It sounds like you got the French language attribute assigned to the
Footer style in your template (there are separate styles named Header
and Footer, although by default they look alike).
Go to the Style & Formatting task pane. If you can't see the Footer
style there, select All Styles in the Show box. Select Footer, click
the down arrow, and select Modify. Check the Add To Template box. Then
click Format and select Language. Select your favorite flavor of
English. Click the two OK buttons to get back to the task pane. Now
try the AutoTexts.