Posted by Victoria Williams on June 2, 2014
From May 22 to May 24, 2014, I participated in the 7th International Women in French Conference, held in the charming city of Guelph in the Ontario province of Canada. As a newcomer to the conference, I was particularly pleased to discover a welcoming atmosphere among colleagues in French Studies from various parts of the…
Posted by Victoria Williams on February 25, 2014
This presentation provides an Italian example of the challenges faced by L2 instructors attempting to integrate distant historical memories into their curriculum. Meeting this challenge requires the development of activities that contextualize these narratives while bridging the past and the present by engaging with learners’ own values and experiences. Building on this understanding, students can…
Posted by Victoria Williams on December 20, 2013
Traditionally, learning grammatical patterns, expanding vocabulary, and practicing conversational phrases have been emphasized in second/foreign language classrooms. With this narrow but prevalent way of conceptualizing the goals of language instruction, few teachers fully envisage themselves teaching culture. The current project focuses on a particular way of viewing culture in terms of history and memory. By…
Posted by Mark Kaiser on September 10, 2011
**** Videos now available - please use Safari or Firefox ***** Saturday, Sept.10, 2011 9-5:30 pm 370 Dwinelle INTRODUCTION The MLA Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Languages (2007) has advocated teaching, together with functional language abilities, ‘critical language awareness’ and ‘historical and political consciousness’. Indeed, the many commemorative events in the cultures we teach as…