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Salvete

 

   

hosted by
Department of Modern Languages and Classics
201 Little Hall  University of Maine  Orono, ME  04469
 
LANGUAGES:  Tools for the 21st Century

The FLAME website offers resources and information for Maine's K-12

teachers of French, German, Latin, Spanish, ESL and other languages.

News

                                          Meet Your FLAME Board!

                 

Seated, from left to right: Janice Clain, Christopher Gram (FLAME President), Priscille Michaud, and Betsy McPhedran

Standing, from left to right: Nancy Sparacio, Gisela Hoerchel-Alden, Donald Reutershan, Ann Sullivan, Catherine Gram (FLAME Secretary), Kim MacDonald (FLAME Treasurer), and Betsy Hudson

Several other members of the Advisory Board are not pictured: Dennis Glidden, Mary Oches and Ruth Parent.

Accès Cinéma Africain

Penobscot School in Montréal (since 1997)

This French immersion for adults and advanced-level students in the context of Montréal’s annual Festival de Cinéma PanAfrica International will be held April 22-25, 2010. The new Program Director is Dr. Abe Waldstein, Francophone Africa specialist. Co-Founder Julia Schulz will assist.

For more information, please contact: Patti Luchetti, Executive Director, Penobscot School; 28 Gay St, Rockland, ME 04841; 207-594-1084; patti@languagelearning.org

Information and registration forms available on line: www.cinema-africain.org

C.E.U.’s are available.

 

Limited financial aid is available for Maine foreign language teachers in the form of $100 tuition grants. Funds are available on a first-come, first-served basis, thanks to the generous support of the David and Eleanore Rukin Philanthropic Foundation. The Foundation's wish is to address the need for professional development funds created by school budget cuts. Please request a scholarship application form with registration.

Bonjour!
 
It’s time to start preparing for the 2010 Grand Concours, the National French Contest of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF).
 
The dates for the 2010 National French Contest are February 15-26 for FLES and March 1-28 for the Middle School/High School level.  As in the past, the exam will be administered in your own school.  Please arrange for testing in your school through a school administrator, guidance counselor or another (non-French) teacher.  All students are encouraged to participate.  Further information about the National French Contest is available on the AATF web site at http://www,frenchteachers.org/concours/
 
The contest fees for AATF members are less than for non-members.  Current members of AATF pay $3.00 per student and non-members pay $4.00.  The CD for each level is $6.00.  AATF is offering two types of incentives to recruit new members.
 
bulletThe AATF will waive the national portion of entrance fees for ten students of each teacher who joins AATF for the first time by January 1, 2010, plus one free CD.
bulletAATF will waive the national portion of entrance fees for five students for an AATF member who recruits one new member.
 
In order to be eligible for the fee reductions, a teacher must be an AATF member by January 1, 2010.
 
To limit unnecessary photocopy expenses, I have not included the registration forms with this mailing.  If you plan to offer the National French Contest this year, please contact me via e-mail (preferred), telephone, or snail mail and I will mail you all of the necessary documents.  Please notify me by December 4th of your interest in participating in order to allow sufficient time for you to receive and complete all necessary paperwork.
 
Should you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me.  If I can’t answer your questions immediately, I will contact the National Contest Administrator to find the answers for you. I hope your year is going smoothly and that I will hear from you soon.
 
                                                                Sincerely,
 
 
                                                                Ruth Haszko
                                                                Contest Administrator for Maine
                                                                e-mail: haszko@pair.com
                                                                telephone:  207-779-1709

Franco-American playwright

Grégoire Chabot and his theatrical troupe

will perform two fantastic

shows in Jewett Auditorium at UMA!

 

A variety of monologues will be presented

(in French and English)

YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW FRENCH TO ENJOY THE SHOW!        

Thursday, November 12th from 3:30-4:45

1 monologue in French

2 monologues in English

“Talk back” with the performers

Friday, November 13th from 6:30-8:00

3 monologues in English

2 monologues in French

JOIN US!  SHOWS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

For more information, please contact

Chelsea Ray at: chelsea.d.ray@maine.edu  or 621-3487

These shows are made possible with the support of

“Le Centre de la Francophonie des Amériques”

Chelsea Ray
Assistant Professor of French and Comparative Literature
University of Maine at Augusta
46 University Drive
Augusta, ME 04330
(207) 621-3487

FALL FLES CONFERENCE (Grades K-8) PLEASE COME!

                                                                News Flash!

  There is still time to sign up for the FLES conference to be held at Maranacook Middle School

                                                                        Sat Nov 7 from 9-3.

 

The focus this year is on how to get students talking!

Morning sessions will include: Ideas on how to use music in you classroom, songs, chants and make your own musical instruments with presenter Margo Stiassni from the Penobscot school.

Fun games and activities that encourage students  to speak the language  with Betsy McPhedran and Simple TPR with Brett  Trefethen

                                                All these activities are geared for K-8.

Afternoon will present various new topics with technology to get students talking!  Lots of exciting new ideas.  Bring your laptop . This is for all age groups!

The last hour will be a sharing time.  Bring your best idea and a handout if possible.

Fabulous lunch and morning bagels are included in conference price!  Only $16.00.

I fear the brochures may have been delayed in the mail.  If you did not get a conference registration form you can download one from the FLAME web site or e-mail

betsy_mcphedran@maranacook.org    

                                                Hope to see you there! 

                                                                                    Betsy McPhedran 

           

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 7th 2009 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.

MARANACOOK COMMUNITY MIDDLE SCHOOL, 2100 Millard Harrison Dr., Readfield, Maine 04352

Fee: $16.00 (includes registration, coffee, best bagels in Maine and fantastic lunch)

9:00 a.m. Registration and welcome by FLES Committee: Betsy McPhedran, Charlie Hicks, MaryBeth Maloney, Brett Trefethen & Mary Ellen Tracy. Enjoy Bagels and Coffee

9:30-11:30 Proposed topics: Story telling and TPR.  Games and fun ideas for language practice in your classrooms. Hands on activities

11:30-12:30 Lunch and networking. door prizes, handouts music and fun!

12:30- 2:00 Learn how to integrate technology into your foreign language classroom.

2:00-2:45 Participants will divide into age levels (and possibly language) and share their best worksheets/ideas.

Click here for more information and a registration form.


Registration for Spring 2010 begins very soon. Please note of the following course offerings at the graduate level in French at UMaine.  If you have any questions, I will be more than happy to answer them.  Just drop me a line at Jane.Smith@umit.maine.edu.
 
 
FRE 509 Seminar in Poetry: Nineteenth Century. This is an on site course taught by Professor Kathryn Slott on Tuesday evening from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.. The catalog description is below.

Movements in French poetry. The periods, groups and trends studied vary year to year. Course may be repeated for credit.

FRE 598 Independent Projects in French II: Literature, Music and Culture of Southern France. This is an online course taught by Professor Nancy Erickson of USM. A brief description follows.

In this course, we will explore three areas: the music of the South (Boby Lapointe, Georges Brassens, Charles Trénet, IAM ...), books by writers from the South (Alphonse Daudet's Lettres de mon moulin, Jean Giono's Colline, Marcel Pagnol's Marius and René Barjavel's Ravages) and topics in art (Van Gogh, Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso) and civilization (films such as Le fils de l'épicier, Jean de Florette, La femme du boulanger, Chocolat).

A tentative schedule for the Maine Summer Institute for Teachers of French and Spanish 2010 will be available in November and will be emailed to you. In the meantime, if there is any additional information I can provide about the spring semester, please let me know. And please share this information with colleagues who may be interested.

Best regards,
Jane Smith
 
J. S. Smith, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of French
Graduate Coordinator, Dept. of Modern Languages and Classics
Co-Director, UMS Partnership Maine-France-Quebec
University of Maine
5742 Little Hall
Orono, ME 04469-5742
(207) 581-2079                Jane.Smith@umit..maine.edu

2009 Maine Chinese Language Conference

Building Strong and Sustainable Chinese Language and Culture Programs in Maine and Establishing Partnerships between Maine and China

Friday, November 6, 2009, 9:00 am - 4:30 pm, Wells Conference Center, University of Maine


Presented by: Chinese Language & Culture Center of Maine (CCLC) and Bangor Chinese School, in collaboration with the Maine Department of Education, The University of Maine and Orono High School

Sponsored by: Lee Academy (Maine)

The primary audiences for this conference are school administrators, school board members, teachers, parents, and members of institutions of higher education statewide.

We would be honored to have you as a participant and would be grateful for the opportunity to share with you highlights of Chinese language and culture teaching and learning in Maine.

Topics and Speakers:

Opening Doors to China and the U.S., Jianjun Cen, Education Counsellor, the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in New York

How Education can Bring Business to Maine, Bruce Lindberg, Lee Academy


Building Connections and Partnerships with China, Gerry Palmer, Mayor of the City of Bangor

Chinese Language Education: A National Perspective, Jeff Wang, Asia Society

Overview of World Language Instruction in the State of Maine, Don Reutershan, ME DOE

World Languages at the Maine universities, Raymond Pelletier, the University of Maine

Stories of Chinese Teaching in Maine: Wei Wu, Bo Zhu, and Yue Deng (Chinese Guest Teachers)

Multi-Media Use in Language Teaching, Gisela Hoecherl-Alden, University of Maine

How to Assess Students' Learning in Foreign Language, Suzhong Tian and Nives Dal Bò-Wheeler, University of Maine

Resources for Developing Chinese Programs, Don Reutershan, Jing Zhang and Jeff Wang

Registration fee (includes all sessions, materials and lunch):

    before October 20: $95

    after October 20: $125

    seniors (age 65+)

    students: $50

For more information:

Please call 990-0710, email info@bangorchinese.com, or visit http://www.bangorchinese.com/2009CONFERENCE.HTML  You will find registration forms on this website.

				French Film Series
 
 
The French Club at the University of Maine at Farmington cordially invites you to a screening of the following
films (English subtitles).  
 
All screenings at 7:00 p.m.   Free and open to the public.
 
++Wednesday November 11th: De battre mon cœur s’est arrêté (2005) by Jacques Audiard, Room C23 
 
Tom, a real estate thug, is torn between a criminal life and his desire to
become a concert pianist.
 
++Wednesday November 18th: Paris, (2008) by Cédric Klapisch, Lincoln Auditorium
 
Poetic view of Paris through the eyes of a young dying dancer.
 
++Wednesday December 2nd: Entre les murs (2008)by Laurent Cantet, Lincoln Auditorium
 
Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he
negotiates a year with his racially mixed students from a tough Parisian
neighborhood.
 
++Wednesday December 9th: Maurice Richard(2005) by Charles Binamé, Lincoln Auditorium
Canadian Film about Maurice Richard, an outstanding hockey player, and about
discrimination against French Canadians in the fifties and sixties in
Quebec.
 

For more information:

 Sylvie Charron, Professor of French, University of Maine at Farmington, 270 Main Street, Farmington, ME04938, USA

Tel. (207)778 7420, Fax. (207)778 7452, e-mail:
scharron@maine.edu

Films from the Muslim World at the University of Maine at Farmington

Films are at 6:30 in Roberts 101

AFGHANISTAN: "The Kite Runner" (2006, 128 min.) - Monday, Nov 9th

IRAN/GENDER: "Leila" (1996, 102 min.) - Tuesday, November 17th

MUSLIM DIASPORA: "Little Senegal" (2004, 97 min) - Monday, November 30th

QATAR/MEDIA: Exclusive to Al-Jazeera: Media and Democracy in the Middle East (2003, 57 mins)- December 8th

Click here for descriptions of each of these films.

This film series is sponsored by Professor Linda Beck.

For more information:

 Sylvie Charron, Professor of French, University of Maine at Farmington, 270 Main Street, Farmington, ME04938, USA

Tel. (207)778 7420, Fax. (207)778 7452, e-mail: scharron@maine.edu

            If you would like to hear about French-related activities on the UMA campus, please contact Chelsea Ray , Assistant Professor of French and Comparative Literature (chelsea.d.ray@maine.edu), to have your name added to the general mailing list.  This year, for example, we are offering a number of different programs: the “Fun in French for Kids” program for children ages 3-10 (high school student volunteers are welcome to participate); a French Conversation Table (on the first Thursday of every month from 2:30-3:45 p.m.); a French Conversation Course (Tuesdays from 3:00-4:00 p.m.), and a French Film Festival (Spring 2010).  In addition, please mark your calendars for November 12th (3:30-4:30 p.m.) and 13th (6:30-8:00 p.m.), when Franco-American playwright Grégoire Chabot will present a series of monologues in French and English with his troop in Jewett Auditorium.  We will also provide the texts of the monologues in advance, should you wish to use them in your classes.

Here is a reminder to save the date, and REGISTER EARLY for the 2010 FLAME conference. Do it now before budgets freeze!!

You will find the registration form here.

Gisela Hoecherl-Alden has put together this wonderful list of resources for the promotion of the study of languages. Check it out!!!.

International Exchange Opportunities for Teachers and Principals

Travel to Argentina, Brazil, Greece, India, Italy, Jordan, Mexico, Thailand and Uruguay

The Educational Seminar grants include all travel, living and program expenses. These grants are funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State and administered by American Councils for International Education. Click here for more information.

The 2010 summer edition of The Spanish Language and Literature Programs for High School Students, in CEELE-accredited Schools in Spain, is available now at:

http://ap-spanish.eduespa.org/cursos_en.php

The Spanish Language and Literature Programs for High School Students in CEELE-accredited Schools are organized by Eduespaña and sponsored by the Education Office of the Embassy of Spain in Washington, D.C.

These programs are aimed at U.S. and Canadian students aged 15-19 with an intermediate to advanced level of Spanish who wish to improve their skills in preparation to take the Advanced Placement Spanish Language or Literature Exa
m.

                                                        

 

                   Master of Arts                       

                              in                                                

            Teaching French                 Cajun Flag 

K-12 teachers who hold conditional, transitional, provisional, professional, or targeted needs certificates in French have the opportunity to reach advanced levels of mastery in language and culture and develop the pedagogical knowledge required for full certification from the Maine State Department of Education. The M.A.T. in French is congruent with the new guidelines for Modern and Classical Language Teacher Endorsement. Teachers who are already fully certified in language education may opt for courses in French language and culture or for the study of a second foreign language at the intermediate level or higher in lieu of the courses leading to certification.

For more information, click here.

 

 

Establishing Partnerships with Schools in France

 

Are you, a teaching colleague, or your school interested in establishing a partnership with a school in France?  If so, please read the information below.

On February 24, 2009 Commissioner Gendron and James Breece, Vice Chancellor of the University of Maine System, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Académie de Nantes, France.  The purpose of the MOU is to foster educational collaboration between Maine and the Académie de Nantes, which is responsible for directing K-12 and postsecondary education in the Pays de la Loire region of France. 

Through the MOU all partners agree to develop a range of joint educational and research activities for students, teachers, professors and school administrators.  Examples of possible cooperative projects include correspondence, visiting programs, and study/research activities and exchanges that are either face-to-face or mediated through technology.  (Due to current economic conditions, overseas travel should not be viewed as a required component to a project.  The inclusion of travel will depend on the extent to which partner schools are able to find ways to finance the desired travel.)  Examples of project themes range from a comparison of French and American schools to a discussion of an environmental issue facing your region or the state; from sharing cultural information (e.g. tourism, history, visual and performing arts) to comparing geography and related industries in Maine and the Pays de la Loire; from sharing information about students’ families and/or friends to creating stories or plays together in French and English. 

If you or your school is interested in developing a partnership project with a school in France, please click here to complete the application form.  If you have additional questions, contact Don Reutershan at don.reutershan@maine.gov. Thank you in advance for your interest in this program.

Our President Mary Oches attended the 2008 ACTFL Conference where she represented FLAME. The conference took place in Orlando, Florida in November.  Mary is pictured here with the AATSP representative to the FLAME Advisory Board, Betsy Hudson.

On October 10, 2007, the State Board of Education unanimously approved Maine Department of Education Regulation 132 - Learning Results: Parameters for Essential Instruction. The routine technical rule has been approved by the Attorney General and filed with the Secretary of State, with an effective date of October 22, 2007. The filing of this rule completes the final step in the comprehensive review of the Maine Learning Results.  The new  standards can be found on this page: http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/pei/index.html

Le lancement du livre Voyages A Maine Franco-American Reader de Nelson Madore et Barry Rodrigue a eu lieu samedi. C’est vraiment un très beau livre !

Book Description:
Dozens of voices celebrate--in essays, stories, plays, poetry, songs, and art--the Franco-American and Acadian experience in Maine. They explore subjects as diverse as Quebec-Maine frontier history, immigrant drama, work, genealogy, discrimination, women, community affairs, religion, archeology, politics, literature, language, and humor. The voices, themselves, are equally diverse, including Norman Beaupré, Michael Michaud, Ross and Judy Paradis, Susann Pelletier, John Martin, Béatrice Craig, Michael Parent, Linda Pervier, Alaric Faulkner, Ray Levasseur, Yves Frenette, Paul Paré, Yvon Labbé, Rev. Clement Thibodeau, Bob Chenard, Denis Ledoux, Josée Vachon, Greg Chabot, Jean-Paul Poulain, Stewart Doty, Rhea Côté Robbins, and many others. This is a rich resource and an engaging read, one that will resonate with many.

 If you buy it through Amazon.com, it’s $10 cheaper than the list price!

The Peace  Corps' Coverdell World Wise Schools has hundreds of Peace Corps volunteers  in 73

countries who are signed up for the Correspondence Match  program, seeking to be connected

with a US teacher for a two-year letter  writing exchange (once a month).  If you might be

interested in participating, please go to our website and click Educators to sign up:

http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/correspond/

For information about financial support for candidates for National Board Certification,

click here.

Interested in hosting an international student?

Check out these websites:

Council on Standards for International Educational Travel

International Youth Exchange

Do you have your copy of the FLAME Advocacy Video?

 

Called The Many Faces of Maine, it was professionally produced by Ronnie Hersh and Richard Searls of

Kinetiscope. Our FLAME Video Committee included Chris Gram, Catherine Hobby and Peter Nutting.

Together they created a script and chose who would be interviewed. They also collaborated to

edit the film. The video offers a clear rationale for the inclusion of language study in our schools.

 

We are pleased to offer you this lively and informative video which is suitable for a variety of audiences:

bulletparents and your PTA/PTO
bulletyour local school board
bulletyour administrators and curriculum coordinator
bulletyour students
bulletall teachers in your school
bulletall schools in your district
bulletyour local pre-school programs
bullet community service organizations such as  Rotary Club, Lions Club, etc.

If you would like your copy ($10 for FLAME members, $20 for non-members), please email

Ann Sullivan at mmesorciere@msn.com.

Have you ever thought about volunteering for one of the FLAME committees, and then hesitated out of

concern that the job might not be what you expected? We committee members have all been there!

So we decided to put together a "job description" for each committee so that potential volunteers might

find their "perfect position." Click here to read about what members of FLAME committees do.

Click here for  a summary of federal legislative actions related to foreign/world languages.  This report comes from the Joint National Committee for Languages & National Council for Languages and International Studies (JNCL-NCLIS).


 

Discover Languages

 

 

ACTFL has launched a new sustained public awareness campaign for language education.

DiscoverLanguages.org  is up and running! Check it out!

New Teachers--FLAME has created scholarships just for you to help support your professional development. Click here for information about these exciting new scholarships.

 Last updated Nov. 9, 2009

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