Welcome to a new semester! I’m teaching a civilization class this spring and thought I’d share some of the ideas I’m using for course material. In this post I talked about using Gallica to find primary sources, and used the…
I was living in France in 1999-2000 when the millennium was all the rage. On the occasion of the turn of the new century (yes, a year early), I picked up a copy of a compilation CD called Les plus grandes…
Sometimes the objectives of a course require the viewing of a full-length film in class. For example, in a writing class I have used La Fille sur le pont (1999) and Vipère au poing (2004) as the basis for an…
It was recently brought to my attention that the journal Modern & Contemporary France is offering articles for free. Many of the subjects are relevant for a course in French civilization, post-revolutionary French history, or literature. In preparing for a civilization…
Whether teaching a foreign language or using most students’ native tongue to discuss texts or other cultural productions, inciting discussion can be a surprisingly difficult task. Successful group discussions require both planning and flexibility to accomplish the goals you set…
One difficult aspect of teaching grammar is the disjointed impression given by a series of grammar lessons: when going over the difference between the gerond and the infinitive, for example, we tend to give students a long series of sample…
Apply for an academic job and you may very likely be asked to provide a copy of your teaching portfolio. While “portfolio” suggests simply a folder of teaching-related materials, really it should be a much more connected collection of evidence…
Michel Fugain’s 1972 song “Une Belle Histoire” has become a classic ballad of summer vacation, travel, and youth. The musical style is pretty dated, but that only adds to the kitchy fun of the song. It also happens to use…
It was in a graduate course on advanced French grammar topics that I had an ahha! moment: one of the most simple and easy exercises to create to improve writing is to closely study and reword sentences that students have…
Using crossword puzzles in the classroom can run the risk of seeming too juvenile. I picked up a couple of crossword vocabulary books in Paris and admittedly, their target audience is probably around the age of ten or twelve, with cartoon…