 Once
upon a time, a young French teacher sat in the grand ballroom
of the Barclay Hotel listening to Mme Emile Geyelin
introduce speakers who spoke on political, literary and social
topics «in the passé simple, bien sûr».
Some of it she understood and some of it was difficult, but
she persisted anyway. After having studied at the Sorbonne,
she was determined to continue to develop proficiency in the
language not only for herself but also for her students. Well,
that teacher now greets you as the new President of the Alliance
Française de Philadelphie, and I am honored and happy
to do so. Never, during all those years of traveling to the
Barclay on Wednesday evenings, did I ever imagine that I would
be a future successor to Mme Geyelin.
I was and still am, first and foremost, an educator. In the footsteps of my predecessors, I hope to continue to
advance the educational aspect of the Alliance as well as
to promote and to define the many cultural and social events
offered. My two major goals in this first year are to encourage
as many members as possible to contribute to and to take advantage
of the diverse and interesting programs of the Alliance and,
secondly, to introduce the Alliance and its activities to
local colleges and universities. I would like to do this by
offering activities that would attract these students. Collaboration
with other local Francophile/francophone organizations such
as the American
Association of Teachers of French (AATF) and
the French/American
Chamber of Commerce is vital. Although we are on separate paths, we are all working
toward the same goal – the promotion of French language
and culture.
I also have plans to collaborate with other Alliances in order to offer programs for many of our French teachers
who may be in need of our support. As an active member of
the AATF,
I am aware of the problems facing the French teachers today,
and I strongly feel that collaboration between these two organizations
is mutually beneficial. We owe a large debt of gratitude to
all the teachers who work consistently in sometimes impossible
situations but whose goal is to instill an appreciation for
the beauty of the French language and culture in their students.
As we all know, it has become increasingly difficult because
of feelings between the U.S. and France and also because of
the mind set of many administrators who have eliminated French
programs in their schools in favor of Spanish programs. But
the teachers persist and, in the face of these difficulties,
several French programs have been saved.
We have a lot of work to do and I am ready to jump
in. |
Officers
- President Diana
M. Regan
Liaison Committee, Chair
Events Committee
Scholarship Committee
- Vice-President Lisa C. Franks
Scholarship Committee, Chair
Liaison Committee
- Vice-President Nancy Gabel
Events Committee, Chair
Liaison Committee
Marketing Committee
- Vice-President Michèle Rosen
Nominating Committee, Chair
- Secretary Delphine Lawrence
Events Committee
- Treasurer Cecil Jones
Finance Committee, Chair
Nominating Committee
|
Directors
- Yvonne Bach
- Dr. Karl U. Bortnick
- Danièle Cohen
- Barbara F. Freed
- Janis Lynn Goodman
- Neill Heath
- Herbert Kean, MD
- Hadia Lefavre
- Frédéric Leleu
- Lynn H. Miller
- Sandra L. Nesbitt
- Therese C. Rawson
- Michael E. Scullin
- Joanne S. Silver
- Danièle L. Thomas-Easton
- Thomas H. Tropp, Esq.
|
