Information About Haiti

This is the VOA Special English Education Report , from voaspecialenglish.com | http The state of Florida is home to one of the largest populations of Haitians outside of Haiti. The city of Miami has a neighborhood known as Little Haiti. People who live there keep close ties to Haitian culture. Young Haitians can learn French at the Little Haiti Cultural Center. Haiti is a former French colony. French is the main language used in schools there. The center offers the classes through a nonprofit organization called the French Heritage Language Program. Not all of the students are Haitian. But for the ones who are — including Dominique Domond — the language has special meaning. He says, "My mom speaks French a little bit. She speaks French and English."Marie Domond is Dominiques mother. "Sometimes, he says, Mom, I want you to teach me how to speak your language."Jennifer Linkletter teaches French at the Little Haiti Cultural Center. She says, "French is part of what it means to be Haitian, and the goal of the program is to get them in touch with their French history and with their French roots and to be proud of that." Learning another language can also help them when they grow up. Martine Buissart is the Miami coordinator for the French Heritage Language Program, which is based in New York. She says, "The more languages you speak, the more you can share, you can work. For work, its very important."The organization has also helped expand French classes at Boyd Anderson <b>…<b>