Conversational Avoyelles French classes begin Saturday

   No doubt you have heard Louisiana French criticized for not being “real French.” What is not so widely discussed is the fact that “Avoyelles French” is much closer to European French than its southern cousins in Acadiana.

   Those who have longed to learn French but dreaded the idea of tedious hours of drill, drill, drill now have a tailor-made opporunity.

   Gail Descant Lemoine grew up in a bilingual home in Marksville and then dedicated her adult life to teaching French in parochial and public schools until she retired. Now she will be using that vast wealth of knowledge, teaching experience and love of the natural French language to provide free lessons in conversational “Avoyelles French” at 10 a.m. on Saturdays at the Avoyelles Parish Library on N. Main Street in Marksville. 

   The first class is this Saturday (Sept. 17).

   The project is sponsored by the Avoyelles Parish Chapter of CODOFIL. 

   Lemoine said the lessons will focus on everyday conversations and not on the rules of grammar. Class will also be taught completely in French. There will be no word-to-word translation.

   Lemoine said students will learn to speak French the same way they learned to speak English, by listening, watching and speaking.

   There can be a number of reasons why a person may want to learn French. Maybe it was the language of your beloved grandparents. Maybe it’s because you love Louisiana and the French language is a part of this state’s heritage. Maybe it’s just because of its reputation as the “language of love.”

    Whatever the reason, parish CODOFIL President Sheldon Roy said this is “une grande opportunite (a grand opporunity)” to learn the local French language.

    “Vive le francais des Avoyelles (Long live the Avoyelles French),” Roy added.

    For more information, call Lemoine at 225-776-5637 or Roy at 337-852-5209.