French Food Competition Ends Unit with a Twist

To wrap up a recent French Food Unit, Upper School French teacher Frank Schaldenbrand instructed juniors in French III to combine their recently acquired knowledge with creativity and take part in a French Food Cooking Competition.

These juniors were assigned to cook an easy French classic, le croque-monsieur, with a personal touch and record a video to present in class. “They also had to film their home cooking project with comments in French (or voiceover) during all the steps,” Schaldenbrand explained. “This was a perfect assignment to energetically assess all the linguistic material and grammatical concepts covered during our food unit, with a further opportunity for the winners to practice and use their skills (interaction, manners and language) in a French restaurant!” The students were judged based on their presentation and video, the “twist” they added and the taste, with Head of Upper School Cory Zeller and Upper School Dean of Student Life Joe Bruno acting as tasters and judges.

Schaldenbrand said, “This final project was definitely a huge success, involving more than the students, with administration and teacher participation in the Jury and the cooking staff for the logistics. They were able to bring the inside-outside of the class in a cross-disciplinary context. They also realized the difference between a grilled cheese and a croque-monsieur with some freedom to express their creativity as long as they stayed fresh and organic like in France!”

This is certainly a lesson that will stick with these students for years to come!

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