The Sedro-Woolley High School French Club hosted a board game party after school on Thursday, March 28. The party was open to all students, not just those enrolled in a French class. Interestingly, all of the games that were available to play were originally published in French, meaning participating in playing the games also helped students get a look into how French-speaking cultures work around the world.

“Most of the games don’t require a knowledge of spoken French,” said Robert Slabodnik, Sedro-Woolley High School French teacher and French club advisor. “There’s a few games that do, but most of them are just participatory games, where you’re asked to respond with maybe one word in French.”

The games were very familiar to board games played in America, so they were fairly easy to pick up and play. One game, Paris Metro, centered around player pieces moving around a board modeled after the Paris subway system, via dice, to land on specific destinations that actually exist in the city of Paris. The game was somewhat remnant of the popular train game ‘Ticket to Ride’, and had students both entertained at the competition and learning fun trivia about special landmarks located throughout the city of Paris. 

Not only are French parties a fun way to spend time after school, they are also an option for students to earn necessary credits for their French language class.

“By playing a French board game, or a card game, or a trivia game, the students can get what they call ‘culture credit’,” said Slabodnik. “Every term, a student has to do a culture project that’s related to some aspect of French culture. So why not play a board game in French or a card game in French?”

The French club usually has multiple, diverse, events per year including showing French movies or having potlucks consisting of student-made French recipes.

“We’re a very inclusive group, and we just want to promote things that pertain to French language and culture and have fun,” said Slabodnik.

Safe to say that a Party hosted by the French club is an excellent way to get involved with learning about the culture of France!