LHS students and staff should expect to hear some “oui”s and “je m’appelle”s coming from the language hallway next year: Changes are coming to the foreign language department for the 2022-2023 school year, including the reinstatement of the French One course. Department Chairperson Lenny Bruno will be teaching the class, which will introduce students to the very basics of the French language. 

The class will not be part of a multi-year course in the same way that Italian and Spanish are. Instead, it is intended to provide students with some exposure to French language and culture and “give them a taste so that they can continue in college,” according to Bruno. 

Bruno is very excited about the reinstallment of the course: “I believe it’s great for the students to have the ability to be exposed to another language, especially since the end of the Japanese class [in 2020].” He explained that because the FLACS B exam, which tests proficiency in foreign languages, was moved down a grade from level four to level three, more students will have completed their Italian or Spanish coursework earlier in their high school careers. Therefore, the French class will provide them an opportunity to learn a second foreign language in their remaining time at LHS. 

Bruno said, “French was my first major in college, [and] I was first hired to teach French at LHS in the 1970s, back when there was a full program.” Bruno is referring to the fact that there was once a fully-fledged, multi-year French course just as there is for Spanish and Italian. However, as Italian became more popular in the middle schools, the population of students who would have taken French started taking Italian instead. 

Italian Teacher Lorraine Sabio, who attended high school in France, is happy that LHS will offer French again. “The more choices a school has, the better off the students are because they are living in a global world. I was sad to see the Japanese class end, so it’s nice that students will have another choice,” she commented.

Bruno agreed, saying, “If a student finishes with Italian or doesn’t want to continue at the AP level, they can try Spanish, [and now] they can try French.”      

Junior Jessica Fowler signed up to take the course next year. “I wanted to learn more than Spanish,” she said. “It’s nice to learn something completely new. It seems like a beautiful language.”

“I’m trying to bring it back because it’s a beautiful language,” explained Bruno. “Even though it’ll only be an elective, I thought, ‘let’s try it.’” With the addition of the French One course, LHS students will be able to gain exposure to a new language and expand their knowledge of French culture.