LEWISTON — The Franco-American Heritage has announced the latest cycle of the French reacquisition classes, a series of four workshops tailored for those who wish to relearn or reawaken their French language skills.

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Sponsor

Diane Pelletier-Perron

The four sessions will be held on Thursdays at 6 p.m.: May 17, 24 and 31, and June 7, at the Franco Center Heritage Hall. Total cost for the four two-hour sessions is $60, and registration may be done by calling 783-1585 or by emailing Joyce Coyne at jcoyne@francocenter.org.

To register by mail, send contact information and payment to Franco-American Heritage Center, 46 Cedar St., Lewiston ME 04240 Attn: French Reacquisition.

Diane Cecile Pelletier-Perron will lead the course. Born into a large Franco-American family in Lewiston, her parents always spoke French in the home. She lost the ability to speak French, but retained the ability to comprehend it. Once in school, she realized she had lost most of her French language abilities, which sparked a desire to preserve her French language and heritage.

Pelletier-Perron received her associate's degree in liberal arts at Bakersfield College in California and a bachelor's degree in French, with an unofficial minor in Franco-American studies, from the University of Santa Barbara in California, l'Université Michel Montaigne in Bordeaux, France. She completed her final year at the University of Southern Maine.

She lived in France for 18 years, and taught English as a Second Language, teaching and tutoring French and English for more than 20 years.

Pelletier-Perron said, "I am personally very excited about this program. Now more than ever, I continue to have this unquenchable desire to help others remember their French heritage through reacquisition of the French language and through rekindling general knowledge and pride of who we are as Franco-Americans."