Newsletter

Greetings to SC-AATF

from Elizabeth A. Zahnd

Bonne Rentrée!! Here are some opportunities for you and for your students this school year.

♦ Once again colleagues from the associations representing Classical Languages, German, French, Spanish and NNELL are planning a Fall Workshop. Mark your calendar for Saturday, October 20 at Cardinal Newman High School (4701 Forest Drive, Columbia, SC, 29206) 9 AM to 3 PM.

Speaker: Dr. Shawn Morrison, Foreign Language Methods Instructor and Student Teacher Supervisor, College of Charleston

Title: “Incorporating More Performance-Based Activities: Adapting, Adjusting, and Adding Daily Teaching Activities.”

Abstract: “Now that languages are on the report card in South Carolina, and schools have already created new curriculum and assessment templates, or are in the process of doing so, how does that affect our daily teaching? How can we prepare our students for the integrated performance-based assessments and still cover the grammar and vocabulary that we are committed to cover? How can we combine what we have been doing with what we are now expected to do? This session will give basic ideas for daily activities, and participants will be able to look at current daily activities and exercises to see how they can be adapted, sometimes very easily, to work both for grammar and for performance-based assessments.”

Participants are asked to bring their curriculum plans, their books, and/or their personal lesson plans and activities for evaluation. ( See this issue of the Crescent for the registration form and the agenda.)

♦”La semaine du français” will be November 5 to 11. Although it is not exactly a calendar week, the national organizers wanted to keep the same dates in 2008 as in 2007.

To help you plan events which promote the study of the French language and culture, go to:    http://www.frenchteachers.org/nfw/Default.htm.

♦ le Grand Concours, National French Contest, will be administered during the time period of February 28-March 22, 2009 for Middle and High School, and February 16-26 for Elementary School. More information is available at:   http://www.frenchteachers.org/concours/ or contact our state contest administrator, Josette Page Sharwell (PO Box 2823, Pawleys Island, SC 29585, Fax: 843/235-6488, E-mail: pagejosette@aol.com ) to register your students.

♦For more about your South Carolina Chapter of the AATF go to:   http://members.tripod.com/scaatf-ivil/id4.html

♦If you wish to join the yahoo group for SC French teachers, contact Dawn Samples, the SC-AATF webmaster, at: dsamples@scetv.org

Meilleurs voeux pour l’année 2008-2009!

Elizabeth A. Zahnd, Ph.D.

SC-AATF President, 2008-09

Associate Professor of French

Francis Marion University

ezahnd@fmarion.edu

Dear Colleagues,

I am happy to serve as the President-Elect of the SC-AATF this year.

Are you looking for something interesting to do with your students and colleagues this National French Week (November 5-11, 2008)? Well, past President, Lara Lomicka Anderson, Ph.D., (Department of Languages, Literatures, & Cultures University of South Carolina, Columbia) is the faculty liaison for the USC French House. If you would like to partner on any events with them for National French Week, please contact the French House programming director, Nicole Modeen at: modeen@mailbox.sc.edu

Also, Lara has in the past done a tour of the French art collection at the Columbia Museum of Art during National French Week. She is happy to offer the tour again. Get the word out early to your students and staff. If you are interested, Dr. Lomicka Anderson needs a date during French Week (usually on a Sunday around 1:30 or 2) so that she can schedule with the museum. Contact her at: lomicka@gwm.sc.edu.

Have a great fall semester!

Liz Zahnd, Ph. D.

Associate Professor of French

Francis Marion University