Carolyn M. Fay: Teaching Portfolio: Techniques
Teaching Techniques (or how to get bears to dance)

My methods of teaching all have one thing in common whether I'm teaching grammar, leading discussion about a text, or offering a workshop for other teachers: all of the activities are engaging and fun. It is my belief that people absorb concepts and skills more effectively when they enjoy what they are doing and can interact directly with the material and with each other. As I use methods that further my three main goals--teaching students the tools of the French language, how language generally functions, and how to be critical readers of literature and culture--I also create an environment that is enthusiastic, challenging, and hands-on.

Tools for Language and Transferable Skills

At all levels of French language instruction, I teach students French grammar and vocabulary as well as the four principle language functions of speaking, listening, writing and reading. All classroom instruction is in French. This immersive environment exposes the students to spoken French from the very beginning, tuning their ears to the way French sounds, encouraging them to volunteer in French on their own. I require my students to prepare all material the night before so that we can discuss it in French the next day. Even at the elementary level I treat most grammatical concepts in French using English language cognates such as "article indéfini," and "objet direct." This has the added benefit of bolstering students' confidence in their growing language skills.

When teaching grammar and vocabulary, the building blocks of language, I rely on techniques that encourage the students to directly engage with the material. Instead of presenting new material myself, I often have the students brainstorm about a related point, or deduce a grammar rule using previous knowledge. I create activities in which students can practice vocabulary or grammatical structures in a meaningful context or as it they relate to their own lives. The students interact with me directly, but also with each other in one-on-one conversations or small groups of three or four. We also play a lot of games that elicit specific vocabulary or grammar points. I have found games to be quite effective in providing controlled practice of language concepts, while creating a fun and engaging classroom environment.

With regard to the four principle skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing, I use a step-by-step process that gives the students the tools they need to both understand content and analyze it, as well as strategies they can use in other classes, particularly in the areas of reading and writing. I always begin with some kind of brainstorming activity to activate student knowledge about the topic we will treat, whether a text about politics in France, a video about Quebec, a composition about a francophone country or a conversation about films. I follow this with a skill-building activity that isolates a strategy useful to the proposed endeavor, such as skimming a text for the main idea or rewriting poorly organized paragraphs. The students are now ready to deal with the text, video, writing assignment or conversation topic, following specific instructions that guide them. For example, I may expect students to understand only certain information in the video clip about Quebec. After checking their comprehension of the text or video, or monitoring their progress in the conversation or writing activity, I lead the class into a discussion about the content or concepts they encountered.

Finally, in addition to activities that isolate one language skill or grammatical point, I also create situations in which my students must use all or several of the skills in speaking, writing, listening and reading: oral or written presentations about a text or film, performance of student written skits, discussion or debate about a cultural or literary topic. I have also developed several web-based exercises that have students view content on the web and then discuss or write about their findings. These activities serve to let the students "live" in French and also guide them to the next levels of language learning and my second and third teaching goals.

Understanding Language

One of the things I regularly observe in French languages classes, regardless of the level, is that students tend automatically to compare French to their native language. This is not something I discourage, but rather make explicit so that students can see where their assumptions about language originate. My aim is that students not only learn how French works, but also how their native language (usually English) works and what these languages reveal about their respective cultures. I achieve this is through instruction about language mechanics, history of language, and translation.

Many students do not understand the mechanics of their native language much less that of French, so I include regular lessons on grammar, parts of speech, sentence structure, etc., using examples from both French and English. This instruction lays the foundation for cross-cultural comparisons and translation work.

In addition, I often explain the history of a certain word, expression or grammatical structure. Students, when frustrated with an expression or structure so unlike English, will ask me "Why isn't this like English?" A clear explanation, of how the double negative evolved in France, for example, gives the students a concrete story to remember about the grammar point and helps to dispel the notion that "French is weird."

Finally, especially in conjunction with writing activities, my students learn about translation, from French to English and English to French. I write "about" translation because we first discuss it in theory: how translations can vary and produce different meaning based on the audience who hears it. One of my favorite translation activities has to do with movie titles. I give the students a list of the French titles of popular American movies. Students must figure out what the original title was and determine an explanation for the specific translation. What does the translation reveal about culture? A classic is the American movie "A Few Good Men," titled in France as "Des hommes d'honneur." It takes much discussion, but the students eventually realize that "a few good men" is a distinctly American phrase as it comes from the Marine code. In this way, translation is a remarkable tool for teaching cross-cultural understanding.

Analyzing Literature and Culture

Just as I teach my students to see the assumptions behind an American movie title, I also teach them to lend the same critical eye to literature and culture. Again, I use cross-cultural or literary comparisons between French and English to help them expand their thinking. To illustrate my methods I provide two specific examples of how I teach literature and culture.

i. La francophonie:

I begin a class discussion about "la francophonie" by having the students brainstorm French speaking countries. We arrange these by geographical location. We briefly discuss colonization and then the students view a short clip detailing a few francophone countries with interviews of students and teachers in Quebec, Mali, Cambodia and Croatia. This leads into the class reading assignment: a poem by Yambo Ouologuem entitled "A mon mari." The next day, we discuss the poem and the students list the main themes: transformation of Africa, growing dominance of French language and customs, loss of cultural identity. The students take the rest of the period to write a poem responding to the "wife" and addressing her concerns. In a later follow-up activity, the students are asked to write a formal essay analyzing the poem.

ii. Le cinéma:

After a discussion about genres of movies and which genres they prefer, I have the students analyze and compare the opening sequences of two French movies: "La femme Nikita" and "Bleu." They must compare what happens, the pace, the tone and the setting of the clips. To what type of audience might these films appeal and why? Which film seems more suited to American spectators? This leads us into an initial discussion about the broad differences between American and French movies. I then assign the students a film analysis essay: they are to watch one of the films and consider a set of questions I give them. As students complete their viewing and their writing outside of class, we continue to discuss the films in class, in particular why they do or do not like the films.

Each of these activities fosters critical thinking about French and francophone culture and literature as well as about the students' own culture. The "francophonie" activity also teaches that within a language there may be a plurality of conflicting cultures. Furthermore, both activities elicit analytical skills in oral and written expression. In the end, the students become more sophisticated readers, viewers and consumers of culture. These activities represent the pinnacle of my teaching goals: that students in a French class can open up their minds to the possibilities of other ways of thinking and other modes of being and behaving.


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