Anonymous wrote:Don't know much about the French I took

...What a wonderful world it would be...

Don't know much about the French I took

Was trying to fix the quotes in this, not working!

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

What with an Arabic immersion under consideration this year and DCI with a present but anemic French feeder program at Stokes, it seems like a no brainer to get a program going. We are at a Spanish charter, but[b] I want to put the fire under some young families who are ready to make their own opportunities in DC. GAME?[/b][/quote]

The issue is not lack of fire, but lack of experience and expertise. No matter what creation myths you've heard about charter schools, it's not nearly as easy as some people think and a lot harder now than a few years ago.

Go back and read the Haricots posts. Then check out FOCUS and the charter school board. Then see if you could poach principal-level talent from Stokes, WIS, Rochambeau, Goddard etc.

Maybe you could start with a DPR sponsored coop playgroup in French. That might attract and retain enough Francophones to create a maternelle or some kind of preschool.

To paraphrase Anthony Bourdain, just because you like to eat out doesn't mean you should open a restaurant. [/quote]

As someone who was serious about starting Haricots Verts, I totally agree with this. It does NOT mean that fired up parents with no experience don't have a role, it just means you need a lot more than them to make it real. Love the idea of starting with a Trench language play group. But there is no doubt that there's enough parent interest to support a French school.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What with an Arabic immersion under consideration this year and DCI with a present but anemic French feeder program at Stokes, it seems like a no brainer to get a program going. We are at a Spanish charter, but[b] I want to put the fire under some young families who are ready to make their own opportunities in DC. GAME?[/b][/quote]

The issue is not lack of fire, but lack of experience and expertise. No matter what creation myths you've heard about charter schools, it's not nearly as easy as some people think and a lot harder now than a few years ago.

Go back and read the Haricots posts. Then check out FOCUS and the charter school board. Then see if you could poach principal-level talent from Stokes, WIS, Rochambeau, Goddard etc.

Maybe you could start with a DPR sponsored coop playgroup in French. That might attract and retain enough Francophones to create a maternelle or some kind of preschool.

To paraphrase Anthony Bourdain, just because you like to eat out doesn't mean you should open a restaurant. [/quote]

As someone who was serious about starting Haricots Verts, I totally agree with this. It does NOT mean that fired up parents with no experience don't have a role, it just means you need a lot more than them to make it real. Love the idea of starting with a Trench language play group. But there is no doubt that there's enough parent interest to support a French school.[/quote]

Anonymous wrote:Don't listen to the negativity. By far the majority of francophones worldwide are not French citizens so there should really be no issue with perceived snobbishness here. The African and Haitian families in DC as well as everyone else looking for immersion in a useful language would have reason to rejoice about a quality option to compete with the private school options and give a shot to any non rich family in DC ( or even the rich ones who want to venture out of la-la land).

To the degree that popular private schools like WIS offer a French program is a sign of "what's popular", plus all the French-speaking countries represented in the DC area, there has GOT to be a lot of interest in a French school. Since organizing one on DCUM hasn't been successful, maybe anyone with a serious interest in starting such a school should contact some of the founders of open DC charters and get advice on getting one going, or who to partner with to try it? The few French bilingual public schools I've heard of in other parts of the US (including NYC) are always getting more applications than they have spots.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What with an Arabic immersion under consideration this year and DCI with a present but anemic French feeder program at Stokes, it seems like a no brainer to get a program going. We are at a Spanish charter, but[b] I want to put the fire under some young families who are ready to make their own opportunities in DC. GAME?[/b][/quote] The issue is not lack of fire, but lack of experience and expertise. No matter what creation myths you've heard about charter schools, it's not nearly as easy as some people think and a lot harder now than a few years ago.

Go back and read the Haricots posts. Then check out FOCUS and the charter school board. Then see if you could poach principal-level talent from Stokes, WIS, Rochambeau, Goddard etc.

Maybe you could start with a DPR sponsored coop playgroup in French. That might attract and retain enough Francophones to create a maternelle or some kind of preschool.

To paraphrase Anthony Bourdain, just because you like to eat out doesn't mean you should open a restaurant. [/quote]

As someone who was serious about starting Haricots Verts, I totally agree with this. It does NOT mean that fired up parents with no experience don't have a role, it just means you need a lot more than them to make it real. Love the idea of starting with a Trench language play group. But there is no doubt that there's enough parent interest to support a French school.

If the main thing you put is fire, you end up burned.

Delicious...some grilled haricots verts

Anonymous wrote:What with an Arabic immersion under consideration this year and DCI with a present but anemic French feeder program at Stokes, it seems like a no brainer to get a program going. We are at a Spanish charter, but I want to put the fire under some young families who are ready to make their own opportunities in DC. GAME?

The issue is not lack of fire, but lack of experience and expertise. No matter what creation myths you've heard about charter schools, it's not nearly as easy as some people think and a lot harder now than a few years ago.

Go back and read the Haricots posts. Then check out FOCUS and the charter school board. Then see if you could poach principal-level talent from Stokes, WIS, Rochambeau, Goddard etc.

Maybe you could start with a DPR sponsored coop playgroup in French. That might attract and retain enough Francophones to create a maternelle or some kind of preschool.

To paraphrase Anthony Bourdain, just because you like to eat out doesn't mean you should open a restaurant.

EW Stokes offers both French and Spanish immersion programs!

Don't listen to the negativity. By far the majority of francophones worldwide are not French citizens so there should really be no issue with perceived snobbishness here. The African and Haitian families in DC as well as everyone else looking for immersion in a useful language would have reason to rejoice about a quality option to compete with the private school options and give a shot to any non rich family in DC ( or even the rich ones who want to venture out of la-la land).

Anonymous wrote:Ooooh, we could call it Haricots Verts!

It will start with a joke, become serious and gather momentum, then arrêt!!!

Stokes?

Anonymous wrote:Ooooh, we could call it Haricots Verts!

LOL

Ooooh, we could call it Haricots Verts!

What with an Arabic immersion under consideration this year and DCI with a present but anemic French feeder program at Stokes, it seems like a no brainer to get a program going. We are at a Spanish charter, but I want to put the fire under some young families who are ready to make their own opportunities in DC. GAME?