Tenth Grade Students Enjoy Tasty Collaboration Between French and Science Departments

Photo by Marketing and Communications Intern Aidan Short ’23

By Dinah Megibow-Taylor ’24, Marketing and Communications Department Intern

Tenth grade students enjoyed a buffet of traditional French crêpes after learning about the French holiday of “La Chandeleur” on February 1 thanks to the collaborative efforts of the tenth grade French III class, MS/US French teacher Céline Bonnemaiso, and US Science teacher Trish Tate.

La Chandeleur, which translates to “Candlemass” in English, is a religious French holiday celebrated on February 2 that is commemorated with the making of crêpes. To celebrate this tradition, French III students led a cultural presentation that explained the holiday for other members of the tenth grade class, followed by a crêpe buffet supplied by Madame Bonnemaiso.

The presentation included the history of the holiday, the connection between the holiday and crêpe-making, and an introduction to crêpe-making.

The interdisciplinary nature of cooking – both as a cultural and scientific learning point – led to this collaboration between the World Languages and Science departments. “One student was talking about their experience of cooking in French, so [I thought] why not connect the two?” said Ms. Tate.

After the presentation, tenth graders eagerly lined up to dig into the crêpes made by Madame Bonnemaiso, a native of southern France, but not before they were asked questions about the chemistry of crêpe-making.