Upon the return of a former student from studying in France, I met with her to discuss her experience. At our meeting, she confessed that, as a student in my intermediate French class a year before her travels, she had wondered why we spent so much time on conversational activities when she could read and write more quickly—and more accurately—by herself. In France she began to appreciate the extent to which speaking required careful listening and quick thinking, and she then realized why I encouraged students to be willing to make mistakes and ask clarifying questions, rather than remain silent out of perfectionistic hesitation. After this discussion, I made a point to begin subsequent semesters with an improved introduction to explain why I prioritize speech and culture in class. To this end, in my beginning and intermediate classes, students respond to a TEDx talk (“Hacking Language Learning”) by Benny Lewis, a polyglot who began learning languages in his twenties. He addresses common concerns of adult language learners (e.g. “I’m too old to be fluent.” “I don’t plan to travel.” “Native speakers will be offended by mistakes.”), and he stresses especially the importance of active learning through speaking, i.e., using language to build relationships with people and cultures. Students report that our discussion challenges them to reconsider their goals for the class—some who enrolled to fulfill a requirement recommit to leaning French for a personal reason (such as a passion for film history or an interest in international rap). Our discussion initiates a supportive environment in which we can take (linguistic) risks, speaking without fear of criticism.
Skills for reading, writing, listening, and speaking require the ability to decipher the norms of a genre (as with a business letter, a tweet, or a sonnet) and thereby better comprehend content and produce contextually appropriate style and substance. This approach provides an overarching philosophy for my language, literature, and culture classes. For instance, I ground writing activities in realistic scenarios, such as a writing activity in which students compose an email to an incoming exchange student describing the cultural differences he or she may encounter. This activity allows students to synthesize recent readings on societal norms in France while it also provides them with an opportunity to reflect on how those customs relate to their own experiences. To demonstrate course concepts within an authentic framework, I also incorporate music, news clips, and video blogs relevant to my lessons: Edith Piaf’s “Non, je ne regrette rien” illustrates negation, a YouTube art history video called “Tu vois le tableau” complements the introduction of voir and apercevoir, and a clip entitled “La Bouffe” from Cyprien, a popular Youtubeur, rounds out a unit on the topic of food.
In four years of face-to-face classroom experience and three years of online teaching, I have discovered benefits and challenges in each model, which led in turn to a productive “cross-pollination” between the course types. As an online teacher, my first goal was to establish a classroom-like rapport with my students, and, through trial and error over the semesters, I found the right balance through regular email contact, bi-weekly videos, and discussion forum responses. I also readily apply technological tools in my face-to-face courses when they enhance (rather than overpower) the class. For example, students can share initial reactions to Dany Laferrière’s Tout bouge autour de moi in an online forum to pave the way for a deeper in-class discussion, and in class we may employ Google Earth to situate Laferrière’s account of the 2010 Haitian earthquake geographically.
As a teacher, I also have experience with policies and concerns related to academic integrity. The social contract of the language classroom involves trust, and I expect students to respect the honor code. I am also particularly mindful of the challenges (including, but not limited to, financial, familial, or health-related issues), with which many students must cope, and which can hinder or even derail their academic progress. Accordingly, I work with students and direct them to appropriate campus resources that will support them and guide them to success.
At any course level, the language classroom is a personal and performative space. Beginning language-learners experiment self-consciously with shaping new sounds, while advanced literature and culture students broach key questions about the human condition. As a teacher, I facilitate a supportive, civil community, and this mission spans both language and culture classes: as we learn to listen respectfully to others, attentively doing our best to process unfamiliar syllables, by extension we become attuned to other cultures and worldviews.