French professors Abadie, Halling, Daddah and Chinese professors Broadstock & Du attended the 2016 OFLA (Ohio Foreign Language Association) & CSTCFL annual conference in Columbus, Ohio on March 10th and 11th.
Professors Abadie and Halling conducted the “Prose Combat: Contemporary French Songs as Authentic Texts” workshop. In this workshop, the presenters shared a variety of strategies for using popular French music to develop cultural and linguistic competency. Emphasis was placed on song lyrics as conveyers of linguistic trends and sociocultural tendencies. Presenters shared abundant samples of interpretive reading activities at all levels that focus on cultural comparison, analysis, and written and oral communication.
Professor Daddah presented the “How to Make a French Business Class Fun and Practical!” session. It was an informative session on how to create a fun and entertaining French Business class! Participants were shown how to use hands-on resources leveraging state of the art material provided by the Paris Chamber of Commerce to create a useful, practical and interesting course. They learned hand-on tips, structuring approaches and methods to ensure information is conveyed in an appealing way.
Professor Daddah also conducted the AATF (American Association of Teachers of French) "movie club" with Lucas Hoffman (President of AATF Ohio) in which she talked about the acclaimed French movie "La Famille Bélier” (2014). She and the audience analyzed the movie through video clips and discussed how to use this movie in class.
Professor Broadstock presented the “Blended Learning in the Chinese Classroom” session. This session highlighted the curriculum design and sequence of blended learning use in a third-year Chinese course. Blended learning aims at achieving learning outcomes through a comprehensive cycle: pre-class preview, in-class learning, and after-class review. The presenter documented how this model has enhanced learning outcomes and achieved programmatic goals. The presenter showcased a number of multimedia sources, including a course website, flipped classroom design, students’ tech-based tasks, sample IPA work, reflections, and feedback.
