congratulate the national winners of the French
language competition (from second left) Michael
Gislason, Lucy Sloan, Kathryn Donermeyer and
Allie Mangel. Winner Joseph Humphrey
is not pictured. (Phot by Marilyn Thomas/
H-F Chronicle)
Five French language students at Homewood-Flossmoor High School have won national honors through the Le Grand Concours competition hosted by the American Association of Teachers of French.
French teacher Wendy Stiglic said during her 15-year career at H-F this is the first time H-F has had such a high number of national winners.
Winners were:
Allie Mangel, silver medal, and Joseph Humphrey, bronze medal, in the French 3 division;
Katie Donermeyer, silver medal, and Lucy Sloan, bronze medal, in the French 4 division;
Michael Gislason, bronze medal, in the French 5 division.
In all, 85,000 students across the United States took the exam, including 49 students at H-F. Students receiving honorable mentions were:
Sopulu Anidobu, Emma Anderson, Nathaniel Bouchie, Emma Brown, Mariah Jiles, Cessanye Osby, Daniela Pena, Meera Patel, Eliza Sykes and Tyler VanKley.
The contest was given in two parts: students answered questions in French to assess their listening skills, and they were given a multi-choice written exam that focused on vocabulary, grammar and French culture.
Stiglic said she encourages students to take the exam as a motivational tool, and an extracurricular project that can help prepare them for language assessments in college.
The American Association of Teachers of French also honored H-F French 3 student Griffin Carter who earned a perfect score on the association’s annual trivia contest in November 2015.
A foreign language is not required of H-F students, but is highly recommended, and most colleges do look for foreign language classes on transcripts, said Nancy Spaniak, director of curriculum at H-F. Students who study French at Parker Junior High in Flossmoor or James Hart School in Homewood are able to place in to French 2 as freshmen at H-F. Stiglic said that as students progress it gives them an opportunity to move in to French 5 during their senior year at H-F.
Stiglic also worked with H-F’s French National Honors Society earlier this month for its induction program. H-F students admitted into the French NHS were: Nathaniel Bouchie, Eugenia Ermasova, Stewart Keene, Leanna Lewis, Laila Malak, Kaitlyn Sanders, Lucy Sloan and Eliza Sykes.