Starr’s Mill samples French wedding confection

Starr’s Mill High students got a taste of French culture, or French wedding pastries to be specific. 

Students in Jill Snelgrove’s AP French and French 4 classes were tasked with doing a cultural comparison of marriage traditions in a French-speaking community and their own community. Each student chose a different French-speaking community, and Snelgrove highlighted some traditions. They talked about traditional French wedding cakes like Une pièce montée or Croquembouche. With the help of a parent, Snelgrove connected with Saint Germain, a French bakery in Atlanta, to order a pièce montée to be delivered so the students could actually taste and see a real one. 

Snelgrove hopes her students gained a deeper, more personal understanding of how cultures shape traditions and celebrations. 

“In doing these cultural comparisons throughout the year, I hope that my students will come to appreciate the diversity that exists in the French-speaking world,” she said. “Sharing a traditional French wedding cake in class allowed them to experience a small but meaningful part of French culture firsthand, helping them see that language learning is not just about words and grammar, but also about understanding and connecting with people through their traditions and values.”