Schools in Kansas, France Getting To Know Each Other

From http://cjonline.com/news/2013-03-29/schools-kansas-france-getting-know-each-other

Schools in Kansas, France getting to know each other
Kansas and the French region of Centre are building education exchanges
By Celia Llopis-Jepsen
March 29, 2013

For teachers like Janice Waldo, who has taught French at Topeka High School for 16 years, a new agreement between education agencies in France and Kansas could mean opportunities to enrich her work.

“It opens the world,” Waldo said Friday at a meeting to mark the launch of ties between Kansas schools and schools in the French region of Centre.

The Kansas State Department of Education and the French regional education agency Academie d’Orleans-Tours signed a memorandum of understanding to create ties that both say will inspire students to learn and offer professional development opportunities for teachers.

Phyllis Farrar, the state education department’s consultant for foreign-language programs, said the purpose of the agreement wasn’t to establish a single concrete program that districts must follow. Instead, she said she would work to help teachers pursuing a variety of ideas. That could be anything from seeking pen pals for their students to finding opportunities for professional development. Some teachers might find fellow educators in France to do online language exchanges with, for example. That, she said, can help them maintain their own fluency in French.

Read the full article at http://cjonline.com/news/2013-03-29/schools-kansas-france-getting-know-each-other