Semester Abroad-ing Madison aka Adulting French Camp

I first traveled to France in high school and learned a lot from the experience, but my first major dose of travel, independence and MAJOR adulting occurred a few years later as an undergrad when I did the Semester Abroad program through the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

This unique program asks students to propose a sizable research project, make preliminary connections to primary sources or individuals in the semester before leaving, and then carry out the research ON THEIR OWN while in Europe in the fall. The group, students from any major you can think of like agriculture, business, marketing, Spanish, or French, travel to Paris with a few faculty members. They spend a week getting acclimated to the time difference, the use of public transportation, and some of the larger cultural differences before embarking BY THEMSELVES to the sites where they will conduct their research. They are totally self-sufficient. Their lodging, travel, eating, health and overall survival and completely their responsibility. They do interviews, they take photos, they explore archives and artifacts, they do what they need to do to learn about the topic from a perspective that is unavailable in any book, article or website. Upon returning home at the end of the semester, students write a LONG paper summarizing their findings on the topic. They receive a full semester of college credit for the experience.

Beyond the knowledge of the chosen topic, the format that puts the student entirely in charge of their survival is invaluable for developing social, problem-solving and time management skills. You learn how to problem-solve and be resourceful as well as flexible.

All of these skills are serving me well this week in Madison, WI where my oldest daughter is doing a French day camp every day from 9am-1pm. This is far enough away from our house that my time is better spent in Madison than it is driving back and forth.

So, I've treated this as my own sort of French camp by Semester Abroad-ing Madison this week.
Among the ways this feels like SA:

• speaking French (real French with real native speakers, not just "teacher" French)
• eating French foods (macarons, quiche, croissant aux amandes, Orangina, café crème)
• eating and drinking some of the above in cafés over a good book or other task

• coping with Bretagne/Loire-Atlantique-esque weather (il pleut, il y a du soleil, du coup il pleut encore, ah non, voilà le soleil...)
• carrying my bitch sack everywhere (term coined on SA by a dear friend who needed a word for the kind of super-useful but somewhat polished daypack you need when traveling, something that holds a book, notebook, pen, etc, but also water, camera, umbrella, etc because you never know what you'll need while you're out exploring your destination and can't go back to the youth hostel yet...or in my case...don't want to schlep back to the car in the parking garage)
• navigating a (somewhat) urban landscape. Il faut s'orienter, marcher partout, et profiter des petits plaisirs. 

• problem-solving challenges like traffic jams due to broken water mains that close down the streets in the neighborhood you're going to but there are lots of one ways and you don't know the area that well and your small child is in the back seat and...(well, I didn't have to worry about THAT variable back in my UWRF SA days.)

In short, I'm thoroughly enjoying my own small taste of "French camp for adults" and I'm gathering lots of ideas for a mini field trip to Madison for my French students. 

Expanding My Francophone Literature Knowledge-Rwanda

During my last trip to France in June of 2014, I bought a bunch of French books-novels, short stories, and plays. I've only managed to actually read one of them until now. 'Ive heard about some other exciting new authors and works, but have been so consumed by teaching tried and true texts, that I haven't been able to actually read them. A key goal this summer is to finally rectify that.

I started with Scholastique Mukasonga's collection, Ce que murmurent les collines: Nouvelles rwandaises.

A big reason I began with this, is I anticipate offering an upper level French survey of literature class in the spring. There is an anthology I'm interested in using as the textbook, but I wanted to round out the readings with others that expand the scope of the francophone world. I know a decent amount about Rwanda's genocide, but not much else and reading this was one small step to fixing that.

Moreover, since these are "nouvelles," they are likely to be relatively easy to integrate into the course. Each is between 15 and 30 pages. Each evokes Rwanda, but often in subtle ways that are perfect for that course. This group has heard about many different francophone countries and knows some of the key issues that impact many of them (colonization, the process of gaining independence, forging their own path, gender codes, racial differences, etc). They are at the point that they need the chance to apply their analytical skills and dig beneath the surface to uncover the issues and explore they ways they are expressed by individual authors.

I will add posts when I finish the book. So far there are intriguing references to the oral tradition, gender roles, education and lack of literacy, subtle allusions to the ethnic tensions that caused the genocide, and a fascinating differentiation between Rwandan culture and W. African traditions like griots (which are so central, even sacred, to the francophone [West] African canon).

High school French teaching ??! (Part 2)

Not long after guest teaching at a Rockford high school, I attended a workshop for my local school district. The goal was to discuss the district's strategic 5 year plan with community stakeholders. Participants included residents, parents, teachers, administrators, school board members, city council members, and the district superintendent. It was eye-opening on many levels.

The last time I'd been in a high school had probably been at least 10 years ago and now I'd found myself in them two times in about a week for two seemingly different reasons. I say "seemingly" because in the first instance I was a professional who put my profession front and center. I expected my role as a resident and parent of a soon to be kindergartner to be central to the experience at the school district workshop. I was surprised to discover how much my profession infused my comments and questions that day. It's made me realize the extent to which my parenting is informed by my teaching.

Identify concerns and actions that can be taken
Identify actions to achieve the district's mission

I took copious notes throughout the day.
I saved the instructions for each of the discussion activities.

A snapshot of some key topics that came up

• our district is de-emphasizing homework (hurray! From what I've read the data on its effectiveness is highly mixed anyway)
• they are gradually building a network to address economic problems and traumas (tons of kids in the district experience trauma and can't function academic without those needs being addressed)
• DOGS-Dads of Great Kids-a program that puts good men in touch with students who may not have strong male role models
• kindergarten inquiry-based model (hurray! The research I've read said play-based and inquiry based learning is far more effective)
• teacher shortage-Quelle surprise. The governor and the Republicans in the state have decimated teacher compensation, increased the emphasis on standardized testing and dismantled union protections. Why tolerate that when you can go elsewhere?
• city leaders have constrained housing development to preserve quaint nature of town but they also want student growth. Young families want good housing near good schools. One part of this equation needs to bend.
• the district needs better PR to publicize the many positive things happening. I absolutely agree with this, but I wonder how to achieve it because PR can sound a lot like boasting which is unacceptable for women. I see the push in recent years for teacher accountability, pay tied to student performance, the need for standardized tests to gauge performance and thus pay, the persistent denigration of the profession and a slow infantilization of teachers. I can't think of a similar male-dominated profession that is as thoroughly degraded. I hypothesize that the scrutiny is possible because so many women work as teachers, and professional women are not taken as seriously as professional men in many cases. So how to do it without sounding pushy and defying other gender codes associated with the field of teaching?

I also networked with:

• the founder of an organization that promotes diversity, World of Change Leaders, Inc
• the director of curriculum in the high school to explore teaching French as part of an extra-curricular enrichment (the district cut French almost 10 years ago and now offers Spanish and German)

Why on earth would the district pick German (spoken in two countries-Germany and Austria, and parts of a third-Switzerland) over French? The director of curriculum aid by cutting it they prioritized music-strings. What politics were in play at the time? If global awareness is a key goal for the district, how do you advance German as the better choice to achieve that when French is FAR more global?

The bright side is, thanks to Governor Scott Walker, in Wisconsin you can teach in the public schools without formal credentials as long as you have experience or expertise in the field. I plan to offer an enrichment experience for high school students next year with the help of the director of curriculum.

Over the course of the day we worked in small groups and then at the end of the day shared them with the whole group. The facilitator listened for commonalities and sought input for grouping similar things together so we could whittle down the list to a manageable number of areas for improvement. At my table were two para-teachers who support ESL students in the district. There was a former middle and high school Spanish teacher (who also speaks Swedish and German, I think). There was a parent who speaks German and wanted her kids to be exposed to languages. Thus, everyone was an advocate for language teaching. 

Someone at a table on the other side of the gymnasium asked if languages could be grouped with arts and computers? Instantly, the four language teachers at the table shouted "NO!!" so forcefully it resonated throughout the large space. Some people chuckled at our response, but we exchanged the knowing looks that come from regularly being asked similar ignorant questions. 

The conversation and negotiation continued. We got stickers to put next to the issues we felt were the most important. They were written on big pads of paper on easels. Several tables, not just ours, talked about the importance of language and culture. But, out of about 100 people only 12 people prioritized multilingualism, only 27 prioritized "language, arts/computers in K-12 ed." (Obviously, we lost the battle over tying languages to computers). 

The most frustrating aspect of the push to group languages with technology is it pits against each other two things that are both necessary in today's society. Americans loathe languages. They love technology. When given a choice for language or a computer class, most are going to choose the former. It presents educational opportunities in a scarcity model that promotes mutual exclusivity. It says, "We only have enough money for one of these things at a time, you the parent and student have to choose one of them. You can't do both." It's part of the much broader trend to constantly demand teachers, especially language teachers, to justify their jobs. If I and other language teachers could just focus on teaching and ignore promotion, recruiting and retention our jobs would be infinitely easier. I long for the day when my job is as readily and reflexively accepted by society as engineering or health care.