<b>Parlez-vous Francais? One Millbrook student explores the allure of French language and culture.</b>

While Millbrook’s language students absorb a great deal of both the foreign language and culture that they study in class, a few students have yearned to truly immerse themselves in a new language and culture by studying for a year abroad. Thus, Millbrook School’s own JJ Katz-Samuels '08 is participating in the Student Year Abroad (SYA) program in France for 2006-2007; he was preceded by Priscilla Hermann ’06 and Sarah Bogdanovitch ’07 last year, making JJ the third Millbrook student to participate in this secondary-level program abroad.

The School Year Abroad program began in 1964, and their program in France was established in 1967: “SYA France is located in Rennes, the capital of Brittany, steps away from the city center, an ideal location cultural and linguistic immersion. French language, literature, history, art history and civilization are offered in French and taught by native teachers, while English and mathematics are taught in English by American faculty. All students are individually placed with a French host family, sharing fully in their lives and speaking their language. Students also participate in a wide array of activities – sports, art, music and dance – in the community and travel to sites near and far, both independently and with the school.”

While finding student life in France extremely busy and challenging, JJ maintains frequent communications with both friends and faculty at Millbrook. Thrilled with his experience in France thus far, JJ has offered highlights from his first semester abroad:

“I have been so busy over here with basketball, my new emerging acoustic band, chorus, theater, conservatoire, film and my work. It is a handful, but I love it. A SYA alumni said when visiting, "SYA is great because you can reinvent yourself into who you truly want to be," and I find that statement true as I am doing things that i never did before but I am finding love in now. My style of music has changed to softer and more laid back tunes which are more focused on making good old plain songs (though I still love the heavy music I played with Win, Matt and Marcus). I have joined chorus which is amusing. I also started theater here, which has turned out great (even though it’s hard enough saying the lines in French).

The work here at SYA is an interesting subject. We have our fair share of it, and it is tough because the majority of my classes are in French. But at the same time it is in such an inspiring environment that work takes on a new makeup. Everything is done with a goal in mind that is completely realistic: the attainment of fluency. This goal drives you to make efforts that were never considered before. I'll read a text and not understand half the words in it, so I force myself to look up everyone no matter how tedious the process is with hope in mind that I can one day read as I read in English.

In terms of my French, i have progressed enormously. I went from being capable of saying "Oui, Non, Je ne sais pas," to now really beginning to feel comfortable with the language. I am by no means close to fluency, but now my grammar and writing have improved incredibly as my ability to speak has also. I can now understand conversations on the bus, and make conversations with strangers who compliment me on my French.

The discussions I have had are very progressive. For example, there is an ideological debate in France over public participation in government. Right now it is a republic, but some believe it should move towards democracy in which the public would play a bigger role in the affairs of the state. I brought up in a conversation about that topic - the pure democracy of ancient Athens - thanks to Mr. Siegenthaler.

My family came to spend the holidays with me and meet my host family, and they all got along very well, talking about politics and social issues in both France, the United States and the world. We went to Normandy to see the beaches where the allies landed and also to see the American Cemetery, and then we spent New Year’s in Paris where we visited the Louvre, a museum of the history of French wars and the Museum D'orsay. They were all amazing. I became very content after my visit to the Louvre where I recognized so many paintings and artists as a cause to my art history course. My parents were impressed and I was too, more by my art history teacher than myself.”