The Ambassador of France, Pierre Vimont, will attend the book donation ceremony, which will feature a delegation of students from the Jordan L. Mott Middle School in the Bronx, one of the 6 schools that have launched a French-English dual language program. Following a performance by their school band, the students will receive the books on behalf of all of the schools involved. This delivery was initiated, coordinated and financed by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, with the books themselves having been donated by two French associations, Adiflor and Biblionef. Both organizations specialize in providing French language books, which are either new or in excellent condition, to children throughout the world.

In the following days, groups of NYC students learning French will have the opportunity to tour the Jeanne d’Arc.

On its final mission, the Jeanne d’Arc, which serves as a training ship for French navy midshipmen, is accompanied by the Courbet frigate (a La Fayette-type stealth frigate). A French training squadron with 103 young cadets, including twelve from nine foreign countries, is on board this training cruise which started off from France in December 2009 and will complete its tour in May 2010. Their journey includes port of calls in Africa, South America, the French Antilles, the United States of America and Canada.

The Jeanne d’Arc will remain moored in New York until Monday April 5th at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal (Pier 90, 711 12th Avenue). It will be open for visits by New York area children learning French and their parents as well as French nationals on Thursday April 1st and Friday April 2nd (schools with French-language programs will receive the necessary registration information).