Travel Photography Leads to Teaching Recognition

The professional organization I belong to, ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) has a SIG (special interest group) devoted to culture. This summer they had a contest seeking 3 photos taken during study abroad programs in the 2017 or 2018 calendar year. The submission had to include a 300-350 word synopsis of:

• What is happening in the photos? 
• What did you learn from the photo? 
• How do you plan to transform the cultural moments into your teaching? 
• Do you plan to use / share the photos in your class? How so? 

I submitted three from our trip in January and won first place! The prize is a check for $100. The submission and photos will be featured in their fall newsletter. I'm still mulling over what to do with the money, but it will be for a resource related to teaching culture.




This German propaganda poster from WWII is on display at the Caen World War II memorial in Caen, in Normandy, France. The figure in the center is an African man with exaggerated features in keeping with racially offensive caricatures. The design of the poster shows the Germans wanted to justify the war by suggesting France was populated by racially inferior people. This is in keeping with common knowledge about Nazi ideology, but the French themselves had a poor track record when it came to treating minorities like Jews and people of color. The stereotypes in the poster are reminiscent of French posters from the same time period.

This poster offers an easy starting point to discuss WWII, Nazism and the occupation. Most students will think they already know the Nazis promoted a version of racial purity and the stereotype of an African in the center confirms that. Once that prior knowledge is activated, a deeper, bolder discussion can take place where they examine French-produced propaganda.

I plan to use the photo in my classes, even beginning ones, in discussions about colonialism, diversity, Normandy, and WWII.







These photos are from the Cité des sciences et de l'industrie in Paris. The display was part of an interactive exhibit that used fairytales to teach science to children. Here, a good and a bad witch illustrate bacteria. The first photo shows a young, blond, curvy, scantily clad witch to describe healthy bacteria. The second shows a hideous witch to explain bad bacteria. Although this section of the museum is oriented towards kids, the imagery is sexualized and reinforces harmful stereotypes about gender and appearance. Many American companies have been criticized for using imagery like this. The photos show the French are vulnerable to the same stereotypes.






I have already used these photos in class to talk about the origin of stereotypes and their use in fairytales. We analyzed the specific elements in these photos. I asked students to tell me what cultural values they noticed. Then students wrote their own modernized, healthier fairytales.

Possible images for ACTFL 2018 READ presentation from France January 2018

Plaque about WWII on an elementary school near our Airbnb 

Door to the kitchen of a burger joint

in the Caen WWII Memorial museum

from the Jewish History museum

Place de la Bastille

in the Caen WWII Memorial, accompanies the image above

In the Caen WWII memorial, accompanies photo above

at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, accompanies photo above.

This museum was recently in the news because many of its artifacts were "stolen" from developing countries, usually as a function of colonialism.

at the Louvre, accompanies sculpture above

at the Louvre, accompanies sculpture above

under the Arc de Triomphe

street sign in Paris, near the Louvre

at the Pantheon

at the Institut du monde arabe, accompanies photo above

Graffiti on an advertisement in the metro

Study Abroad Informed Teaching

Since I've been to France numerous times and have tons of photos of the most famous "rides" in the Disney version of the country, during my most recent trip (Jan 2018) with students I was determined to take meaningful photos. The two main criteria for being "meaningful" were 1) they captured an unusual visual detail and 2) they illustrate an important nuance of French culture.

Here are some key examples.

An ordinary bike rack at an unusual angle at the south entrance of the Jardin de Luxembourg.

A plaque commemorating a French soldier who died during WWII. He died in this spot. There are hundreds of plaques like this throughout the city and they are posted where real people died. It makes the history more meaningful when you realize someone died in the exact spot you are in.

Photos like this helped students relax a little in their foreign surroundings. We also talked a bit about the poses, the materials used, and why they were designed the way they were.

This advertisement will be perfect this fall in FREN 103. I love how the French have made "vegetable" into a verb to promote healthy eating. What does it say about French culture if huge posters like this are prominently displayed in the metro?

Louis XIV was known as the Roi Soleil and spread this imagery throughout Versailles.

The spiral staircase at the Arc de Triomphe. 

A chandelier at the Grand Trianon at Versailles.

                       

The Madeleine Church in Paris. The photo on the left shows a wedding there during the German Occupation in the 1940s. The guests are giving a Nazi salute. I took the photo on the right 74 years later.

A light fixture in Notre Dame, photo taken from below which gives it a haunted, ethereal quality.

Making faces at the Arc de Triomphe.

The steps at the Grand Trianon. 

                               

The ceiling of the Panthéon.

The floor of the Panthéon.

A wall at the Grande Mosquée de Paris. 

                                                  A door to the Grande Mosquée de Paris. 

Literary Awards

In my upper level survey of literature class this semester we studied excerpts from a wide range of French literature like lais, fables, poems, plays, short stories, and novels.

To wrap up the course the last day I asked students to think of a name for a new literary prize awarded by our class (ex: le PLUR, le Prix littéraire de l'Université de Rockford) and then sub-categories.

Here are some of the best examples the students came up with and their own nominees (without consulting their notes or books):

• Prix de la Société Malheureuse (Ourika wins for slavery, 2nd place goes to L'Amant for its depiction of statutory rape, Le Père Goriot for the arrivisme, Candide for the violence women endure)

 

• Prix de Tristesse (in the "love" category-Le Père Goriot, in the death category Huis Clos, in the happiness category [??] "Lettre à M. de Coulanges" by Madame de Sévigné)
• Prix "I" (the most improbable-Les hommes invisibles, the most innovative-L'Amant, the most immoral-Le Père Goriot)
• Prix Survie (in the impossible category-L'Amant, in the resilence category Cunégonde in Candide, in the problematic category Ourika)

We then voted and debated different nominees. It was a fun, collaborative, effective way to sum up everything we've worked on this semester. 

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.