Author: Rachel

Using Gallica to Find Course Materials

In spite of the very public criticism of Google Books by the administrators of the Bibliothèque Nationale, the latter has engaged for years in a similar digitization project called Gallica. Ironically, you can often find texts on Gallica that are…

Le Parkour

Online Sources: Interview with David Belle, Parkour’s inventor, on ParkourFrance Parkour Blog with an article about David Belle you can download New Yorker article on Parkour from 2007

Description: Comparing Two Paintings

When learning adjectives in an elementary language course, I often use examples from the visual arts to create a comparaison exercise. Two paintings that lend themselves well to this kind of exercise are Manet’s Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1862-1863) and Monet’s…

Writing Portraits: Charles Bovary

What student of 19th-century literature doesn’t remember the striking portrayal of the young Charles Bovary that begins Flaubert’s 1857 novel? The opening passage – which depicts the child as an awkward “nouveau” joining a class of students younger than him…

Organizing Course Materials

You may want to file this one under “The Obvious,” but this was a revelation for me: After many years of piles collecting and covering every flat surface in my surroundings, I’ve finally settled on a way to keep my…

Daudet’s La Dernière classe

Digging through some course materials that have been handed down to me, I came across Alphonse Daudet’s short story La Dernière classe. As is the case with most any short story from the 19th century, this is a great text…

Microsoft Word Templates

The first day of a course I’m teaching is fast approaching and I’ve been thinking about the importance of organization and the communication to students of what is expected of them each day. Microsoft Word Templates simplify the planning of…