These conferences were open to 60 teachers of French and 60 teachers of social studies, with priority given to "teams" -- one teacher of French, one social studies teacher from the same school or from neighboring schools. These two series of conferences and workshops had several objectives:

• to further the content-knowledge of Louisiana teachers of French and social studies about the main events and characters of the founding of Louisiana, including the role played by Native Indians, Blacks, and women from 1682 to 1764;
• to provide references and classroom-ready material and activities to be used by these teachers throughout 1999 (designated by the Louisiana Governor as a year-long celebration of the tricentennial of the founding of Louisiana under the name FrancoFête '99), and during subsequent years;
• to raise teachers', and through them students' awareness of the fundamental aspects of the founding of Louisiana, and to increase their appreciation of the unique Francophone, Indian and Black heritage in Louisiana;
• to guide teachers in preparing history- and culture-content as well as interdisciplinary activities for their classrooms and their schools, and to help them integrate these activities into their everyday teaching;
• to guide teachers in preparing interdepartmental activities within their schools between teachers of French and social studies teachers;
• to help teachers prepare a sample of activities to celebrate the Foundation of Louisiana Day in their schools during the month of March 1999, especially designated by the Louisiana Governor's office for the celebration of the Tricentennial in Louisiana schools.

• Interdisciplinary, they brought together teachers of French and social studies teachers to prepare them for interdisciplinary activities in their schools with priority given to teachers who registered in teams of two (French/social studies);
• All activities stressed the cultural and human aspects of history and historical events, emphasizing the unique rich multicultural Louisiana heritage and its impact on the history of the state and life in Louisiana today;

High caliber Louisiana scholars (Dr. Allain, University of Louisiana in Lafayette; Dr. Hoffman, Louisiana State University) whose research and teaching focus on this period of Louisiana history shared their expertise with the Louisiana teachers. Professor Allain and Professor Hoffman generously shared their passion for the language, history and civilization of Louisiana. Each did two presentations: one in English to all the participants, and one in their respective languages -- French and English -- to their respective groups of teachers. Dr Allain, who teaches French literature, culture and civivlization at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette spoke about The Birth of Creole Culture: Impact of the Founding of Louisiana on culture and everyday living, then and now and La Culture sur la Frontière: Littérature, art et musique de l'époque. Dr Hoffman teaches American history at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and presented on Thinking Strategically, Suffering Locally: La Louisiane in Historical Context, and Major Links Between Northern America, France, Canada and Louisiana during the Period of the Founding of Louisiana.

• One major French scholar, Dr. Balesi, Scholar in Residence at the famous Newberry Library in Chicago, was invited by the French government. His special field of study is the French in the 16th-18th century Louisiana Territory, and he had just published the second edition of a remarkable book titled The Time of the French in the Heart of America.
• All scholars remained throughout the two-and-a-half-day conferences and worked with the participants in all their activities, including at meals and breaks, and kept the conversation and questions going throughout;
• Each group of participating teachers (French and social studies) was provided with its own facilitator, specialist in his or her specific content area (French or social studies) as well as specialist in the pedagogy of the particular discipline. These facilitators were chosen amongst the education content-specific specialists from the area where the workshops took place (Baton Rouge or Natchitoches) so that they would be familiar not only with the content-base, but also with the participants' school situations, the state requirements, curricula and standards, and they would be professionally available later;
• Local guest speakers were invited to speak to the participants and emphasized closer links between the local history and heritage and the period studied. Charles Laroque came to Baton Rouge from Lafayette. He spoke about the importance of this particular historical period for Louisiana and provided suggestions for the teachers to involve and engage their whole school and its surrounding community in the celebration of this heritage while also using the local historical resources. Richard Seale, Manager of Fort St Jean Baptiste, made a richly colorful and dramatic presentation which let everyone know why these conferences and workshops were taking place in Natchitoches. In Baton Rouge, spectacularly bringing back to life the fascinating and chaotic history of the first permanent French settlement in Louisiana.

• Both teachers of French and social studies were exposed to and could practice the French language, becoming more aware of its role in Louisiana history and of its impact on Louisiana heritage and modern life -- yes, as evidenced in the skits they created and presented on Saturday evening (videotaped), many social studies teachers were delighted to be able to actually listen and practice extensively a language which is so much part of Louisiana;
• A very specific three-fold focus allowed the participants to use an abundance of materials and content and to produce the maximum over a very short period of time. 
• (1) Friday was focused on the historical and cultural content of the period studied; the participants received a large amount of content-knowledge through lectures, films, question/answer sessions, discussions, content material, artifacts, etc. 
• (2) Saturday's focus was on the classroom, when teachers of French and social studies worked as two separate groups, one in French, the other in English. They listened to one more lecture each in the language of their group (French for teachers of French, English for social studies teachers), and were engaged in activities to make them manipulate, review, memorize and internalize the abundant historical content they had received (e.g., creating a trivial pursuit game: creating questions and providing the answers was a very successful activity to accomplish this particular goal). Then they were asked to prepare activities ready to take home and use in their specific classroom situation -- they were also provided with examples and samples of activities, and each group was assisted by their very own scholar (Dr. Allain for the French group, Dr. Hoffman for the social studies group) and their own facilitator, a specialist in their content area (French or social studies) and in pedagogy. The participants were all brought back together for the evening celebration with a theme banquet where they were required to wear costumes (so did the scholars, guest speakers, facilitators and staff) and where they presented the skits they had prepared earlier that day, based on the facts and content accumulated through Friday and Saturday presentations and interaction with the scholars and facilitators. The participation of the scholars, guest speakers and facilitators who not only assisted the teachers in preparing their skits, but also became actors, is a testimony to their degree of commitment and to the sheer enjoyment they drew form this kind of involvement. 
• (3) Sunday focused on the entire school and its surrounding community. All participants were back together, grouped across disciplines preferably by school, to prepare interdisciplinary activities and organize a sample Founding of Louisiana Day specific to their own school, to be implemented in March during the Semaine de la Francophonie. All the activities the participants created during the workshops were identified with their names and collected into a booklet.

This program on the founding of Louisiana was the first one in a series of projects which follow the history of Louisiana and highlight its heritage. In January 2000, the French Education Project offered a similar combination of conferences and workshops on Colonial Louisiana (1762-1802), in Baton Rouge and in Monroe (founded during the colonial period). For the anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase in 2003, a different project was planned, using a summer immersion teacher institute format (summer 2002, photos) and spanning four weeks. It explored both sides of the story: The Louisiana Purchase, and La Vente de la Louisane.