Cafe Day at Avon High, or Qu'est-ce Que C'est 'Quiche Lorraine'?

What be t t e r way to perk up spiri ts a f t e r a long,

hard winter than to have a C a f e Day. The ninety

French s tudents at Avon (Mass.) Junior-Senior High School were accustomed to cooking French cuisine for themselves. Preparing and serving French cuisine t o t h e ent i re s tudent body and

facul ty was a challenge t h a t could not be

resisted.

Preparat ion began eight weeks before t h e two-

day Cafe' Bon Appdtit c a m e to realization. To obtain funds t h e s tudents decided to bring t en c e n t s a week for eight weeks; a to t a l of $70 was

collected. Whatever food or mater ia ls needed

t h a t could root b e solicited at a discount, borrow-

ed, or donated would come from this fund. A

chairrnan in each class col lected t h e money on

Fridays during t h e las t pa r t of t h e period while

o the r s worked on various commit tees . Every4 was responsible fo r a particular function. 1

purchasing c o m m i t t e e determined t h e quanth

of food and supplies needed and went told

supermarkets a f t e r school. All food preparab

and cooking were done by t h e students.

The use of t h e home economics room wasna essary. Whatever could be prepared in advan

and s tored or refrigerated--such as pre-ma

hamburgers or mousse--was done on Mona

Tuesday, and Wednesday. C a f i Bon Appetitr open on Thursday and Friday f rom 9 a.m. to2p

This allowed us to set up in t h e morning during#

f i r s t period and clean up in t h e afternoon dub t h e las t period of school.

Students worked during their French perii and study periods they had during t h e day. Wd resses and wai ters took o rde r s and translatedl

French menus when necessary. The Mitre

checked 'customers ' to make sure they hadl necessary pass f rom a study hall teacher.

cashier at t h e exi t checked t h e addition of bill and col lected money.

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For entertainment, there was a slide show of France in one corner of t h e room accompanied by

light background music of George Moustaki, Barbara, Jacques Brel, and Francoise Hardy. The menu, complete with cover design of La Tour - Eiffel, included sandwiches 'croque-monsieur' and'croque-madame,' omelettes, soupe i I'oignon &, mousse au chocolat, eclairs, fromage, cider, grape juice (surrogate wine), caf6 au lait , the au lait, and various &gateaux surpris' baked and contributed by the French students. Prices ranged from 25 cents for a tar t ine to 75 cents for @he Lorraine. On Caf; Day, which had been advertised

throughout the school by posters in French, the typical classroom of student desks, f i le cabinets, and bookcases was transformed into a cafg- restaurant complete with round tables, check- ered tablecloths, wine bottles, and candles. French and Canadian flags decorated the bulletin board, and French posters were used to disguise anything that remotely resembled a classroom.

Sponsoring such an event has several purposes. First, i t fosters good community relations. For

this reason, i t is a wise idea to contac t local newspapers for coverage. Second, it was found to be effect ive in increasing foreign language en- rollment. Avon High has 325 students in grades nine through twelve. My f i rs t year, I had thirty- eight students in five classes. This year, enroll- ment climbed to ninety-six s tudents in French-- almost one-third of the student body. Third, i t was a most pleasurable experience to see stu- dents learning how to work together while using language skills and the cul ture of t h e ta rge t lan-

guage. Finally, they learned t h a t hard work has i t s merits. In addition to earning a $70 profit, which was put toward the cost of a field t r ip to a French restaurant, students had fun a n d a r e look- ing forward to an even bigger and bet ter Cafk Day next year.

Barbara A . Roberts Avon (Mass.) Junior-Senior

High School