French teachers began a process to improve the French curriculum during a professional development workshop called “Planning and Evaluation with IPAs and Authentic Sources” at the Upper School Aug 22.
French teachers Simona Ghirlanda, Jerome Hermeline, Jenn Lechevallier ’98, Myriam LeGoff, Amandine Nelaton and Heath Wagerman attended the four-hour workshop, which was presented by Genevieve Delfosse, a veteran French teacher who has presented numerous workshops at national conferences.
Delflosse showed the teachers how to use original French sources in the lower language levels and stressed the importance of having students speak only in French to capitalize on their skills.
She also showed the teachers new models for assessments and had the teachers take the assessments as if they were students so they could enter their mindsets.
“[Deflosse] is much more practical than theoretical,” World Languages Department Head Jerome Hermeline said. “Therefore, I will be able to use some of the resource she shared with us in my own classes, and I will also implement some of the strategies she presented us, for instance the student reflection on their own mistakes after receiving the correction of their written works.”
The workshop was part of a larger continuous process to improve the French curriculum.
“I talked with the other teachers afterwards, and everyone was extremely enthusiastic and spoke at length about what they would take from that workshop,” Hermeline said.
This was the first year that the workshop was held.
Hermeline said that he would consider having a similar workshop again next year.