Lyon+Lumineux

This summer I attended the Lyon Lumineux workshop in France. This workshop was designed for teachers of French in the United States. Not only were we exposed to the culture and the rich history of Lyon, but at the same time we discussed relevant themes during morning classes. Each theme was presented through a film and followed by interesting discussions relevant to the particular issue we were looking at. The themes varied extensively from; education in France today, presented with the movie “Entre les murs” to the controversial topic of immigration, presented with the movies; “Mémoire d’Immigrés” de Yamina Benguigui and “L’Esquive. We also discussed French politics and the French families of today. We were required to speak French at all times and to discuss amongst ourservelves the main differences in education and politics between France and the United States. This gave me the opportunity to observe how the topics relevant to French language learning are treated throughout the difference states. In addition to the total cultural and linguistic immersion we had some days dedicated to the exchange of lesson plans as each teacher was required to choose their favorite lesson plan to share with the group. This particular exercise was extremely beneficial, because I was exposed, first hand, to different approaches of teaching French, some of which were very creative. The one presentation that impressed me the most was the Middle School teacher who used songs to memorize verb endings with her students, thus easing a process that can be very taxing and often boring. This was a great professional opportunity that allowed me to bring up to date my knowledge and passion for the French language.