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EFNY has three main areas of focus
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AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMS
after.school@efny.net
EFNY’s after-school classes take place in New York City public schools and are entirely
managed by volunteer parents, under the direction of the FLAM/After-School Committee.
The teachers are recruited by EFNY, in order to guarantee quality. These programs
benefit from a subsidy of the French government called FLAM (Français Langue Maternelle,
or French as a Mother Tongue), and the public schools graciously allow EFNY to use their
classrooms. These factors—volunteer coordination by EFNY, management by volunteers, free
space, FLAM subsidy—make it possible to keep the costs of the
after-school programs relatively low. Need-based scholarships are also available.
There are 8 sites for 2008-2009
Each site has different groups, schedules, prices, teachers (see Professors for further details on recruitment),
and constraints. However, EFNY wishes as far as possible to adhere to a certain number of standard principles.
Thus, at most of the sites (though there are exceptions), the courses for kindergarten and 1st grade children
meet once a week for a two-hour session, while the older children in general meet twice a week, for a total
of four hours. This lets them study not only French grammar, spelling, and vocabulary, but also French culture,
geography, etc. Some sites offer French instruction to anglophone children as well; these classes are generally
once a week. Because the classes take place at the end of the day, when the children are tired, all the
activities are presented through play. Please contact the coordinator of each site for more details.
New sites can be open if certain conditions are filled, in particular, if parents are ready to run them.
EFNY will provide support,
advice, and a manual of best practices. If interested, please contact after.school@efny.net
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DUAL-LANGUAGE PROGRAMS
dual.language@efny.net
The New York City Department of Education (DOE) continues to open French dual-language programs in September 2009.
In a dual-language class, half the children are native speakers of English and half native speakers of
French (or whatever language is being taught). The instruction is also divided, some in English, some
in French. This has the benefit of teaching English to immigrant students, and teaching a second
language to native English speakers. All the children become bilingual and biliterate, learning
to read, write, and speak in both languages. Research has shown that after a few years, children in
dual-language classes perform better academically than children in monolingual classes,
even in English Language Arts.
Here also, parents and other EFNY volunteers play a key role.
They identify potential host schools and
work with school personnel to explore the possibility of creating
a dual-language program. EFNY coordinates
this work, promotes the benefits of dual-language instruction, demonstrates the demand for such programs
to the DOE, and, in general, encourages the opening of new programs.
EFNY is seeking a volunteer to coordinate its efforts in the area of dual-language and to
share information and pedagogical techniques among the various programs. If you might be interested,
please contact us at dual.language@efny.net
A group is being formed in Queens
(Astoria-Woodside), with the aim of creating a dual-language program in a
local school to be identified. For more information, contact Helene Bidaux or
Virginie Lelan at french_school_in_ny@hotmail.com.
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SCHOOL CREATION
creation@efny.net
One of EFNY’s objectives is to create one or more French-English bilingual schools,
focusing on the French language and culture. The school(s) would serve children who
are already bilingual, as well as children eager to learn French. A number of steps
have already been taken toward this goal. In particular, EFNY volunteers took part
in the training course sponsored by the DOE’s Office of New Schools. EFNY is currently setting up a group of volunteer parents to focus
on this cause, which is of particularly interest to parents of very young children.
Corinne Bal coordinates this effort. Please contact her at creation@efny.net
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OTHER PROGRAMS (non-EFNY)
In addition, other French programs exist in New York City public schools:
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