Today@Sam Article

French Week To Celebrate Francophone Culture

Nov. 4, 2011
SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer Gauntt

The Sam Houston State University French Club will present five nights of activities designed to increase French culture awareness across campus during National French Week beginning Tuesday (Nov. 8).

The week will begin with the seventh annual French Poetry Reading Competition at 5:30 p.m. in Academic Building IV’s Olson Auditorium (Room 220). The readings will be followed by a “Study Abroad in Paris” program question-and-answer session with foreign languages faculty member Christine Payne and three students who participated in the trip last year.

“The French Poetry Reading Contest is now in its seventh year and has been a great success among the students who enthusiastically participate and read poems in French,” said Shirin Edwin, associate professor of French

On Wednesday (Nov. 9), the film “Des hommes et des Dieux” (“Of Gods and Men”) will be the first in a series of well-known and internationally award-winning movie presentations, all of which will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Olson Auditorium.

The 2010 drama tells the story of a group of Trappist monks stationed with an impoverished Algerian community who must decide whether to stay or leave when threatened by fundamentalist terrorists.

On Thursday (Nov. 10), the group will offer an array of French cuisine for a sampling at 6:30 p.m. in the Criminal Justice Center’s CJava Café.

“The French cuisine sampling will include a wide variety of foods: quiches, poulet roti (roasted chicken), an assortment of French cheeses, breads, baguettes, croissants, pastries and desserts (creme brule, eclairs, etc), fresh crudites, French beverages (orangina, perrier), as well as seafoods,” said French Club president Caroline Furey.

There is no charge for the sampling, which is open to everyone.

The French film “Amélie,” the story of a sheltered young girl who finds love in Paris, will be presented on Friday (Nov. 11), followed by the final film presentation of “Mon Oncle” on Nov. 14.

“‘Mon Oncle’ is a film from 1958 that tells of a man who goes to visit his sister and her family and has trouble fitting in in their technology-centered lives,” Furey said.

All National French Week events are co-sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Student Services and the Student Activities department.

“The purpose of French week is to promote French/Francophone (French-speaking) culture on campus,” Edwin said. “Our goals as a club are to make students more aware of international cultures on campus and to enjoy and celebrate diversity by broadening our perspectives on peoples and cultures.”

Furey added that they hope to generate an awareness of the French Club through the week’s activities and reach out to students who might be interested in participating in future club activities.

The poetry-reading contest is open to anyone but participants must contact Edwin at see001@shsu.edu with name of the poem and the poet in advance so that she can include the information in the program and judging sheets.

For more information, contact Furey at cvf001@shsu.edu.

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