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…
Organizing Course Materials
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…
Using Google Books in the Literature Classroom
The Google Books project – like that of the Bibliothèque Nationale’s Gallica site – has revolutionized the way we find and access texts, particularly those with expired copyright and available in full-text format. To make the most of this tool,…
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…
About
En français, classe! It’s the classic cliché of a French teacher in the U.S: the overzealous, beret-and-striped-shirt-wearing Frenchman or woman practically bouncing off the walls and requiring the incredulous students to “say it in French” although the students haven’t a…