 | French Education Project The French Education Project supports, enhances, and improves the teaching of French and Francophone cultures with special emphasis on Louisiana’s Francophone heritage. The French Education Project focuses on teacher education, material development, and research. Louisiana schools are leading the United States in foreign language immersion programs. Among the 91 schools nation-wide with French immersion programs, almost 30 are in Louisiana according to the Center for Applied Linguistics. Student enrollment in French immersion programs in Louisiana has been on a steady increase since the early 1990s. Louisiana hosts one-fourth of the nation’s 12,000 students enrolled in this rigorous curriculum. The rich, cultural heritage of the state and its people provide an excellent atmosphere for research and development that could be applied to all foreign language immersion programs. The French Education Project also assists the French Consulate in the recruitment of Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL) teachers that staff immersion schools. |
FEP National Resource Center |
The LSU FEP National Resource Center was established in May 2005 After Louisiana French and French immersion educators requested a space to communicate, research, and diffuse pedagogic materials. The Embassy of France in the United States has recognized LSU as one of five National Resource Centers, along with Rutgers University, the University of Southern California, the University of Wisconsin, and Yale University. The online resource center shares lessons, activities, and documents for educators teaching language arts, mathematics, science, history, geography, and the French language. The online resource center provides unique access to educators’ resources and recommendations that may be otherwise unavailable in parishes with limited budgets for immersion programs. |
 | French Education in Louisiana |
| “Immersion programs are an innovative approach to learning for English-speaking students, in which all disciplines are taught in the foreign language. Students not only learn about science or history, but they do so in a French-speaking classroom environment. The teacher is usually a native of France or other French-speaking countries such as Africa, Canada or Belgium, and the students are expected to learn and communicate in French. Research shows these students’ results on the high-stakes standardized tests are higher than students from non-immersion schools.” - Denise Egéa-Kuehne, Director French Education Project |
Faculty
Denise Egéa-Kuehne, PhD