The French Embassy is committed to supporting French language education for the benefit of children and students across the United States.
When faced with the challenge of supporting and expanding high-quality French language education, one of the most important questions posed to teachers, school administrators, and parents is the question: Why French? How is French proficiency useful in the academic world and later in the professional world?
To spread the word about the value of French language acquisition, we encourage you to use the Advocacy Resource Toolkit to promote French language education in your school, family, community, or on a larger scale.
The Toolkit includes evidence-backed answers to the Why French? question, such as :
Economic Importance: French proficiency is critical to success in business, research, and international relations in the 21st century. French influence now extends to global industries including technology, sustainable energy and transport, engineering, cinema, animation and other creative arts, and scientific research.
Employability: French proficiency is increasingly demanded for jobs in a variety of sectors, from software engineering to international trade to public health. The United States needs more bilingual professionals in order to provide social and legal services for a changing population which includes a growing population of over 1.2 million French/Francophone individuals.
Cognitive & Academic Success : The study of French has been shown to improve learning outcomes in other subjects. Students in language immersion contexts develop greater cognitive functioning, increased attention control, better memory and superior problem-solving skills.
Target Audiences
School Boards, School Administrations, Superintendents’ Offices, Parent-Teacher Associations/Organizations, Teachers (French or General Foreign Language), Students (in-class, as part of lesson plans, in extracurricular/after-school program settings).
French Advocacy Toolkit 
