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Greetings!
Le numéro de ce mois met l'accent sur des activités qui font de notre école un lieu unique pour votre enfant. Nous mettons en avant les activités de communication, les apprentissages langagiers et de bonnes connaissances académiques dans toutes les matières, mais nous cherchons aussi à innover afin de promouvoir des compétences essentielles pour l'avenir de nos élèves : la créativité, le travail d'équipe, une bonne éthique pour citer quelques unes des qualités essentielles pour réussir, aussi bien au lycée que dans le supérieur.
Les recherches et les articles de spécialistes dans ce domaine, ne cessent de nous apporter des éclairages nouveaux sur l'évolution de l'éducation, la façon dont les écoles comme la nôtre sont amenées à transformer le modèle traditionnel en espace plus connecté, interactif, collaboratif et motivant, tout en conservant les fondations académiques et les valeurs qui font leur force.
Je recevrais avec plaisir vos commentaires et vous invite à lire plus d'articles sur ces sujets qui nous passionnent sur mon blog, accessible depuis la page d'accueil du site de l'école.
Christian Jarlov,
Chef d'établissement
Dear Parents,
This edition focuses on activities that make our school unique for the education of your child. We promote communication skills, language learning and strong academics in every subject. We also try to be innovative at all levels of the school in order for students to develop essential skills: creativity, teamwork and good ethics, to name just a few of the important competencies essential to success.
As ongoing research and articles from specialists in the field continue to shed new light on how education can and should evolve, schools like ours transform into a more connected, interactive, collaborative and motivating learning environment. In doing so, however, we still maintain the academic foundations and values that make us strong.
I welcome your comments on the ideas shared in this newsletter and also invite you to read more on our favorite topics, on my blog. (It can be found on the SDFAS website homepage).
Christian Jarlov, Head of School |
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Francophonie Week
La semaine de la langue française et de la francophonie
By Christian Jarlov, Head of School
Every year in March, Francophone countries all over the world celebrate the French language. This year, the focus is on the language's creativity and its ability to adapt to the modern world and give people the words they need to create and express their feelings and ideas.
The French language, used on five continents and in 77 countries, is constantly evolving. La Semaine de la Francophonie is an opportunity to celebrate a language people love.
Francophonie is honored in over 70 countries with exhibits, workshops, shows, contests and lectures. This year, the week will highlight the capacity of the French language to adopt new words and to nurture our imagination with fresh, original and inspiring vocabulary.
SDFAS will offer a program with a guest country, Senegal. We will welcome a storyteller from Senegal who will invite our students to the rich world of traditional African tales.
Other events will emphasize the week's theme at various levels of the school.
Key numbers:
100,000 words in Le Grand Robert (A reference among French dictionaries)
60,000 words in Le Petit Robert
Between 100 and 400 words are added every year to Le Petit Robert
220 million French speakers on 5 continents
700 million estimated number of French speakers in 2050
13 countries have French as the official and only language
16 countries have French and another language as their official language (ex: Canada, Switzerland...)
87.5 million: number of Francophones in Europe
16.8 million: number of Francophones in America
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Time Awareness in Preschool
La notion du temps en maternelle
By Patricia Hardiman, Preschool Director
Children acquire time aw areness over a long span of time during their development. Throughout their schooling, they will become aware of the various concepts of time such as the past, the present and the future. They will learn about temporal concepts such as days of the week and months of the year.
Time awareness will help the child structure him/herself and anticipate or recall events of the day: "Before we go to recess, we need to clean up the class, then go to the bathroom, then wash our hands". Children will gradually pay attention to what happens in their lives and will memorize facts and form habits.
In PKO, children start to understand that some days the English teacher comes to class, "This is Patty's day," but some days she does not.
In PK1, they learn about days of the week, birthdays and when we have English class.
In PK2, students are working more specifically on the sequence and rhythm of the day.
A few times a day, each student...
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DELF Yourself
By Kathryn Sampson,
Assistant Head of School
How many different languages do you speak? How well do you speak each one? These are questions just about everyone  asks, from school admissions to employers.
Here at SDFAS, our goal is to have students who will be able to answer that they have a perfect grasp of two languages at the very least!
Of course, we all know what our immersion program is like, but how do our students prove what they know to everyone else? There are many different possible answers to this question, but the most obvious option is one that not only allows students to prove their learning-level here in the United States, yet one that also allows them to attest to a level recognized all over the world. This is the purpose of the DELF exam.
Short for "Diplôme d'Études en Langue Française," the DELF exam has been around for close to 30 years, and is offered by the CIEP (Centre International d'Études Pédagogiques) for the French Ministry of Education. There are different levels...
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Little Bakers in Preschool
Des pâtissiers en maternelle
By Anne-Sophie Nguyen-Trégouët,
Preschool Teacher
In PK1, we have read stories about bread and then we decided to actually bake bread during class. The first part of the project was a game where students had to recognize wheat seeds that were mixed in among other seeds. (A model of a wheat seed was displayed as a visual aid to help the students).
Then, just like in the book the students had read in class, "La petite poule rousse," they crushed the wheat seeds to make flour.
For the next part of the project, the teachers brought in different types of breads to class for the children to compare and look at. Each one had a different taste and shape: baguettes, whole grain breads, and sliced breads.
Finally, the PK1 children made their own bread in class and they were able to shape their loaf as they pleased. The students really enjoyed the process of making bread.
Once baked, the class got to eat the bread, but as they were eating it, they felt something was missing: butter! So they proceeded to make their own butter. They took a little bit of whipped cream, poured it in a bottle and shook it very hard. Now they had butter for their bread and it was all homemade! Delicious!
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Writing Project in Fourth Grade
Projet d'écriture en CM1
By Aude Morvan,
Fourth Grade French Teacher
Throughout the months of December and January, 4th grades (CM1) A and B created written work using their knowledge in Literature, Conjugation and Written Expression.
In December and January, 4th grades/CM1 A and B created written work using their knowledge in Literature, Conjugation and Written Expression.
The book we studied in class, Drôle de samedi soir by Claude Klotz, is an adventure / mystery novel. Therefore we made a list of different methods used by the author to create suspense. (Have the action take place in a specific place, the use of "fear" vocabulary, alternating long descriptive sentences and short ones that show action, the repetition of certain words to accentuate them, the use of different kinds of punctuation that gives life to the story, etc.). Meanwhile, we studied how the "passé simple" and "imparfait," two tenses that express past events, work in French writing.
The students used what they learned, by writing their own narratives...
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Homework
Les devoirs à la maison
By Francis Carlier, Elementary School Director
Homework is an integral part of a child's school life. At San Diego French-American School, a student's homework load increases as they progress through the grades. In first grade, time spent doing homework should not exceed 30 minutes per day and then should range between 45 minutes and an hour in both languages up to fifth grade.
In first grade, French homework consists mostly of reading activities. As the year progresses, students' reading skills will grow from reading sight words, to sentences to short paragraphs. The writing portion of the curriculum includes a weekly dictation, which students prepare for in advance for homework. The text is handed out on Monday for students to review and the dictation is given on Friday. Math homework is a review of work done during class time.
English homework reviews and practices concepts already taught in class. The focus is on phonics...
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The next generation of Report Cards
La prochaine génération des bulletins scolaires
By Christian Jarlov, Head of School
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Collaboration, problem-solving and critical thinking were essential skills on the contest that took place Thursday morning, March 13 at school. Students from 5th and 6th grade teamed up to solve a series of mathematical problems as part of the 2014 international "Math Sans Frontières" edition, under the supervision of math middle-school teacher Catherine Mével.
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The landscape of assessment is rapidly changing and as educators, we are trying to adapt to emerging needs, not only in our schools, but also in colleges and in the workplace. As we consider what we value, there is a clear correlation between what schools assess and what they teach. Naturally, teachers tend to spend more time teaching students skills that will be evaluated on since schools are still being judged on their performance, based on standardized test scores and overall academic performance.
Twenty-first century schools are becoming more conscious that skills measured by standardized tests are not necessarily the skills most sought by colleges, or in the challenging workplace of the real world.
At the end of January, the CAIS conference included a few sessions on the important topic of assessment....
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| Meet an SDFAS Student
Rencontrez un étudiant de SDFAS
This spring we have selected Andrew Petruzzelli for the student interview, as Andrew has been a student here since he was in  preschool. His older brother, Nicolas, now at San Diego High School, is an SDFAS alumnus. His mother, Kristi Larsen, explains their motivations for choosing the French-American School for the boys:
"Originally our goal was only to expose our preschool aged children to a second language. We do not have any particular connection to the French language, but we researched bilingual preschools and were impressed with the curriculum and the quality of the preschool teachers at SDFAS.
"While it was our desire to expose our children to a second language that brought us here, it was the exceptional education they received and the international community experience that ultimately kept us here. The experience is so much more than simply being able to speak a second language. Through the unique dual curriculum, our boys have been exposed to the best of the French and American systems of education, and they are much more aware of different cultures and the global community around us. SDFAS also became a real home for us as well, and we have made lifelong friendships with similarly-minded parents and teachers."
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Meet an SDFAS Family
Rencontrez une famille de SDFAS
 This month, we would like to introduce you to the Stephenson family: parents Chrysa and Mark and their 8 year old twin boys Matthew and Oliver. The boys are currently in third grade with Francis Carlier and François Trégouët. The Stephensons, with strong ties to France, had a desire for their boys to speak French and also wanted them to have an international perspective. SDFAS was the perfect fit for their twins' education. Click HERE to read the interview with the Stephenson Family
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Le saviez-vous?
This is the "Did you Know?" section where we will explain acronyms and expressions.
Educators love to use acronyms, or rather they have to because the 'jargon' used in pedagogy calls for ways to make long expressions easier to use.
The acronym: STEM or STEAM
By Kathryn Sampson
STEM
stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Used in Education to describe this area of subjects taught from kindergarten to high school, STEM courses prepare students for success in a world that depends increasingly on the mastery of sophisticated math and science skills to adapt to our technology-dependent society.
For many of the supporters of STEM education, its role is vital to the competitiveness and future economic prosperity of any country, since technology has become ubiquitous in our everyday lives. STEM education is also an area that is trying to attract more women; in many STEM careers, there are immensely fewer women than men. The contributions tha
t female coworkers would have to make to STEM advances and innovations are important, since they represent half of the world's population!
Beyond trying to attract women into the Sciences with a less traditional approach, two key words have prompted many to now advocate for "STEAM" and no longer simply "STEM" courses: "innovation" and "creativity." A large number of Educators and Artists alike have added the "A" to the acronym to represent the "Arts," which are intended to promote more creativity in students interested in the Sciences.
This new trend has of course sparked a debate in education circles, and questions are being asked about STEM's original goals, the nature of scientific work and where creativity comes from. Any artistic endeavor is the epitome of creation, but how could we not consider the non-artistic innovations by French polymath Henri Poincaré or German-born physicist Albert Einstein creative? Although the latter was a talented violinist, Poincaré was quite clumsy and artistically inept according to the psychologist Édouard Toulouse, who worked with the particularly-prolific Poincaré to understand how creativity happens.
This additional letter has also prompted teachers of other disciplines not obviously present in the "STEAM" acronym to feel as though their subject does not matter as much as others. Would History not be considered important to the Sciences? and if it is, should we then talk about "SHTEAM" courses? Aren't languages also important for creativity and communication, which come into play when large international groups of scientists collaborate? Maybe we should offer "SHMALET"- based curricula?
Of course, this is an exaggeration and these last acronyms sound more like Smurf communication than educational theory. It is quite obvious that every subject is important for a student to receive a well-rounded education. Yet the question remains: in a world which demands more and more technological knowledge and innovation are the "STEM" subjects enough? Or is putting more emphasis on these subjects in particular exactly what we need to help tomorrow's budding inventors? Instead of promoting only our own favorite subjects, an interesting course of action might be to ask innovators such as Steve Wozniak and Marissa Mayer what they think. So, Steve and Marissa, should we go "full STEAM ahead" or "root ourselves in STEM?"
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Notre Réseau Our Network
French-American Schools in Texas
By Christian Jarlov, Head of School
AFSA, the Association of French Schools in America met in Austin, Texas early in February 2014, to present the French-American Schools in Texas with a focus on the Austin International School. There are three schools in Texas: Dallas International School, Awty International School in Houston and Austin International School.
Austin International School - Facts and figures:
The school was founded in 2001, so it's a "young school."
The program includes preschool to 5th grade.
There are 198 students and 20 teachers.
The curriculum is taught in three languages: 60% in French , 30% in English and 10% in Spanish, for the whole school.
75% of the student population comes from American families and only 10% from French families.
Christophe Bonnet, Head of School since 2010, is confident in the future of the school: "We have moved to a new campus in 2012, purchased thanks to a loan. Ownership of the campus gives us stability, and we now plan to open the 6th grade class in 2017. Our program is attracting families who understand the value of bilingual and international education!"
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Question of the month
By Christian Jarlov, Head of School
Is SDFAS thinking about opening a high school and, if so, when?
This question is frequently asked by current and prospective parents. It's a good sign, as it shows that parents value the quality of our program, from the early years through the end of middle school and they would like to see their child go all the way through the12th grade.
My answer is this: On paper there is no reason not to have a high school. Our network has great examples of well-established and renowned institutions. If we just look at California: There are the LILA and the Lycée International de Los Angeles in L.A.; and The Lycée International de San Francisco and the French-American International School (FAIS), in the Bay area.
I recently visited FAIS for three days as part of the CAIS/WASC re-accreditation team. This school is, in terms of students, faculty, program and mission, very similar to ours, from pre-elementary through middle school. Their high school offers two separate tracks, a French-American track and an IB (International Baccalaureate) track.
The French track at FAIS prepares students for the "Brevet des collèges" at the end of 9th grade, which is a French diploma. The student then determines how to proceed in high school and can prepare for the French Baccalaureate, with a strong emphasis on math, science and languages.
The other track at FAIS is the IB, where two-thirds of the students go. Each grade level has 80 to 90 students, which makes the high school more than 300 students strong, giving the possibility to offer an amazing range of courses and options with a very diverse and qualified faculty, some who are more engaged in the French bac preparation and others who are qualified to teach the IB courses.
To come back to our school, it's clear that we have all the good reasons to consider opening a high school at some point, as it would benefit the whole school. From a pedagogical point of view, it is not difficult, as we already have the program from the French Ministry of Education for the French Bac. We also have the model of the French-American lycées that have established a curriculum that leads to the acquisition of either the French-American Baccalaureate or the French Bac. These French-American high schools can also offer Advanced Placement courses, which are recognized by American universities.
What is missing at this point in time for us is obvious: a stronger base of students in the lower school and the middle school. Even if we were to open a more modest structure in term of numbers, we would still need at least 30 to 50 students going into 9th grade, and the possibility to offer a program that would allow the 9th grade to be an entry point. This is what happens at FAIS, as students leave after middle school and others enter the high school in 9th grade to join the IB program.
For us, the development of a campus to accommodate a high school is the second obvious component of the project. A high school needs classrooms, collaborative work space, a separate library, and so on, even if some space is shared with another school, or another division of our own school.
It is realistic to say that SDFAS does not at the moment fulfill these two criteria: enough potential students to open a 9th grade and the capacity to accommodate a high school on its current campus. The answer to the question, "When will that happen?" remains uncertain. It's healthy at this point in the evolution of our school to focus on strengthening what we do best. We could very well include a feasibility study for a high school project in the next strategic plan set for 2017-2022.
Christian Jarlov,
Head of School
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123 Soleil:
If you have any questions or comments about our publications, please send an email to Emily Sims at:
Thank you.
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