Greenwood Village – Students at École Française de Denver are learning how to read, write and do arithmetic – in French.
And instead of burgers and pizza, the lunch menu might feature bouillabaisse, roasted pork with mustard sauce served with a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables prepared by French chef Alain Veratti, who once cooked for Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen.
“We educate their palate and educate their minds,” school president Robert Shaw said.
The private, nonprofit school, known in English as Denver French Primary School, opened its doors in September. It is the only school in the Rocky Mountain region where students in preschool through second grade are taught primarily in French.
“That’s the language they’re comfortable in,” said Patricia Ayité, assistant director.
Half of the school’s 56 students are from French-speaking households, while the vast majority of the others have at least one parent who is of French or Canadian descent, school officials said.
Aymeric Boucheny, 14, moved to Colorado four years ago from Marseille, France, and could not speak any English, he said. Today he speaks English with no trace of an accent.
“The first year it was very difficult,” Boucheny said. The eighth-grader said he learned English by studying hard, participating in sports and watching French movies with English subtitles.
U.S.-born Sheridan DeLay, 13, left a public school in Castle Rock a year ago to attend the French school because her parents wanted her to experience a different culture.
“It’s hard but a lot of fun,” DeLay said. “I love the sound of French, and I would love to live in France someday.”
Students in grades three through eight have some classes in English. All students are immersed in French, and the school takes a back-to-basics approach, according to Shaw.
The school, leased from St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church, is applying for charter status as a public school in the Cherry Creek district.
“It would allow us to open up to a lot more children who could not afford it, we would get more resources, and it would allow us to participate in CSAP tests,” Ayité said.
Tuition, now $7,900 a year, will increase by $100 next year. If the school becomes a charter, tuition would be charged only for preschool and kindergarten, Ayité said.
Some educators believe that teaching students to express themselves in more than one language has many benefits.
Tiphaine Louradour agrees. Her daughter Meliane, 4 1/2, is fluent in French, her mother’s native language. She can also speak English and Spanish, and her father, who is Chinese, is teaching her Mandarin.
“Learning a variety of languages opens that door to other cultures,” Louradour said. “It broadens their horizon and makes them accepting of others.”
Staff writer Annette Espinoza can be reached at 303-820-1655 or aespinoza@denverpost.com.
