Community Outreach: Award toward Excellence: AF de Chicago (IL)
Chicago Winners 2004
Chicago Community Outreach 2004
In 1998, the Alliance Française entered into a partnership with the Chicago Public Schools to establish activities for inner-city high school students wishing to continue their study of French beyond the two-year foreign language requirement. Designed to enhance students' basic French language skills and broaden their exposure to French culture, this after-school program consists of a two to three-year course with classes meeting once a week for ten weeks during each of the Alliance Française trimesters (Fall, Winter and Spring). Currently 26 students are enjoying the personalized instruction offered by Alliance Française teachers. Class time is supplemented varied activities: surfing at the AF cybercafé, viewing French movies and videos, taking French cooking lessons, and meeting Francophone speakers and artists. At the end of the 2004 school year, four seniors were chosen to participate in a two-week all-expenses-paid trip to France. Ambassador Levitte attended the awards ceremony and congratulated the "lauréats" and indeed all the program participants for their success in learning French and their new-found appreciation of the diversity of francophone culture.
For more information, go to www.afchicago.com and click on "Community Outreach".