It's entirely possible to engage in French-related activities every day of the week in the Bay Area. In fact, the website www.Francetime.com offers a long list of French cinemas, art museums, theaters, conversation groups and classes that can be found around the Bay Area. And these activities draw francophiles (those who are interested in French culture) and francophones (French speakers) alike.

But the most widespread activity of all is learning the French language. According to the U.S. census, French is the second most popular spoken foreign language in the

United States. So it comes as no surprise that there are five accredited international schools in the greater San Francisco Bay Area that offer bilingual curricula and French immersion programs for children. The youngest of them all, French American School of Silicon Valley, celebrates its 10-year anniversary June 8 at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga.

Until two years ago, the majority of the students enrolled in the Sunnyvale school were French. That's because of all the French engineers who came to Silicon Valley for the high-tech boom. However, the economic downturn has led to an exodus of French immigrants from the valley, and the ethnic mix at the school has changed. Currently children of at least 20 different nationalities are learning French.

Housed in one building of what was formerly Serra Elementary School, the school offers two academic curricula in French and English to 130 students, from pre-kindergarten through the fifth grade. The school is accredited by the French Ministry of Education and the California Association of Independent Schools.

Walking down the corridor of the school, one hears a fluent stream of French everywhere—from kindergarten class to the administration office. The classrooms have colorful displays in both languages, a reminder of the school's efforts to immerse the students in French and yet to prepare them for integration into mainstream schools once they finish the fifth grade.

Bernard Moreau, the school's director and a former French diplomat, says, "The mission is for the students to work with the languages in synergy and not feel as if they're switching back and forth."

The school also strives to combine the best of American and French educational styles. Herve le Mansec, the president of the board of directors at the Sunnyvale school and honorary consul general of San Jose, says the school succeeds very well at mixing the French system, which emphasizes structure and discipline, with the freedom and casual nature of the American educational system.

Parents who are keen on a bilingual education claim that learning foreign languages at an early age is better and that school environments like the one in Sunnyvale offer a wonderful exposure to other cultures. Carol Ozawa Burns of Willow Glen had five children attending the Sunnyvale school last year. One has graduated and gone on to a bilingual school in Palo Alto. Although they are not native French speakers, the Burnses want a bilingual education for their children because they strongly believe in the merits of exposure to language and culture at an early age.

"A child who can think, read and write in two languages has tremendous advantages," says the school's assistant director, Mariel Hall.

Research indicates a direct correlation between bilingualism and higher math scores, adds Moreau.

Hall, a Cupertino resident and a parent, has been with the school since its inception. She explains that while the program begins with 75 percent immersion in French, it evolves to a 50-50 mix of English and French and prepares the students for both integration into mainstream English-based programs and fluency in French. Nearly half of the school's students claim a French heritage.

Moreau and Hall beam with pride when they describe the curriculum and high standards maintained by the staff and students, A class schedule posted outside each classroom explains the week's lesson plans, which will be conducted by either a French or an English teacher. Certain subjects are taught solely in one language or another, with some supplementary instruction in the other language. For example, math is taught primarily in English and on the day the French teacher is in charge, he or she covers certain concepts in French as well.

Hall has one daughter who graduated from the program last year and another daughter currently attending the school. She enrolled her daughters in the school because of her French roots. Hall moved to Cupertino from France in 1969 with her parents and subsequently wanted her own daughters to gain the language skills of her native France.

Hall's mother, Yvette Lasserre, former chairwoman of De Anza College's French department for 10 years, taught French at San José State University, Santa Clara University, and West Valley and De Anza community colleges from 1978 until her retirement in 2001.

Lasserre says that it was her dissatisfaction with the French language education at her children's public schools that led her to arm herself with a graduate degree from SJSU and to teach. She felt that as a native she could better disseminate information about the rich French culture and language.

Lasserre moved to Silicon Valley in 1969 because of her husband's job with a high-tech company. The couple chose Cupertino as the place to raise their three children because of the good reputation of the schools.

Although she felt some language barriers, Lasserre did not seek out other French families because she felt it was important to assimilate into the American mainstream as soon as possible. She enrolled at De Anza in order to improve her English skills and eventually became a French teacher.

According to Dr. Dominique van Hoof, a professor at SJSU, it's common for French natives to study French once they're in the United States so they can teach their language. Currently the chairperson of the foreign languages department at SJSU, Dr. van Hoof, herself a native of France, has graduate degrees from both French and American universities and has taught for the past 14 years.

Van Hoof immigrated in 1980 with her husband, who had a job in the high-tech industry. They are among those who've been able to stay.

Herve le Mansec, honorary consul general of San Jose for the past 15 years, estimates the native French population in the Bay Area stands at about 20,000, significantly less than during the tech boom.

Le Mansec says that the French community that has remained is not close-knit and does not seek common meeting places because the expatriates have striven to integrate into the mainstream community. Virginia Metivier, a native of France with two children enrolled in the Sunnyvale school, agrees. "Since the FASSV [French-American school in Sunnyvale] is already very French, we're trying to integrate our children into mainstream society," she says.

The main French cultural association in the Bay Area is Alliance de Francaise, which celebrated its 100-year anniversary last year and is governed by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Most attendees are American francophiles, but francophones participate as well because it is a nice forum for meeting other people interested in the French language and culture.

Marie-Helene le Tuan, who is French, serves as an assistant to Moreau and Hall at the Sunnyvale school, teaches French at De Anza and is a board member of the Alliance de Francaise of Silicon Valley. She says the organization provides an opportunity to keep French traditions alive and offers a forum for meeting and sharing. The Silicon Valley chapter has been meeting since the 1970s, and its active members, les Dynamiques, meet monthly at El Torito in Cupertino.

The chapter's 400-strong membership also sponsors a French written exam, the Bourse Scolaire, which tests grammar and reading and is open to high school students in Santa Clara Valley. The chapter also coordinates monthly book readings, coffees and luncheons and even produces an annual play.

But across the ocean, France is doing some language and cultural coordinating, too. The French Ministry of Education is currently offering 1,500 teaching assistantship positions for American citizens to teach French in primary and secondary schools in France. Van Hoof attributes this new program to an effort to globalize France's educational curriculum.

She says, "Bilingual programs are difficult in the short run, but in the long run it is better for everybody because the students end up becoming citizens of the world. There would probably be less hatred if we understood more about different cultures and the different ways of doing things."

For more information about the French American School of Silicon Valley, located at 1522 Lewiston Drive in Sunnyvale, call 408.746.0460.

Contact Honorary Consul General of San Jose Herve le Mansec at 2 N. 2nd Street, Suite 300, San Jose, 95113, or 408.971.1751.

For more information on Alliance de Francaise of Silicon Valley activities, visit http://www.afscv.org.