On Friday, March 1st UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator from French, Florence Marsal met with a group of 30 UConn ECE certified French Instructors for a professional development workshop.

Joëlle Vitiello, Professor of French and Francophone Studies, Macalester College shared her presentation “Enseigner les trésors d'Haïti” (Teaching the Treasures of Haiti).

Later Mary Catherine Decoteau, Career Consultant from UConn’s Career Services spoke to teachers about enhancing and highlighting career competencies in ECE French classes. Completing the morning, ECE Instructor from Avon High School Geneviève Brand discussed “L'eau dans la littérature”(Water in Literature). All Instructors who registered also received a free e-copy of  "Laquelle de nous était Eurydice".

UConn FREN courses offered through ECE.

On Friday, May 5th Early College Experience French Instructors participated in their annual professional development workshop. The day included the following sessions:

Podcasts in French: UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for French, Professor Florence Marsal, spoke to teachers about different podcasts in French, and brainstormed ideas for activities in the classroom. Examples of interesting podcasts: « L’Heure du Monde », « une vie une œuvre », « French voices », « pile ».

Multimedia Medievalisms, Elisabeth Buzay, Visiting Assistant Professor in French: Elisabeth talked contemporary adaptations of medieval stories in a variety of media, and how they can be integrated into the second language classroom.

“La laïcité” Mary Beth Allen, Visiting Assistant Professor in French: Mary Beth talked about the concepts of secularism and multiculturalism in France.

“Booktube”, Nada Elshabrawy,Teaching Assistant - Graduate Student in French: Nada talked about the differences between Booktube channels in the US and in France, common topics found on Booktube, and how to employ Booktube/Booktok techniques in the French language classroom.  

Participants also received e-copies of “La bande dessinée” by Annie Baron-Carvais, and “Le Multiculturalisme” by Patrick Savidan.

UConn French courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Wednesday, April 27^th, UConn Early College Experience, and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for French, Prof. Florence Marsal, met with ECE certified French Instructors for their annual professional development conference.

Presentations included:

• “Le mentir-vrai et l’authenticité de la traduction littéraire”

(The true lie and the authenticity of literary translation)

-Dawn Cornelio, Professeure et Coordinatrice de la Maîtrise en Études Françaises, University of Guelph | Guelph, ON Canada

 

• Une autre modernité: le contre-flâneur dans le Paris du XIXe siècle”

(Another modernity: the counter flâneur in 19th century Paris)

- Pauline Levy Valensi, Editorial Assistant for Contemporary French and Francophone Studies: SITES

 

• “La face "caché" de l'occident: le français postcolonial”

(The "hidden" face of the West: postcolonial French)

- Hassanaly Ladha, Associate Professor of French and Comparative Literature

Graduate Director, French and Francophone Studies, UConn

 

After a short break the group reconvened to hear from Aaliyah Castleberry, Career Consultant, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Center for Career Development, UConn who spoke about: “Articulating the Value of a French Degree to Various Audiences”

 

UConn French courses offered through Early College Experience.

On Thursday, April 29^th UConn Early College Experience and the UConn ECE Faculty Coordinator for French, Florence Marsal (Associate Professor in Residence) met with certified French Instructors for their annual professional development workshop. Instructors received a copy of L’art de perdre by Alice Zeniter and participated in a discussion about the novel.

After the book discussion, the group listened to parts of the music album “Pili pili sur un croissant au beurre”, by Gaël Faye. Which reference exile, nostalgia, and dual identity.

Prof, Marsal shared that both the novel and the music album can help us teach history (wars in Algeria and Rwanda, France’s military actions there) with a more personal and human approach, thanks to the young narrators. But these two resources can also start discussions with our students about childhood and youth, about family origins and one’s sense of identity, and about writing one’s own story to make sense of it.

 

 

After a short break the group reconvened to hear from Adrienne Eldredge, (French Adjunct Faculty, UConn) about “The Italianization of les passions in 17th-century France.” Adrienne Eldregde’s talk focused on emotions in Italian theater, through the lens of French and Italian philosophy, theater treatises, and plays.

At the end of the meeting UConn’s French 3250 and 3251 were discussed by Elisabeth Buzay, (Visiting Assistant Professor, UConn). Elisabeth Buzay spoke about the two recent culture and conversation courses she taught in a hybrid format: her 3251 syllabus focused on the “10 arts of the 21st century”, and the final project was to create a digital story. In her 3250 course, she implemented a crowd-sourced syllabus, and students created a final project in one of the following formats: a TV newscast, a radio show, or a podcast.

UConn French Courses offered through ECE.