grammar – for beginners or those wishing to remember – Thursdays at 5:30pm
  • French 2 – Mondays 10:30am
  • French for Fluency – advanced class – Mondays at 5pm

Private Tutoring available for all ages and levels

Click HERE to go to our French classes page for more details about all our classes and how to enroll.

VIVE LA FRANCE!

Our organization received an award at the Southbury Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon held on October 25 at B’nai Israel in Southbury. Attending and representing our group was Lea and Anik de Giverny Claflin, Carol Donahue and Marda Gutierrez.

IMG_5848Our Group award is now hanging in our AF Center and reads:

Citation for Voluntary Service

Town of Southbury

Volunteer Appreciation Committee

Let it be known that

Alliance Francaise of Northwestern CT

Is hereby recognized as an organization that has rendered significant contributions
for the enhancement of our Town and the betterment of our residents.

Providing a truly remarkable contribution with the gift of Education

Whereas this Citation for Voluntary Service is presented on behalf of the
residents of the Town of Southbury

This the 25th Day of October 2015

Nancy Callahan was also recognized with a citation as an Exemplary Personal Service Recipient. She was nominated for this award in particular for her work on our special “La Vie Parisienne” May 3 Fundraiser, where she created three Parisian street “scenes”: a Montmartre Café, a Seine River used book stall, a Flower cart and special blue. white and red flower table decorations for all the tables. When people entered the room, they felt like they had been transported to Paris! Typically, Nancy starts planning the overall “look” and theme months before an event and then begins collecting objects, paper products that match a color scheme, special items that will enhance the theme… She then spends hours prior to an event to set everything up as according to her creative vision. She makes the room look inviting and beautiful. She always stays afterwards to help clean up. Her hard work in contributing to the overall success of an event goes above and beyond the call of volunteer duty.

At our Annual Meeting, Nancy was also recognized as “Volunteer of the Year” and presented with a gift certificate in appreciation for her work this past year.

The Alliance Française of Northwestern CT Annual General Meeting

On Saturday, October 17, several members attended a pre-meeting reception with a delicious breakfast of croissants, fresh fruit and hot beverages prior to our official meeting.IMG_5825

Annual Meeting Agenda:

  1. 2014-2015 Financial Report
  2. Language School Report
  3. Membership Report
  4. Activities & Committee Reports
  5. Overview of Culturethèque
  6. Presentation of 2015-2016 Budget
  7. 2015-2016 Programs

This meeting was a good opportunity to better understand your organization, learn about last year’s accomplishments and suggest ideas to move us forward to sustain and grow our organization… Those who are interested in receiving a copy of the presentation may send an email to afnwct@afnwct.org.

volunteerBecome more involved by serving on a committee. Most members find it quite fulfilling to actively serve on a committee.

Here is a list of our Committees, their Chairperson and contact info in case you have questions or would like to volunteer your time:

  • Hospitality: Nancy Callahan hospitalite@afnwct.org
  • Program: Chair position OPEN programmes@afnwct.org
  • Language School Advisory: Chair position OPEN ecole@afnwct.org
  • Membership: Rolly Grover cotiser@afnwct.org
  • Finance: Jean-Marie Gutierrez, finances@afnwct.org
  • Website: George Roberts, web@afnwct.org
  • Publicity: Mary Conseur, publicity@afnwct.org
  • 2016 95th Anniversary Event: Gail Gros/Nancy Callahan

Heures d'OuvertureWe’re also seeking volunteers who would like to help us maintain a set schedule of weekly or monthly Office Opening times. We would publish these times on our website to communicate when the AF Center is open so members and interested people can come by, browse/borrow from our vast French Mediathèque collection and/or ask questions. Please send me an email (afnwct@afnwct.org)  if you are interested in volunteering 2-3 hours/month.

Thank you for your continued support and membership.

Marda Gutierrez, President

In collaboration with the Southbury Film Commission (SFC), the Alliance Francaise of NW CT is pleased to present Eurochannel’s Short Film Festival from August 18 through November 8

More than 40 short films will be shown from Eurochannel’s 6th Annual Short Films Tour celebrating “Youth in Europe” and the art of short films. Each Program features an hour and a half of rich short film productions showcasing European culture and cinematographic heritage. Some films are as short as 5 minutes and others as long as 30 minutes.  Each movie is shown in its original language with English subtitles.

Efimera_02

The kickoff program, called “DREAMERS,” was held on Tuesday August 18 at the Southbury Public Library.

In addition to an 11-minute comedy from France (Indian Ocean) titled “Speed Dating,” movies from Denmark, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Turkey was shown.

On August 28, the films shown from Program 2 “Outsiders” were a bit ‘darker’ but everyone enjoyed the films which were from France, Belgium, Romania, Switzerland and Spain.

We’re looking forward to the next programs:

“YOUNG AT HEART” – Thursday, September 17 at 6:30 pm at the Southbury Public Library featuring two films from France plus films from Austria, UK: Wales, Spain: Andalusia, Slovenia and Greece.

“THE RUNAWAYS” – Friday, September 25 at 7:00 pm at the AF Center featuring short films from Sweden, Portugal, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Italy And Germany.

“FAMILY LIFE” – Friday, October 9 at 7:00 pm at the AF Center with films from Spain (Catalonia), Netherlands/Turkey, Georgia, UK (Scotland), Spain (Bajadoz), Italy (Reggio Calabra) and Poland.

“THE YOUNGER GENERATION” – Friday, October 23 at 7:00 pm at the AF Center featuring films from France: Bourgogne, Switzerland, Germany, Lithuania, Ireland, Netherlands, Croatia and Latvia/Estonia.

“THE FRENCH COLLECTION” – Sunday, November 8 at 3:00 pm at the AF Center featuring just the French short films from the Tour.

All Programs are free, so gather your friends and family and come discover Europe, visit its countries and listen to all its languages…

The SFC’s primary mission is to encourage and facilitate filmmakers to use Southbury as a backdrop for professional film projects. Joel Wald, SFC co-Chairman, clarified a desire to expand the Commission’s scope to include identifying Southbury as a cultural haven, friendly to film-lovers and filmmakers. More information may be found on their website, www.southburyfilm.org.

Eurochannel (www.eurochannel.com) is the award winning television channel featuring premium European entertainment with the biggest stars. Eurochannel presents only top-of-the-line European programming from recent blockbusters to critically acclaimed TV series. Experience Europe on Eurochannel through cinematic adventure, humor, history and entertainment. Eurochannel is available on Sling International. To stay up to date on our latest programming, like us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/Eurochannel) and like us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/Eurochannel).

What a wonderful time we had on July 12 for our Bastille Day party!

MERCI to Micheline who prepared all the scrumptious food and offered such a lovely setting around her backyard pool – even the weather was perfect!  Hospitality Chairwoman, Nancy creatively decorated the tables and fences with festive dish towels from different French regions and fresh flowers in vases.  Sabina also helped with bringing out the 3 courses of foods which were beautifully arranged on the buffet table.

Upon arrival, the guests were given a nametag on their back and everyone graciously participated in the game of “Which Famous French Person am I?” About 12 people played a competitive game of Pétanque, a couple of people enjoyed swimming in the pool, and the French music inspired our two ballroom dancers to a Parisian swing and everyone ate, and ate and ate, sipped wine and enjoyed a delightful afternoon together.

J’ai eu l’honneur d’assister à un diner Provençal chez Mme Rogers (et son mari) avec ses étudiants de French 1 et French for Fluency pour marquer la fin des cours de  l’année. Avec son repas délicieux, ses décorations de table très provençales, ses histoires intéressantes sur les chants des grillons et les traditions françaises, la musique d’ambiance…  elle nous a transportés en Provence – on pouvait se croire en Provence sentir le parfum de la lavande et les rayons de soleil du midi sur le visage !

Les Desserts!

Les Desserts!

Pendant le dessert, il y a eu une petite cérémonie de remise de diplômes.

Bravo à tous ses étudiants ! Et Bravo à Mme Rogers d’avoir donné une soirée magnifique à ses étudiants !

Go to our French Classes page and sign up now for Mme Rogers’ Monday night French 2 and French for Fluency classes. Classes start the week of August 31.

To see more photos from the evening – click on the PHOTO GALLERY below.

Welcome to Kriesi.at Theme Demos Sites. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

More than twenty years ago, a small group dreamed of reconstructing an exact replica of General Lafayette’s 18th-century ship called the Hermione. This majestic vessel is now the largest and most authentically built Tall Ship in the last 150 years. To commemorate the auspicious occasion of Hermione’s return to the USA, the Alliance Française of Northwestern CT, will be showing the DVD “La Mise à Flot de la Coque” on Friday, June 26 at 7:00pm at the Alliance Francaise Center.

This DVD portrays the splendid celebrations held in Rochefort, France when the nearly finished reconstructed Hermione first touched the waters.

In 1780, then aged only 19, the Marquis de Lafayette secretly – and against the wishes of the French government – sailed to America on the original Hermione, commanded by Louis-René de Latouche. Latouche, like so many others, fell under the young Lafayette’s spell. Getting him safely through, in his words, “un passage agréable” to America was the start of a very distinguished naval career.

In addition to carrying General Lafayette, his precious cargo included a strong force of French soldiers who played an instrumental role in the Battle of Yorktown, where they joined General Washington’s troops to blockade the British, leading to the eventual surrender of English General Cornwallis.

In April 2015, Hermione left France to start a 27-day transatlantic crossing to return to the USA. Dockings, special events and public tours will be held in Yorktown, Washington D.C., Annapolis, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, NY (July 2-4), Newport R.I. (7/8,9);, Boston, (7/10-11), Augusta, and Halifax Nova Scotia (http://hermione2015.com).

This DVD presentation is open to the public and will be shown free of charge at the Alliance Française Center located at 1 Pomperaug Office Park, Suite 301, Southbury, CT 06488.

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