By Wilma Kenny

A Franco-Canadian rock star in Sydenham?  Not impossible if you want it badly enough, and fire up your computer!  That's what French teacher Sarah Lasko and her Gr. 4 & 5 pupils at Loughborough PS discovered when they decided to invite popular singer Etienne to their own school.

In the course of a day last fall, they sent over 100 different emails asking Etienne to include them in his North American concert tour.  It worked: last Monday was showtime.  Grades 3 to 8 students from Loughborough, Enterprise and Land O'Lakes packed the gym to hear the man who recently won 2004 Canadian Music Week award of "Favourite Children's Artist."

Acknowledged internationally by parents and teachers for his musical contributions to education, Etienne delivered lessons in French grammar, conjugation and vocabulary, all integrated into the loudest, liveliest combination of hip-hop, rap and rock ever to hit Sydenham.  He even tossed in a little Elvis impersonation for the benefit of the staff who lined the walls.  Students held up signs with messages ranging from "Welcome, Etienne!" to "Marry me, Etienne!" as he worked his way through the crowd singing, dancing and shaking hands.

Etienne is the stage-name of Steven Langlois, a native of Windsor, who has been teaching in Norwich, Ontario for the past ten years.  He began writing music for his  classes: "If they get these songs stuck in their heads going over and over again," he says, "they learn about grammar, they learn about poetry and all the things we cover as teachers."  This year, he has taken a sabbatical leave from the classroom, to tour Canada and the United States with his wildly successful and painless approach to education