Passport to Summer Learning

French Student earns scholarship to speak the language abroad. By Cindy Ziervogel

This past summer Stephen Regina and his family were scheduled to visit relatives in New York. It was a trip that he, his younger sister, Felice, and parents, Joe and Donna, all looked forward to taking together, but much to his surprise, Stephen missed out on the anticipated New York vacation. Instead, he spent three weeks as a recipient of a summer scholarship to Rouvroy-en-Santerre, France, a city with a population of 2,000 about 50 miles north of Paris.

"I wouldn't have traded it for anything," said Stephen, a junior and fourth year French student at Elkins High School. With benefits such as hanging out with the host family's two teenagers, visiting history rich sites, and greatly improving his speaking skills in what he describes as a beautiful and romantic language, it was well worth it.

Stephen Regina stands on the Bridge of AlexanderIII (Pont d'Alexandre III) during his summer trip to France.

Stephen started taking French in the eight grade because he wanted to learn a language other than Spanish. His friends were signed up for Spanish, but he opted for French, a language he thought flowed together beautifully.

"French had less competition and it's a poetic language" said Stephen. "I was inspired greatly by my first teacher and friend, Mr. Claude Boutin."

Now Stephen is in French IV and feeling much more confident about his comprehension skills. Next year, as a senior, he plans to take French Advanced Placement for college credits. "French will serve me in the future for when I return to France, which I hope is often. I'll also be able to continue communication with my French friends. Studying the French language has some short-term benefits also. It's improved my English vocabulary since 40 percent of all English words come from French. And this helps me with my English vocabulary skills on the SAT."

"He's never intimidated to speak the language, and does so with great fluency," said Feinstein. "Stephen made up his mind this scholarship was something he wanted and he went for it. He loves the whole package-the language, culture, music, food, everything."

 "I have a favorite memory of Stephen from the first year he competed at the Texas French Symposium, which is the state French contest. He took the test, memorized a poem and also competed in the instrumental solo division. He played his grandfather's accordion. He was fabulous. I felt like I was sitting in some smoky French cafe during the 1930 listening to this music. At the competition, when the kids were waiting in the cafeteria between rounds, Stephen took out his accordion and played for them, too."

Stephen has been so enamored with the language that he entered the Houston National French Contest sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French. After being tested and maintaining a national ranking on the National French Exam, Stephen as one of the top 10 students in the greater Houston area was eligible to take an enrichment course called Destination France, where every Wednesday after school during his sophomore year he sharpened his skills at Bellaire High School. At the end of the course, Stephen and others were evaluated and checked for their language skills. In April he was notified that he and two other students won a three-week scholarship to France.

"My reaction was disbelief when I heard I had won," said Stephen. "All I could say was, "you must be joking,' when they called me."

Before leaving on the trip, Stephen could translate words in his head as people were speaking. After three-week trip his comprehension sky-rocketed, he said.

Stephen stayed with a host family-Marc and Marie-Claire Danten and their teenage children, Marie, 18, and Simon, 17.

"Family life is incredibly similar to here," said Stephen. "I was worried before I left that I would break some social taboo. I even read a book before leaving that talked about social tendencies, but it was all wrong. In fact, I read in the book about not smiling so I was afraid to smile while I was there. Finally my French family looked at me and said, 'Are you OK? You are not smiling.' They are just people, they're like us and they're friendly. They actually might be friendlier than people in the United States."

"This was a trip of a lifetime. While I don't have definite plans to go back, I want to visit again. But I hope Marie and Simon will come here to see what the land of George Bush is like."

As published in the October 2005 issue of Fort Bend Lifestyles & Homes.