Madame Cadillac and Antoin bring the Michigan's French past to life

In "The Freedom of the French Colonies" Antoine de La Cadillac showed us French dances. They even showed us how to row like voyageurs. The French rwo ten hours a day with a ten minute stop. That's even longer than I can row. I think that it was a good play for me to learn about the French. …Shane, grade 4

What I learned about the performance was about Antoine De La Cadillac Junior. His mom was Mary Cadillac. Mary's husband was Antoine De La Cadillac. Mary told the fourth and fifth graders some French words like good bye. After she showed us some dances. Like the fan dance. That was for girls. She also showed the boys how to row in a canoe. The voyagers that rowed in a canoe would have to row for ten hours. They would only stop sometimes for 15 minutes to smoke their pipe and/or eat some dry food. At night they would come to nearby land and sleep on the branches with beaver skins or some type of fun under their canoes in case it rained. Mary told us a lot of neat things. …Maeve, grade 4

I learned a lot of stof in the play "The Freedom of the French Colonies" performance. I learned that beaver fur was extinct in France. We learned what they used beaver fur for. When I saw the sword dance I thought it was kind of strang. We can learn a lot by listening about the way of life in the old days. …Jeremy, grade 4

I learned that Antoine de la Cadillac's wife had six children. His wife also taught us the language of the fan. I learned more about the Native Americans and the French too. I also learned why they hunted beaver. I think it was exciting and interesting watching Antoine de la Cadillac Jr. and his wife dance. …Ashlie, grade 4

I learned that in French, bear is called horse. Another thing is that I learned how to dance like they did back then. I even learned how to say hello and good bye in French. …Jessie, grade 4

I liked the presentation. I learned some French words. I also got to paddle with a paddle. There was a sword dance in the presentation, and it was cool. There were also beaver skins and a beaver puppet. The presentation was about Freedom of the French Colonies. …Tim, grade 4

I learned how to row a boat properly. You put your right hand on the top of the ore and your left hand on the side. Then you kneel on your left knee and row. Voyagers sometimes sing songs to keep pace while rowing. I learned how to sing a French song. …Nolan, grade 4

My favorite part was when we learned some French words like when we learned how to say bear in French language. They showed us some very good dance. I would like to learn more about French life. I wish they would come again. …Paul, grade 4

What I learned about today's performance was how far the voyageurs had to paddle. Cadillac had to paddle 700 miles to the new land. To be a French gentilmen you had to know how to sing, dance, and be polite. It was hard to live in the wilderness and trade with the Indians too. …Mike, grade 4

Today we watched a presentation. My favorite part was when we sang a chicken song. I also learned some French. Like the French word for Detroit means straight. I also got to see what the fan language was. Chris, grade 4

We learned about what they did and how the paddled a canoe. The canoe was about 36 feet long and 14 feet wide. People got to go up and pretend to paddle a canoe. …Zach, grade 4

An actor and an actress came from Detroit. They were acting out Cadillac's wife and son. They were telling us about voageurs, Native Americans, and themselves. They deminstrated lots of things. It was very fun. …Lauren, grade 4

The best part was when 8 boys when up and did a voyager paddling. I learned some new French words like bonjhor, traverse, and la peck. The performance was very good. …Tom, grade 4

When I went to the Michigan History dance workshop I learned a song about chickens that the voyaguers would sing in French. They would sing it when they were in their canoe. I learned some french words like bear, Portage, and some Native American groups. Some other girls learned some steps called a fan language. I learned a lot of neat stuff. …Yumi, grade 4

4^th and 5^th graders went to an asemble. They taught us some French words. I had a lot of fun. I thought it was pretty cool. They had weird costumes on.. I had fun. …Jared, grade 4

The assembly was fun. I learned lots of things. I like Antione he was my favorite character. I wish I got picked to go to the front of the room. I got tired sitting down. I liked Antione sword…Michael M. grade 4

Today there was an assembly in the library. There were two people telling us about how the French people traveled. They did two dances. I had a lot of fun…Logan P.

I thought that the Michigan History thing was very fun. I learned a lot of things, like French words. Most of the time I didn't understand them but it was very interesting. I liked it because it was kind of funny hearing them talk in French. I liked the Michigan History Thing a lot…Cameron M.

In the assembly some girls got to do a thing called the Language of the Fan. I got to do it. It was a lot of fun. We learned about some of the things they used or did a long time ago. The boys got to use fake paddles and pretended that they were paddling a canoe. It was funny watching them. It was a fun assembly…Megan B. grade 4

The French History was fun. We learned a lot about the French life. We also learned French language. The French have some weird songs, but they're pretty cool. I wish we could learn more. …Duane, grade 4

I learned what the clothing looked like back then. They have different stuff back then Their Canoes are really big. Work was really hard back then. They had a lot of different stuff back then. …Nathan, grade 4

We learned some French words. The men's clothes have 500 buttons. The men do a sword dance…Thomas F. grade 4

The girls got to do the language of the fan. The boys paddled with paddles. It was fun watching them. …Ashley, grade 4.

I think it was cool to learn more about Michigan History and to learn French words. I would like to learn more…Ryan P. grade 4