Pedagogical Projects in French Language Education
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What this site is
This site brings together a set of pedagogical projects developed across beginning, intermediate, and advanced French language courses. The projects trace a progression from early cultural engagement to interpretation, expression, and authorship, emphasizing process‑based learning, place‑based and virtual approaches, and sustained interaction with cultural texts, institutions, and communities.
The materials are organized across two complementary modes. The first presents a sequence of adaptable, classroom-based projects that can be implemented or modified across a range of instructional contexts. The second highlights upper-level, research-informed courses that reflect more specialized areas of inquiry and are intended as models for inspiration, adaptation, and dialogue.
Each project reflects a commitment to access, care, and intellectual rigor at all stages of language learning.
Who this site is for & guiding philosophy
These materials are intended for language educators interested in integrating culture, writing, media, and place into language instruction from the earliest stages. The projects are grounded in the belief that students can engage meaningfully with cultural texts, historical contexts, and public discourse when instruction is thoughtfully scaffolded.
Across levels, the guiding philosophy is consistent: language learning is not only the acquisition of grammatical forms, but a practice of participation, interpretation, and authorship in cultural and communicative contexts. Cultural inquiry, interaction, and public-facing work are treated not as enrichment, but as central components of language education.
From Cultural Engagement to Authorship in the French Language Classroom
These projects are designed as a progression in which students move from initial encounters with culture to increasingly complex forms of interpretation, expression, and authorship. Beginning with accessible, multimodal entry points such as place-based learning, music, and digital media, students engage with cultural products and practices before developing their own voice through performance, rhetorical expression, and writing.
The sequence culminates in projects that position students as authors whose work circulates beyond the classroom, emphasizing language learning as a form of participation in cultural and intellectual communities. While rooted in specific course contexts, these projects are designed as adaptable teaching models that can be implemented or reimagined across institutions and instructional settings.
Place‑Based Cultural Learning and Local “Study Abroad” (Beginning French + Cultural Studies)
A place‑based humanities pedagogy linking introductory French language study with local cultural history, archival research, and experiential learning in Charleston, framed as a form of “study abroad at home.”
Music as Cultural Entry: "Musique mercredi" (Beginning–Intermediate French)
A recurring classroom practice integrating music into beginning and intermediate French courses through weekly listening activities, allowing students to engage with Francophone cultures while developing listening skills, interpretive strategies, and awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity.
Digital Cultural Engagement Through Instagram (Beginning–Intermediate French)
A set of critical and creative teaching practices using social media as a site for language practice, representation, and audience awareness, encouraging students to analyze and produce meaning in contemporary digital spaces.
From Cultural Engagement to Cultural Inquiry in Beginning–Intermediate French
A pedagogical framework for integrating sustained cultural exploration into beginning and intermediate French courses through language‑appropriate activities and supplementary materials, allowing students to engage meaningfully with cultural products, practices, and perspectives from the outset of language study.
Narrative, Identity and Cultural Interpretation: Reading Aya de Yopougon in Intermediate French
An approach to intermediate language learning centered on Aya de Yopougon (vol. 1), using the graphic novel form to explore narrative voice, questions of identity, and social themes through accessible yet intellectually substantive material. The project supports sustained reading, discussion, and writing that invite students to interpret complex characters, reflect on cultural context, and connect language learning to meaning‑making and empathy.
🎤 Slam Poetry and Creative Expression (Intermediate French)
A performance-based approach integrating slam poetry into intermediate French courses through creative writing and oral performance, allowing students to develop expressive voice, experiment with language, and engage with identity and cultural themes in a personally meaningful way.
🎭 Reading and Performing Theater (Intermediate French)
A performance-based approach integrating theatrical texts into intermediate French courses through reading, rewriting, and staged performance, allowing students to develop oral proficiency, interpretive skills, and embodied expression while engaging deeply with language and meaning-making.
🗣 Political Appeal and Rhetorical Expression (Intermediate French)
A rhetorically focused project integrating political discourse into intermediate French courses through the analysis and performance of persuasive texts, allowing students to develop argumentation skills, audience awareness, and confidence in using language as a tool for expression and civic engagement.
Writing for Global Audiences: Multilingualism and Civic Engagement
A writing-centered project integrating global themes into intermediate French courses through argumentative essays on multilingualism and cultural understanding, allowing students to develop authorial voice, rhetorical strategies, and awareness of writing as a form of participation in broader public conversations.
A grammar and composition course structured around collaborations with libraries and archives, positioning students as authors engaged in the production, circulation, and preservation of knowledge. The project culminates in the collaborative writing of a physical children’s book, linking process‑based writing to audience, publication, and intellectual responsibility. This project contributes to ongoing open‑access resource development through the Diversity, Decolonization, and the French Curriculum (DDFC) initiative.
Language, Power, and Cultural Inquiry in Advanced French
These upper-level courses reflect research-driven approaches to language, culture, and communication, drawing on my work in applied linguistics and Francophone studies. Across a range of course models—including courses on linguistic justice, cultural identity, virtual place-based inquiry, and global exchange—they invite students to examine language as a site of social action in literary, cultural, and transnational contexts.
These courses explore how language functions in relation to power, identity, representation, and interaction, and position students to engage critically with complex cultural and communicative practices in both local and global contexts. Presented as models for inspiration, adaptation, and dialogue, they reflect the integration of teaching and research in more specialized areas of inquiry.
Language, Power, and Social Justice in the Francophone Caribbean
An upper-division course examining language, power, and linguistic justice in the Francophone Caribbean through literary and cultural texts, allowing students to analyze how linguistic hierarchies shape identity, inclusion, and social inequality in local and global contexts.
Virtual Place‑Based Cultural Studies (Upper‑Division French)
A virtual place‑based pedagogy immersing students in a specific French region through media, archives, and institutional partnerships, emphasizing regional identity, cultural production, and lived experience without physical travel.
Virtual Immersion and Tandems Linguistiques (Advanced French)
A globally connected course model using sustained virtual exchanges and tandem partnerships with French peers to support advanced language development, intercultural reflection, and linguistic awareness.
Belonging to France: Rethinking French Identity through Expatriate and Multilingual Narratives
An upper-division course exploring French identity through expatriate and multilingual perspectives, integrating memoir, media, and cultural analysis to examine how individuals engage with and inhabit French language and culture beyond national or linguistic boundaries.
Access and Use
These materials are shared for educational and non‑commercial use. Some resources are openly available on this site; additional teaching materials—including assignment guides, lesson sequences, and examples—are available to educators upon request. The projects are designed to be adapted flexibly, with attention to student care, consent, and institutional context.
Contact
Margaret Keneman
kenemanml@cofc.edu
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