28
April 19 - May 2, 2014
Youth
www.SanTanSun.com
French students win first place at ASU’s Foreign Language Fair BY BETH LUCAS
The Avengers swept into Arizona State University—and something was different. They spoke French. They baked. And they were 10 French III students from Chandler-based Seton Catholic Preparatory. The creative take on Avengers movies, “We Forgot Pepper’s Birthday!,” won first place at ASU’s Foreign Language Fair. Students wrote, translated and performed the play entirely in French before competing against larger public schools. “My favorite part was putting it all together, being with my friends. We’re all so close in that class,” says Ana Falls, a junior from Chandler, who played “Hawkeye.” In the play, the Avengers whip up crème brulee after realizing they’d forgotten their friend’s big day. Students were judged on their memorization, pronunciation, fluidity, emotion and feeling. Seton’s French instructor, Robin Noudali, says languages have a big impact on students’ futures. “Studies have shown that students who take four years of the same foreign language score higher on the same ACT and SAT test than any other group of students,” she says. “It just helps them in so many different ways. The listening, the speaking, the reading that gives them other perspectives and helps their minds grow.” They’re also exposed to different cultures, she adds. “From a cultural aspect, we are so isolated in the United States, so far from Europe. We assume everything is like here,
FRENCH AVENGERS: Seton Catholic Prep High School French III students took first place in Arizona State University’s Foreign Language Fair. Shown here, from left to right, are the students who participated: Mariana Chacon, Gianna Bartolotta, Teresa McBryan, Genevieve Leach, Anna Price, Ana Falls, Lily-Catherine Arama, Maria Rojas, Alex Fernandez, Thibault Denamiel, Sabrina Wozny. Submitted photo
when it’s not.” The winning team also includes juniors Lily Arama, Teresa McBryan and freshman Thibault Denamiel of Phoenix; juniors Genevieve Leach and Sabrina Wozny of Gilbert; junior Anna Price of Tempe; junior Mariana Chicon of Mesa; and junior Alex Fernandez of Scottsdale. Many of the students were learning French as a third language, including Ana, who learned Spanish in elementary school. “I think it’s really important, you personally gain a new sense of the world,
when you learn a language. You also learn the culture,” Ana says. “You get to see the different things besides English and the American way. It’s really cool.” Planning to go into medicine and become a pediatrician, she adds that she wants to learn Latin next. Her classmates spent weeks creating the play and practicing, she says. Still, they were thrilled and surprised to take first place, after performing in a foreign language before a crowd. “We worked really hard on it,” Ana says.
“But we were also really shocked, because there were so many other schools there. It was just so exciting that we actually won the competition, because we had such a small class. “French is a lot different, it’s such a pretty language,” she adds. “When you first learn how to speak it, it’s really hard because all pronunciation is different. Once you get used to it, it just rolls off your tongue, and when it all comes together it sounds really pretty. A key to learning a language is practicing, speaking out loud.” Mariana, a 16-year-old junior from Mesa, was thrilled as she became fluent in her third language—French. She also choreographed a final dance scene in the play. Mariana’s character was “Nick Fury,” the leader of the Avengers. “It was a pretty humorous play,” she adds – where the characters take turns with ideas on how to celebrate the character, Pepper’s, belated birthday. “My character wears an eye patch, and because we’re cooking crème brulee, I got egg in my one good eye—it was something kind of impromptu so it ended up being one of my favorite parts.” Her ultimate goal is also a career in medicine, as a pediatrician or nurse caring for children. She hopes that leads to a lifetime of traveling, and learning more about new cultures. “Speaking another language makes traveling a lot easier,” she says. “Just being able to communicate in different languages opens a lot of job opportunities. You just know the world a little better beyond where