French Adventures
New at Lac du Bois: Afrique!

While the programs, activities, and native African Staff at Lac du Bois have been helping villagers learn about Africa's Francophone cultures for years, that educational effort got an exciting boost with last summer's introduction of an authentic African boukarou (a living and gathering space common to many French-speaking African countries) at the Lac du Bois - Bemidji site. This summer, the excitement continues with the launch of Afrique!, a program of great new activities available at all Lac du Bois sites that is designed help villagers learn about Africa's many French-speaking cultures.

"The Afrique! program will give villagers a special experience within a special experience," notes Lac du Bois - Bemidji dean Garett Ludo Heysel. "It's one expression of French in a chorus of French-focused activities at Lac du Bois, from nature and camping activities to fencing and theater."

Villagers who decide to participate in Afrique! will adopt a Yoruba name in a traditional naming ceremony, practice balancing loads of food and goods on their heads, make African masks, and learn traditional greetings and manners. All the while, they'll learn more about what it's like to live in Africa today, from the climate and customs to the duality created by Africa's modern cities and rural villages.

In addition, villagers at all the Lac du Bois sites will be able to engage in activities that would typically occur around the boukarou: dancing, making music with tam tams and djembes, storytelling, and cooking over an open fire. The boukarou on the Bemidji site, built to honor French Language Village dean Karen Nicole Anderson's 25th year with Concordia Language Villages, will also be a center point for this summer's International Day celebrations, giving all villagers a chance to check it out.

Click here to get registration materials for this summer's Lac du Bois sessions - Afrique! awaits!

French goes wild with Les Voyageurs!
Spaces are still available for this summer's Les Voyageurs sessions, where villagers get to work on their French skills while they camp and canoe through some of the most scenic wilderness areas in the United States! Based on the way of life of the original voyageurs (the French explorers and fur traders who paddled through the Great Lakes region in the 1800s), Les Voyageurs offers villagers ages 11-18 a one-of-a-kind opportunity to learn canoeing and wilderness camping skills and to participate in a Grand Voyage - a five- or six-day canoe trip for the two-week sessions and a ten- to twelve-day trip for the four-week sessions. Younger Voyageurs in the one-week session launch daily adventures from the Turtle River Lake base site.

Click here to find out how you can take on the great-outdoors, make some great new friends, and come away with some fantastique French skills by participating in Les Voyageurs this summer!


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