For a group bent on preserving French in the St. John Valley, a local prekindergarten is more than education. It’s a rebirth of the Acadian soul.
Six 3-year-olds donned tiny caps and gowns to end the school year at Ma Petite Ecole in Frenchville, which just celebrated its first graduation since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The school arose from Le Club Francais in Madawaska, a group determined to restore and promote Acadian language and culture in the region. Historically, speakers of Acadian French were prohibited from using their language and were told it wasn’t “proper” French. Younger generations increasingly abandoned the language.
The club wants to change those attitudes, and hopes Ma Petite Ecole instills a love of the Acadian French heritage in the Valley’s younger residents, keeping an important part of the culture alive.
“When you lose your language, you basically lose the culture, also, because there’s no more connection,” said Sharon Boucher, the school’s director of French programming and former director of the St. John Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Though the Valley is still Maine’s stronghold of Acadian French, today in parts of the St. John Valley, only 60 percent of adults and less than 12 percent of children speak French at home, according to 2019 census data. Statewide, about 3 percent of the population speaks French.
The way people have perceived Acadian French in the past is part of the problem. Like many, Boucher remembers being punished for speaking French in school, and many parents abandoned the language to speak English at home because of that, she said.
The business world put up roadblocks as well. Once while working in the Bangor region, Boucher’s employers didn’t want her to answer the phone, because she sounded “too French.” Some people have experienced a lot of hurt because their language and heritage were belittled, she said.
Enter Le Club Francais. Formed in 1994 from an effort called Save Our French, the club vowed to change negative connotations about Acadian language and reintroduce it into the St. John Valley as a birthright, not a curse, said member Don Levesque, a longtime journalist, publisher and musician who is passionate about Acadian heritage.
There’s been a lot of misinformation about Acadian French, Levesque said. A friend of his was in another state and met a couple from France. As they conversed they were joined by a French speaker from Sweden. All spoke different dialects but had no trouble communicating.
“My friend said, ‘How come I’ve been told all my life I don’t speak real French, when I can speak fine?’” Levesque said. “We were told we spoke a bastard language. We want to change that perception.”
Benefactors in Chicago willed Le Club Francais money to be used to promote, preserve and reintroduce French in the Valley, he said. The club joined forces with Cleo Ouellette, a retired French teacher from St. Agatha, 10 years ago to form Ma Petite Ecole at the Dr. Levesque Elementary School in Frenchville.
La Petite Ecole in Portland offers a similar program, with full-day programs for pre-K and kindergarten students, but the Frenchville school is unique for its focus on the language and culture of the St. John Valley, Levesque said.
Things at Ma Petite Ecole in Frenchville went well — until the school burned two years ago and everything was lost. Then came a worldwide pandemic.
But last fall, the pre-K was reborn at Frenchville’s St. John Valley Tech Center, which teaches trade skills to area high school students.
It’s been ideal, Boucher said. The tech center hosts a class on caring for young children, so has a setup for youngsters. Staff welcomed Ma Petite Ecole to share space and supplies.
Next fall’s morning session is already full with 10 students enrolled, and Boucher is recruiting for the afternoon session.
Parents pay $300 for the school year. Le Club Francais covers other costs like salaries, Boucher said.
The school runs three days a week from October to June, led by teacher Amy Desjardins. The children learn shapes, colors and numbers in French, and speak the language during activities and games. Even playtime is learning time, Boucher said, with dance and music geared to conversing in French.
The children are young and pick it up fast. Some parents are bilingual and others don’t speak French, but they want their kids to know the language. High school French teachers see a difference when kids have learned early, Boucher said.
The community also sees rewards.
“I was in a restaurant. I heard the grandfather say, ‘The best thing we did was enroll our grandchild in that French pre-K. Now I can talk a little bit with him in French,’” Levesque said. “That was very validating for us.”
His dream is to start a French kindergarten, and maybe even first and second grades, so kids would learn for four years and not just one.
Le Club Francais wants to teach French to everyone who wants to learn. The group offers Mes Amies, an after-school program for grades K-4, and is working with adult education on a conversational French class for adults.
New Brunswick’s Maliseet community is working on a computer platform to teach their native language to tribal members online, Levesque said. The club hopes to adopt a similar plan.
Levesque is excited to see Acadian culture reborn in a new generation.
“You need to know who you are,” he said. “The French is in your soul.”