Inside, the names for the animals and shapes plastering the wall are in French. The picture books are in French. Even the wording on the play kitchen oven mitt is in French.

During a recent lesson, Ms. - make that Mademoiselle - Kendra Mason sat in a rocking chair and led her 21 rug-parked kindergartners through the date, the weather and some numbers before turning to a story - all in rapid-fire, sing-song French.

While they mixed in some English, the students gave a number of responses in the foreign language.

"It's amazing to see how far they've come from the beginning of the year to now," Mason said in English during a snack break.

Marking the end of its 30th year with the close of classes tomorrow, the Holliston French immersion program is just one of two offered by Massachusetts public school systems, a distinction the town shares with Milton.

Now the town's elementary school foreign language program has been nominated for the Melba D. Woodruff Award, given by The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, the highest honor in the country for such instruction at the K-to-5 level.

"I think that represents Holliston's commitment to innovation," Superintendent Brad Jackson said.

While the nomination also cites the somewhat-less-intense elementary Spanish program - all Holliston elementary students take a foreign language, another town distinction - French immersion came first and provided