Foray into Comprehensible Input

A few weeks ago my intermediate students turned in a take-home exam and since I couldn't realistically expect them to prepare new material for the day, I opted to "comprehensible input" them with weather and season vocabulary. Normally I would assign them a few pages to pre-teach themselves a concept and a few exercises to give them practice with the basics. Instead, this was the framework of my lesson plan:

• 5 minutes Me narrate/describe photos and weather outside
• 2 min en français-faisons du brainstorming au tableau des nouveaux mots/expressions 
• 2 min en français-nous utilisons le nouveau vocabulaire                       

                        aujourd’hui il… ?

                        en février en général il…. ?

I used images like this:

http://theplunder.com/i-photographed-my-dog-enjoying-a-snowy-day/

And:

http://laurentowers.blogspot.com/2013/07/stormy-day.html

This was a significant departure for them. They didn't stare at the book or rifle through pages to look at a vocab list. They answered the most basic of questions. For example: "Il fait chaud?" while pointing at the first photo. "Il neige?" while pointing at the second. I did as much repetition (and gesticulating) as I could before asking them to use the new words themselves. 

The results: 4 of the 6 students said they liked the format, although 2 added the caveat that they wouldn't want that format all the time. They were afraid of missing something if they looked away, but they also wanted to take notes. At the end of the unit, one added more emphatically that he thought the change was really helpful for him. 

I had very mixed feelings about the experience. The change to CI felt like the fairest way to begin the new material. I selected images ahead of time that would weave in a broad variety of vocab, but otherwise I didn't plan much ahead. I appreciated that they were all engaged. I was impressed by how much they could say after just 5 minutes or so. 

On the other hand, the success was thanks to MY preparation. They didn't have to do anything outside of class. Our accrediting body requires us to put a statement about the workload expectations for the course on the syllabus (1-2 hours outside of class per hour inside of class), but students NEVER, EVER put in that much time outside of class. I've been frustrated that we can't accomplish more task-based activities because they hinge on scaffolding that students must do outside of class. That day I wasn't frustrated by their lack of preparation, but the CI model totally circumvents those challenges, and not necessarily in a healthy way. It puts the responsibility almost solely on the instructor. I wonder what homework looks like in a purely CI-based classroom. With college age students, I resent essentially doing the hard work for them. 

My personal conclusion is that on days when I can't expect them to prepare outside of class, I am willing to integrate CI-lite strategies. I am willing to give a CI-esque intro to new chapters and concepts. I am unwilling to use CI everyday because it is so passive. 

Bread is a Teaching Tool

"A baguette,

few days old,

2 tiny green mold spots,

and 2 more even tinier.

I scraped off the mold,

stuck the whole thing in the oven,

400 degrees, 10 minutes.

I think I should eat it.

Do you?" 

(Facebook question posed by a rhetoric professor to a biology professor)

The francophone in me who claims France as her second home is shocked at the idea that a baguette could linger, unfinished, for days. A real, quality, French baguette would be better suited for building construction or self-defense after a few hours, let alone a few days. But what a brilliant teaching opportunity.

ACTFL recommends teaching culture through the lens of 3Ps-products, practices and perspectives. Here we have the same product, baguettes, consumed by two different cultures. In one culture the practice is to consume the baguette within the day, leaving it for one additional day at the absolute most (and only then with the understanding that it still might be dreadful after that short amount of time). In this culture, quality bread is regularly consumed, best eaten fresh, and easily procured. In this culture, the perspective is that artisan bread-baking is an art that does not include preservatives and access to this type of bread should be widespread so it can be the staple that it is.

In the other culture, most groceries are purchased in large quantities once or twice per week, making preservatives a necessity (practice). There are far fewer artisan bakeries so replenishing the bread supply is a greater challenge (practice). Dietitians, athletes, bloggers and the like debate the appropriateness of carbs at all, let alone daily and at most meals (perspective). If people believed more strongly in the cultural and nutritional value of high quality bread (perspective), there would be more bakeries (practice).

From the consumption of a simple baguette we could have a whole conversation about urban planning, transportation, small business ownership, waste, and environmentalism. Studying a language is a powerful thing.

Smashing Stereotypes Through Study Abroad

When I was an undergrad at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls I studied abroad in an amazing program that let me design and carry out my own semester long project in France. I picked immigration, particularly Muslims from North Africa, because a negative experience in Paris in high school made me want to better understand this group. 

In preparing for the trip, I stumbled across an organization that promoted athletics for young boys from mostly immigrant Maghrébin families (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) so they had something constructive to do after school. The director of the organization agreed to meet me. I planned on just having coffee, asking a few questions, and moving on, but then he realized I didn't have a place to stay arranged. A key part of the program design is the student arranges their own travel, lodging, food, etc once they arrive in Europe. My plan was to find a hostel or simply get back on the train if there wasn't room, no big deal. He insisted I stay with him and his family.

So he brought me back to his tiny apartment and introduced me to his wife. They were excited to have a guest for dinner so they invited his wife's brother, mother, cousin and other family members. They made a feast of North African specialties (including tripe, ugh!) and made room in their home. The next day they took me to their mosque where the imam (director) graciously answered my questions and offered me the beautiful prayer rug that hangs in my office at Rockford University. He said he wanted to give me something to remember him, the mosque, and my Muslim host family by.

Yes, this family was Muslim. Yes, they were probably Arab (I didn't learn about Berbers, Tuaregs, and other ethnic groups for another 10 years). No, they weren't terrorists. They were just generous people who opened their home and their lives to a total stranger. Just as there are good Christians and Christians who are assholes, the same applies to Muslims. Just as there are different interpretations of Christianity, there are different interpretations of Islam. Don't judge a whole group by the actions of a few.

Thoughts on Nina Bouraoui's "Avant les hommes"

In the months before my recent trip to France with students in FREN 297 I developed a long list of things I wanted to buy. Most were books that are hard to find in the U.S. Although Nina Bouraoui's Avant les hommes wasn't technically on it, I've read several of her other books and knew it would be worthwhile to have it.

As I noted the last time I was in France, it's fascinating how booksellers choose to organize their stores. I sought the francophone texts on my wishlist in two different stores without any luck. At the Institut du monde arabe I found them all, including Bouraoui's.

Avant les hommes in a slender novel of 80 some pages. I returned home from this trip determined to do a better job reading in my target language. Starting with what appeared to be the easiest book in the stack seemed wise.

After a few pages it was clear this would not be a text I would teach or write research on which was liberating because then I didn't feel compelled to underline or annotate. It was refreshing to simply read and read and simply enjoy it.

I use the word "enjoy" loosely here, because the book has some tedious qualities. The narrator is an angst-filled adolescent whose mind wanders from problem to problem without much cohesion. The two unifying threads were his lust for Sami, a boy he can't have, and his strained relationship with his mother. Perhaps Bouraoui meant to replicate the jumbled, random thoughts of a horny teenager and that’s why it was a repetitive, unfocused mess. 

I will say that I'm fascinated by Bouraoui's choice to write from the perspective of a gay male adolescent. That really calls into question the assumption that characters, especially narrators, are avatars of their authors. If the unfocused writing style is by design, which I assume it is since it contrasts sharply when some of her other novels, then I also commend her for taking this risk. 

By extension, I'm fascinated by her exploration of a young, gay, male adolescent's path to manhood. The narrator, Jérémie comments several times that he wants to be sexually intimate with men he would like to be himself. The distance, both physical and emotional, from his parents (unmarried, living in different parts of the country( gives him lots of room to explore his identity on his own. He keeps coming back to the physicality of men and his parents' absence, as if to suggest he is drawn to the tangibility of naked torsos because they can be seen and felt, unlike his parents. 

This was one of those books whose idea I like much better than the execution. I think I get Bouraoui's intent, but I found the writing style too unfocused to include in professional activities in the future. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. I started with this book because I wanted a relatively easy pathway back to regular reading in French and it was perfect for that. 

Teaching Bliss

I'm standing by the title of this post, but I can't claim to "teach bliss." I wish I could. I would take a class on learning how to be more blissful, if such a course existed. But no, this is about bliss I experienced as an educator.

Some context will make my exuberance clearer: last semester was one of the hardest for me. At mid-terms I realized that all of the students who earned academic alerts were young men of color. Several Muslim students from the Middle East enrolled in my Cross-Cultural Masculinities course where we talk about challenging subjects related to sex and violence. Many students struggled to turn in assignments in any kind of shape, let alone good shape (thoroughly and thoughtfully done). We talked about slavery, racism, white privilege, prejudice, inequality and sexual assault (among others). Despite my efforts to carefully frame these targets and foster inclusivity, by the end of the semester just about every student had a reason to feel like they belonged in a targeted group. The final projects in two of the three classes were barely average. By May, I vowed to never, ever teach the Interrogating Paris class again.

Fast forward to the end of semester when my favorite class, Monsters and Mayhem in the French-Speaking World, presented projects on Haiti. Specifically, they rewrote a scene from the novel Reflections of Loko-Miwa by Lilas Desquiron. The photos below show the visuals they chose to use to act out the changes.

They really poured themselves into the project. Several were surprised by the drama they were able to channel into their acting. Almost all said it helped them more thoroughly understand the characters and the challenges they experienced due to racism, economic problems, and gender codes.

Taking Stock of the Summer

For a variety of professional reasons, this summer seemed like a rip off. I felt bogged down by unnecessarily dramatic work tasks and didn't have enough time to focus on accomplishing things and savoring the unstructured time of the summer.

I had hoped to accomplish the following:

• tackle the piles of filing in my home office and campus office
• catch up on reading various pleasure books I've amassed
• cook: salade niçoise, strawberry shortcake, homemade ice cream, tomato/mozzarella salad, and test some new recipes
• work out 4-5 times per week
• get a thorough understanding of best practices for using authentic resources in my classes
• revise and resubmit and article I've been working on for...face palm...10 bloody years

Rather than lament what I didn't accomplish, I've tried to be mindful of what I DID which includes:

• catching up on almost all the magazines and journals I've collected over 2 years
• reading 5 books for pleasure including 1 in French and 1 related to parenting
• I made ratatouille, shortcake and ice cream one time each
• I made a lovely rhubarb/almond cake with rhubarb from a stranger at the farmer's market who invited me to her home to have some of hers when there was none to be had at the market

• worked out 2-3 times per week
• learned a ton about comprehensible input
• have a good plan for a repository for a joint project
• had a mini family vacation in Des Moines, trying to make the best of a road trip to western Iowa for a funeral

• had a mini "powerful women" vacation in Minnesota and a quick visit to my favorite alma mater

• celebrated my dad's retirement

• saw 10 beloved friends and all sides of my extended families

• helped J experience French camp (which she LOVED) and swimming lessons (also loved)

• went to an overdue family reunion

• finally got professional family photos taken

Thoughts on Ce que murmurent les collines: Nouvelles rwandaises by Scholastique Mukasonga

As I noted in a previous post, I started my remedial French-language reading this summer with this book because they are short stories and may lend themselves to teaching in the future. I will probably offer a survey of literature class this spring, and want to be sure to include francophone authors in the mix.

Going into this I knew nothing of Mukasonga's biography or her work. I learned quite a bit about the genocide of the 1990s from a cross-cultural persuasion course I taught in 2013, but after this much time, most of the details escape me. That means I was basically a clean slate going in to it.

My overall reaction was that I feel like a better person for reading it. The average person doesn't know much about Rwanda and like me, if they do know something, it's probably something vague related to the genocide. For today's typical college students who are between 18 and 22, they may not even have that much. While my background as a francophoniste has given me a strong foundation in West African literary traditions and to some extent their cultural, political and economic contexts, I don't want to fall into the habit that so many white Westerners do of assuming Africa is some dark, exotic, monolithic place and whatever I do know about it can be applied broadly across the whole continent. Again, reading this was one small step to making sure I personally avoid that.

Below are some of the characteristics I observed about Mukasonga's writing in this collection. These examples are from "La rivière Rukarara." The examples from this one story give a good overview of her writing in general.

oral tradition

• pg 14 le soir, à la veillée, à l'heure des contes

gender roles

• pg 11 mother = nostalgia
• pg 11 mom forbids all kids, mêmes aux garçons intrépides, from playing near the steep banks of a river (there are two different sets of rules, one for boys and another for girls)
• pg 16/122 in Rwanda there is no "nom de famille." Fathers choose names for their kids at birth and pick something that relates to it. Muka is a prefix that signals it is a feminine name. It = femme de... or celle de... so it also means women gain social status through their relationship through a male family member

education and lack of literacy

• pg 13 her mother can't read her father's bible

tension between Catholicism and indigenous religions

• pg 13 le baptême le plus efficace, ce n'était pas celui que nous avions reçu des bons pères mais celui qu'elle nous avait administré...avec l'eau...de la Rukarara (river near her home)

subtle allusions to the ethnic tensions that caused the genocide

• pg 12 her famille, like many other Tutsi were deported and were internal refugees, were exiled
• pg  14 in 1963 her family members still living near the Rukarara were almost all massacred
• pg 29 inventer des êtres tout juste sortis de la Fable, une race quasi primordiale qui réenchanterait l'Afrique avilie par des activités industrielles et mercantiles. Et les Tutsi, si grands, aux traits si fins, à l'allure si imposante, étaient justement là pour tenir le rôle...Là où il n'y avait que des Rwandais, on vit des Egyptiens issue en droite ligne des pharaons... (the language choices emphasize the artifice, the construction, the idealization behind the process of the Tutsis being set apart from the Hutus)
• pg 22 the Tutsis impressed early colonizers. "Leur physique, leur attitude corroborent le portrait qu'en a dressé le premier Européen à pénétrer au Rwanda, le comte von Goetzen..."
• pg 28 colonizers carry themselves with white superiority
• pg 28 le plus grand malheur qui soit arrivé aux Rwandais, c'est d'habiter aux sources du Nil, là où depuis l'Antiquité, s'était déposé le mythe d'une contré originelle, d'un paradis perdu et inaccessible

migration

• pg 15 refugees need mysterious permis de séjour and titres de voyages that opened doors to Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Belgium, France, Germany, US, above all Canada

differentiation between Rwandan culture and W. African traditions

• like griots (which are so central, even sacred, to the francophone [West] African canon).
• pg 16/122 in Rwanda there is no "nom de famille." Fathers choose names for their kids at birth and pick something that relates to it. Muka is a prefix that signals it is a feminine name. It = femme de... or celle de... so it also means women gain social status through their relationship through a male family member
• pg 26 reference to un boy

Writing Style:

• I was struck by the powerful language choices like this one, pg 17 "Comment aurais-je pu oublier la Rukarara? N'était-elle pas comme inscrite dans ma chair?"
• autobiographical-her narrator is herself. Pg 19 references her novel Notre Dame du Nil