MVHS Students of French Take Home Honors in National Contest

Courtesy of the Mountain View Los Altos High School District.

On March 20th and 21st, over 200 students of French participated in the “Grand Concours” for the first time in recent history.

The “Grand Concours” is a National Contest where all participating students of French compete against each other in listening, reading and structures. Marie Thuillier and Clotilde Grès, both French teachers at Mountain View High School, are thrilled with the experience and with the results.

This year, only levels 2 through 5 Honors participated. They hope to have all levels participate next year.On May 14th and 15th, students who achieved the highest scores received medals and certificates of recognition.

A perfect score was received by Alaisha Sharma in level 2. She ranked first nationally. Dr. Barry Groves, superintendent, had the privilege to come and reward her with her gold medal and her plaque. James Hulett and Ryan Tawbi both received a bronze medal with thehighest score for level 3, Karina Fong-Hirschfelder received a silver medal for level 4AP ranking 3rd nationally and Justine Fanget received the highest score for level 5H.

There were another 21 bronze medals received by students level 2-4.In his speech, Dr. Groves reminded students of the importance of learning a language in today’s world and to remember that communication is more important than verb conjugations. “I believe that learning multiple languages is an essential skill for the 21st century.  I am delighted that so many of our students are enrolled in world languages and excelling.” said Dr. Groves.
 
The French and Spanish National Contests were funded by donations from parents, the PTSA, and the MVLA School District.

The National French Contest is administered each year in grades 6 through 12, and is sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF).

“As the president of the Northern California AATF chapter, I am really proud to have our students participate in this contest and I thank our parents for their generous donations” said Clotilde Grès.

Congratulations to students of French from Mountain View High School who were very successful in the 2013 National French Contest.