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  • PS 20 (Clinton Hill)
  • PS 3 (West Village)
  • PS 84 (Upper West Side)
  • PS110 (Greenpoint)
  • PS234 (Tribeca)
  • PS 6 (Upper East Side)
  • PS 527 (Upper East Side)
  • PS58 (Carroll Gardens)
  • PS 321 (Park Slope)
  • PS 133 (Boerum Hill)
  • Lafayette Academy (Upper West Side)
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• faq

Creating an EFNY Site
EFNY was created in 2006 by a group of parents wishing to support their children’s bilingual education. EFNY is a rallying point and a voice for families who share these educational objectives. EFNY programs exist only to the extent that they are initiated and organized by parents, to whom EFNY brings its support. If you wish to initiate a program, below are the key steps to take. There are two major steps in creating an EFNY program in your neighborhood: identify the interest of your community and find the prospective host school.

1. Organize Your Community

• You need to identify at least 10 francophone children who would serve as an anchor for a robust site and a long-lasting program. Reach out to the francophone community in your area to gauge interest in the program. Do not limit yourself to your own school. Most EFNY sites are hubs that attract children from other schools, private or public.

• Build a list of prospective families, with their contact information, names of children, date of birth, school they attend. Try to get a sense of the level of the children’s French (understands / understands and speaks / understands, speaks and reads/writes).

You may add to your list non-francophone children of families who express interest in learning French as a foreign language. The EFNY program is geared for both English-speaking and French-speaking communities, as we’ve developed two distinct curricula.

• Communicate with parents about EFNY, the program and its goals. Setting expectations from the onset is important for the success of your endeavor. As a reminder, the key features of the program are as follows:

•This is an academic program delivered through engaging activities (we are mindful of the fact that the classes take place after the day in school).

•Distinct curriculum and classes for Francophone children and non-Francophone children.

•We group children according to their level and age.

•Socialization and group dynamic are key drivers in the children’s learning process (vs. doing CNED with your parents or a tutor).

•EFNY classes are affordable

•EFNY carefully recruits native or biligual French speaking teachers to ensure the highest quality of teaching. Many of them are certified teachers.

• Make sure to inform families that EFNY is a non-profit mostly volunteer organization and that the program can only work with their help and support. Figure out if you will have parents who will help you in this process.

In this process, EFNY can provide you with marketing material; we will review the list of potential students with you to figure out how we can group them in classes.

2. Find a School

• You should now find a school where classes can be held, ideally the school that your child attends (we set up programs in NYC public schools).
• Unless you have a strong francophone community in the school, the school must be able to accept kids who come from other schools in order to create a program.
• You should arrange to meet the principal of the school (sometimes it may first be the Parent Coordinator – it depends on how the school is organized) to introduce EFNY, the program, and ask for classroom space after school, preferably for free. If you wish, we can come with you to this meeting.
• As a thank you for hosting classes specifically designed for the Francophone children, we offer French language after-school classes to the non-Francophone students of the host school (French as a foreign language).

It is very important that you find out:

• If the school will allow children from outside of the school to attend the program.
• What motivates the school to host EFNY: you need to make sure that the administration will be supportive and will allocate classrooms to the program.
• If they will charge a fee.

EFNY will provide the teachers, the curriculum, insurance, permit (submitted to the NY Department of Education). EFNY handles the registrations, collection of tuition and payment of the teachers.   Once the school is on board, start marketing your program more widely: to your neighbors, your playgroups, the school’s newsletter, etc., in order to fill your classes. We provide flyers to help your marketing efforts. And next September, enjoy the experience with your children and their new French friends.

Please contact our EFNY Operations Coordinator at efnyops@gmail.com with any further questions. Merci!