Anne Bilodeau at an immersion school in South Freeport.
Posted on 06/03/2006 7:37:58 PM PDT by mathprof
Frederick Levesque was just a child in Old Town, Me., when teachers told him to become Fred Bishop, changing his name to its English translation to conceal that he was French-American.
Cleo Ouellette's school in Frenchville made her write "I will not speak French" over and over if she uttered so much as a "oui" or "non" — and rewarded students with extra recess if they ratted out French-speaking classmates.
And Howard Paradis, a teacher in Madawaska forced to reprimand French-speaking students, made the painful decision not to teach French to his own children. "I wasn't going to put my kids through that," Mr. Paradis said. "If you wanted to get ahead you had to speak English."
That was Maine in the 1950's and 1960's, and the stigma of being French-American reverberated for decades afterward. But now, le Français fait une rentrée — French is making a comeback.
The State Legislature began holding an annual French-American Day four years ago, with legislative business and the Pledge of Allegiance done in French and "The Star-Spangled Banner" sung with French and English verses.
Maine elected its first openly French-American congressman, Michael H. Michaud, in 2002. And Gov. John E. Baldacci has steadily increased commerce with French-speaking countries and led a trade delegation to France last fall, one of the first since tension with France began after the Sept. 11 attacks. In an interview, the governor, who is of Lebanese-Italian descent and studied Russian in high school, added, "I've been working on my French."
The Franco-American Heritage Center, opened in Lewiston a few years ago, fines guests at its luncheons up to a dollar if they lapse into English — jovial retaliation for the schools that once gave students movie tickets or no homework if they squealed on French speakers.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Anne Bilodeau at an immersion school in South Freeport.
Well, that certainly explains the RINO attraction in ME.
Oh, great. We're going to have our own version of Quebec.
Is this legal? Can the states lead trade delegations with foreign countries?
hopefully this is a just a fad and not followed up by burning thousands of cars or anything that is currently french.
L
One should be ever vigilant against catching the French Disease.
shouldn't they be learning Somali ?
Yup. Happens all the time here in Ohio. Especially with a little foreign company with a factory we have here. It's called Honda.
But there really were people like that. "Hey, up I grow in Ca-na-DA, where the house, she don't grow side by each, any way. Throw the baby down the stairs, some blankets!"
Darrell and his other brother Darrell on whatever TV show that was were an anglicised version of it.
Frankly, people were right to assimilate. Bilingualism has been a disaster for Quebec and worse for the Maritimes which are cut off from the new economic centre of Toronto by backward Quebec. The old economic capital of Canada was Montreal, but French-first and separatist attitude drove business to Ontario.
Whet the kids in that immersion school represent is not a return to roots, but the latest trend in one-upmanship among wealthy moms -- which is why the Times is all over it. "Oh yeah, our child goes to an immersion school, the very latest educational trend."
Yep. Let your son go to French school. I'm sure they'll be hiring flight attendants at the airlines by the time he flounces across the stage to get his diploma.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Sure. If they're in Lewiston or Portland.
Off with their heads....or is it "let them eat cake?"
I think not. 85% of Quebecois speak English. I'm the product of a French-Canadian mother and Bostonian father. I speak OK French now at the age of 42 living in Ohio. That's usually how it turns out. No Reconquista worries coming from Canada.
Great by me if Maine acts as a magnet for French socialist Euro-scum much the way San Fransicko acts as a magnet for rump rangers and assorted other sick sociopaths. Anything to keep them out of my state.
If Parisians were visiting they would be totally amazed. It would sound like us listening to English being spoken in Australia many years ago.
When my husband and I were stationed at Loring AFB in northern Maine in the 80's we had an AF friend that had been raised in Switzerland(the French speaking part). Whenever we went to Fredrickton or any place across the border, he would mock the Canadians unmercifully; he told us 'real' French speakers would be unable to understand the Canadians' bad language.
Don't forget, in the 1600s and early 1700s, Maine was a battleground state between English and French settlers (who were often allied with the Indians). Quite often, captured English settlers would be marched north to Quebec, where they would be sold as "indentured servants" to the French.
The French-Americans who live in Maine (and other parts of New England) are descended from those who left Quebec in the mid 1800s and onward to seek employment in textile and lumber mills.
My ancestors came from England in the early 1600s and moved to Maine around 1700. A few years ago, we were sailing past one of the islands in Maine, and my father pointed out a stone cross set up by Champlain (I'll have to revisit it when the new boat gets launched).
I wonder if poutine will catch on in Maine the way burritos caught on in California?
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