Every year, many students of French around the world get the chance to take part in the Allons en France contest, which offers a 10-day educational trip to France to its winners thanks to the Institut Français.  The French Heritage language Program is grateful to be part of this great event, which has already allowed many of our students to display their excellent French skills and discover France over the last few years.

Let's go to France

For the 2012 edition of Allons en France, the French Heritage Language Program launched an essay-writing contest based on this year’s theme: “Human rights in the 21^st century: new challenges?”. More than 100 participants from our partner high schools in New York and Florida worked on the topic with their French teachers with 26 students qualifying to take part in the final run-off.  The compositions were then anonymously evaluated by an independent jury that awarded 10 prizes. One student of the International High School at Prospect Heights in Brooklyn, Christelle Bissainthe, 17, was unanimously selected by the jury to win the 1^st prize.

Christelle’s essay focused on women’s rights as well as the protection of children. Of Haitian descent, Christelle drew many of her examples from the current situation in Haiti, her own experience of the country, and showed excellent arguments and French writing skills. Born in the United States of Haitian parents, Christelle quickly moved to Haiti and attended school there until the earthquake devastated the country in early 2010. Her parents then decided to send her back to the US to stay with her aunt in Brooklyn, where she now pursues her studies within the Internationals Network for Public Schools.

Image: Proud Principal Nedda De Castro (left) and student Christelle Bissainthe (right) upon receiving the news.

As for her motivation to join Allons en France, Christelle declares: “J’ai hâte d’aller en France, de pouvoir rencontrer d’autres jeunes venus du monde entier et de travailler sur les droits de l’homme. La situation de mon pays, l’insécurité et la pauvreté, fait que de nombreuses femmes et beaucoup d’enfants sont en danger et n’ont plus leurs droits respectés. En tant que femme et jeune fille d’origine haïtienne, ce sujet me touche beaucoup.”

Christelle will join Tyler Keegan, another American student, who won the other Allons en France grant awarded as part of the France-Atlanta humanitarian contest. Both will be part of the 120 students selected around the world to enjoy this great educational stay in France!

French Heritage Summer Camp 2012, c’est parti!

This year we will be giving 20 disadvantaged French-speaking high school students from the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn the chance to discover a Francophone country here in America by organizing a summer camp in Quebec from July 2nd -12th. Activities will include the Global Forum of the French language organized by the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), cultural and historical museum visits, guided tours of Montreal and Quebec City, the Assemblée Nationale du Quebec, French music concerts, and visits of major universities. The cost of this educational trip is estimated at $1,500 per student but registration fees will be capped at $150 per student in order to respond to the financial capacities of our population (some of our partner schools are even paying for their students’ contributions).

From Manhattan to Montreal: Help us make this happen, be part of the project!
 

Although we have already received strong support from the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie and other partner foundations, we need another $3,000 to close the budget and make sure all 20 kids will fully benefit from all that this camp has to offer. In order to help us reach that goal we have just launched a crowd funding campaign thanks to the website www.ulule.com. We are looking for your support, and we have prepared special rewards for you! Your generous donations will go towards covering the costs of food, transportation, lodging, and museum admissions.

Take a look and join our project at : From Manhattan to Montreal

You can also support our project by sending a check directly to us (written to the order of FACE, with FHLP on the memo line) at:

French Heritage Summer Camp

FACE (French American Cultural Exchange)

972 5th avenue

10075 New York, NY

or contact Benoît Le Dévédec at : heritageprogram@facecouncil.org 

Please note that all donations are tax-deductible!

Benoît Le Dévédec

Coordinator of the French Heritage Language Program

Learn more about us at: http://facecouncil.org/fhlp/index.html