Stephanie Schmitz (left) and Kerry Ryan (right) were eager to begin speaking French to their friends from France, seen behind them on the television screen, whom before they had only communicated with though e-mail.

PORTSMOUTH — With thousands of miles between them, Portsmouth High School French students came face-to-face with their English-student counterparts in a school in France through the schools' first transatlantic video conference event — and learned that everyone was just as nervous about trying out a new language on native speakers.

The PHS level-two French students, mostly sophomores and juniors, have been writing e-mails in French and English to students of the same age at the Lycee Maintenon in Hyeres, France, since last October. On Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. at PHS, and at 1:30 p.m. in southern France, the students had their first audible and visual communiqué through internet video conferencing.

It took some time to get most of the bugs worked out of the brand new equipment on both sides of the Atlantic — at first, the PHS class could not hear the students from France, and when it worked, one PHS student said squeals coming through the speakers sounded "like a hamster wheel," and PHS foreign-language chairwoman Suzette Almeida-Louro said it seemed more like the audio was underwater while birds loudly chirped.

"We've got birds singing, too" said the teacher in France.

Everyone laughed, and that relieved the students' tension since they had just finished going through timid introductions.

PHS students (left to right) Emily Goodman (in black), Carly Boucher, Rachel Charland, Cameron Harrigan, Stephanie Schmitz (in green) and Kerry Ryan wait to speak for the first time through a video conference to students in the south of France, seen on the television behind them.

Then, the video conference was opened to a panel discussion on movies and music. In planning this event, the teachers figured a cultural link between the students would be the best way to open communications.

PHS students shared their favorite films and actors: Johnny Depp and Tom Hanks, "Spiderman" and "Juno." In France, the students knew a lot about American culture; their preferences included: Will Smith and Bruce Willis and the film in which he starred, "The Sixth Sense."

With music, the students were able to cross cultures. Everyone had some American music that they liked. None of the PHS students knew of any French artists, but were treated to a song sung by one of the students in France.

But PHS student Stephanie Schmitz had a cultural tie to share: she was born in Holland and she speaks some Dutch, so she knows a bit of Dutch music. The students in France loved that information.

After good-byes were said, the video conference ended. The students will conference again a few more times before the semester ends, and then resume communications in the fall with the same school in France. They are also planning an exchange in 2009, with the students in France coming over first to stay with PHS families and then PHS students traveling to the south of France.

The PHS students said they were impressed with the cultural connection made by the students from France.

"They knew so much more about our culture than we do about theirs," Rachel Charland said.

Cameron Harrigan said he was not expecting to share the same music and movie preferences. "They are pretty similar to us," he said.

Carly Boucher, who was the first PHS student to speak, said she had found it intimidating to test out her French on a native speaker. "But it was O.K. because they weren't perfect English speakers," she said. "They did better than our French."

Hearing several different native French speakers will help the PHS students improve their language skills, Stephanie Schmitz said. "And now that I've seen who I'm talking to I can have a better connection," she said.

PHS students (left to right) Stephanie Schmitz, Kerry Ryan, Cameron Harrigan, Rachel Charland, Emily Goodman, and Carly Boucher, with French teachers Suzette Almeida-Luoro (left) and Marj Cogar behind them, say good-bye to the students in France as their first video conference comes to an end.

Emily Gerardi said, "This teaches us the importance of learning a foreign language. Our generation is going to be the one branching out oversees, and we're going to need language."

"When you're video conferencing, you get to use French in different ways and it's more personal," said Kerry Ryan.

"I think it sets us up for the real world," Emily Goodman said. "If we're in a French situation."

By Jill Rodrigues

jrodrigues@eastbaynewspapers.com