Since 1968 French Teachers Have Come to Louisiana Classrooms to Preserve French Language Through Immersion

October 22, 2024 journo

credit – Consulate General of France in New Orleans

A program that has seen French language teachers working in American immersion schools in the state of Louisiana has been extended another 4 years.

Organized by the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL), the southern city has enjoyed the fruits of the partnership for nearly 60 years and every scholastic year invites teachers from French-speaking countries around the world to teach in Louisiana to preserve the city’s unique heritage.

According to Peggy Feehan, its executive director, CODOFIL already has 155 teachers working in 14 parishes and more than 40 schools across Louisiana.

They come from not only France, but Senegal, Ivory Coast, Belgium, and Cameroon.

“It means the world to us to have a longstanding relationship with France since the beginning,” Feehan told NOLA. “Without that cooperation, that’s a lot of kids that wouldn’t have a French teacher.”

Senator Jeremy Stine (R – LO) recently returned from Paris where alongside Ronnie Morris, president of Louisiana’s state board of education, and Rodolphe Sambou, director of education for the Ministry of Education at the Consul General of France in Louisiana, the state extended France’s participation for another 4 years.

Many of the state’s parishes do not have immersion schools, but in Calcasieu, Lafayette, and Orleans, parents can enroll their children, Pre/K through 12, in schools that teach French alongside English.

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Saint-Landry, Baton-Rogue Est, Assomption, Saint-Martin, Iberie, Jefferson, and Evangeline counties offer Pre/K through 8, and Terrebonne, Vermillion, Lincoln, and Caddo counties offer Pre/K through 5.

A full register of the immersion schools can be seen here.

KRVS, 88.7 FM, reports that the new school in Terrebonne Parish is the first Indigenous French immersion school in the state, and possibly the country.

Mr. Sambou said that about 250,000 people in Louisiana speak French or the French dialects spoken by some of the state’s Cajun, Creole, and Indigenous communities. Sambou added that the fact that France continues to send teachers despite teacher shortages across the country shows their commitment to the long-standing partnership.

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