"Bon jour, Madame!"

No matter what class enters Madame Stephens' classroom, from pre-kindergarten to sixth grade, the greeting is always the same. Madame Stephens' teaches French and Spanish at The Meadowbrook School, and her passion for another language and culture come through loud and clear.

The students all know her as "Madame," even if some of the younger ones haven't yet realized that they are speaking French when they call her name. But that's the way she believes it should be. A second language should be second nature. You shouldn't even realize you are speaking it.

To make students forget they are speaking French, Madame makes her lessons come alive. Today, she asks the third grade French students to create "flip-flops"- folded pieces of paper filled with French colors, numbers and commands. The students put the flip-flops on their fingers, opening and closing them like castanets and forcing their classmates to obey the silly French commands:

Claquez la langue 8 fois!

Battez des mains 5 fois!

Sautez 10 fois!

Amid all the laughter, the students don't realize that they are saying the number in French - built, cinq dix - even though they aren't written that way. When one of the students complains that he's lost his flip-flop, the entire class - as if on cue- sings out: "QUEL DOMMAGE!"

Soon it is time for Madame to move on to the sixth grade Spanish class. But before she leaves, she has one question for the class:

"Will I see you tomorrow?"

"OUI!"

"Tres bien. Tres bien."