Teaching Philosophy

 

As a scholar of French sociolinguistics and global studies, my goal as an instructor is to create proficient French speakers while challenging the common perception of French as a homogenous language. I design my courses to highlight the diversity of the Francophone world and develop students’ confidence through active engagement with French. I achieve this by using task-based activities, creating space for students to monitor their own learning, and integrating interdisciplinary content that encourages critical thinking about how language reflects political, cultural, and historical realities.

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Pedagogical Approach

 

I use a communicative and task-based approach to language teaching. My classes are conducted entirely in French, but I am careful to ensure that students receive input just above their current level. I find that when students are able to lower their affective filter, they are willing to experiment with language. With this in mind, I prioritize creating an environment where students are comfortable trying out new structures and are never penalized for making mistakes. The classroom becomes a space for gamified activities and collaborative tasks that integrate course content. For example, in a unit on artists in my intermediate French course, students act as art dealers tasked with selling famous works of art. One group is secretly assigned a forgery and must give subtly incorrect information. After several rounds of questioning and research using French websites, the class votes to identify the fake. Task-based activities like this not only boost students’ confidence, but also promote oral communication, one of the most daunting aspects of language learning. I have also noticed that, because these tasks require collaboration, they foster a sense of community among students in the classroom.

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Student-Centered Learning

 

Another priority in my pedagogy is that students become active participants in their own learning. One way I encourage this is by including opportunities for students to refine their work before I formally assess it. In my classes, students write weekly journal entries in French based on prompts that connect grammar points to the week’s content, such as a Francophone country we studied or ways to connect French to their own lives. In class, students give peer feedback on each other’s entries and then verify their revisions with me. This process supports metacognition by encouraging students to reflect on their use of language and identify gaps in understanding before receiving corrective input. I also help students track their own growth by referring regularly to learning outcomes and using ACTFL-based “Can-Do” self-assessments at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester. These checkpoints help students recognize their progress in real, tangible terms.

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Interdisciplinary Approaches to Critical Thinking

 

Beyond improving students’ language proficiency, I believe the French classroom is a place to encourage students to question their understanding of language and the world. French is a highly standardized language that is often seen as having a single correct form. However, all Global Frenches are in contact with regional languages and cultures that give them their own distinct flavor, whether Wolof, Flemish, Arabic, or Breton. One of the best ways I have found to demonstrate this is through interdisciplinary approaches. For instance, in advanced French conversation courses, we begin by examining Abdellatif Kechiche’s film L’esquive, focusing on the sociological themes of class, race, and education in the Parisian banlieue. We then explore the historical roots of Arabic terms in banlieue French, challenging students to question why French has been influenced by Arabic. This leads to a linguistic analysis of Parisian verlan, where students analyze the phonological rules regulating the creation of verlan words. Students spend multiple sessions analyzing each film, text, or song, reflecting on authentic materials from different disciplinary perspectives. I find that this approach helps students to develop the critical thinking skills expected of humanities students, which they can apply to other areas of their lives.

 

My Goals

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Ultimately, my aim is to build students’ confidence and fluency while equipping them with the tools to think critically about language and the world. I want students to leave my classes able to communicate across cultures and to recognize French as a plural language. Whether through communicative tasks, opportunities for reflective learning, or interdisciplinary engagement with culture and society, I strive to make language study rigorous, meaningful, and connected to students’ development as both language users and critical thinkers.