newsletter vol. 9.1
department of languages newsletter vol. 9.1 - fall 2013
introduction by the chair of the department of languages
as a new academic year starts, i am pleased to present our newsletter which reflects the dynamism of our departement but also significant changes in our team.
my name is nathalie dumas and i am the newly appointed french-canadian literature assistant professor. i have taught for 10 years at the university of ottawa where i completed a phd on the representations of sexuality in francophone literature. i enjoyed the sun and the mediterranean sea while doing a masters at université de provence (aix-marseille i). i am a “pure laine” quebecer, raised in a beautiful area known as “the maple country”.
in thunder bay, i have found the same sceneries, joie de vivre and love for hockey. i have been cheering for the chicago blackhawks since the day i was born – literally! – so it already feels like home! this year i am looking forward to sharing my culture with lakehead 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 as well as my passion for quebec and franco-ontarian literature. i also love movies from quebec and france and i hope to see many 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 at our “soirée cinéma”!
this past year saw the departure of professor alain nabarra, dr. vincent schonberger and mr. al ketonen who have been part of our department for many years. we owe them many thanks for their dedication towards our department and the university at large.
the department has recruited two new faculty members and one new lab technician: dr. nathalie dumas, ms. aimie shaw and mrs jeannette mundinger hardy. dr. dumas, originally from québec, comes from the university of ottawa where she obtained her phd on the representation of sexuality in contemporary french literature. she brings a strong experience teaching at the university level and as coordinator for “destination clic”, a summer camp for francophone youth living outside quebec. ms. shaw, originally from newfoundland and labrador, is in the final stages of completing her phd thesis at mcgill university. her research focuses on the writings of a french contemporary writer, eric chevillard. ms. shaw has acquired solid experience in teaching french at mc gill, at the university of washington, and at the alliance française of seattle. mrs. jeannette mundinger hardy, originally from france, holds a masters degree in fsl and has various professional experiences as social worker and french teacher for young immigrants teenagers in france. she is in charge of the language lab and teaches all french labs.
le club français starts again the season on october 9th with the movie « les poupées russes ». the department will also continue offering its lecture series during lunch break consisting of presentations by members of the department as well as out-of-town speakers. last year was a good start as dr. isabelle lemée, dr. béatrice vernier-larochette and mr. ismel gonzáles shared their current research. the thunder bay community is always welcome.
the enrolment of 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛
majoring in french continues to be healthy. in order to reinforce our program, new oral french courses are offered: “oral french in first year,” “phonetics and pronunciation” in second year, and “perfecting oral skills” in 3rd year.
last summer, several of our 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛
took intensive french courses in québec (explore program) and in france(ontario rhônes alpes program). you can read about their wonderful experiences below. german, finnish, spanish, italian, latin, ojibwe, classics are offered on a regular basis and continue to be very successful at the beginner’s level.
i cannot finish this introduction without mentioning news that affected our department. it was with great sadness that we have learned of the passing of natasha martinie ruberto in december 2012, one of our former 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛
(ba, 2004). she will be remembered as a diligent student, dynamic, generous and adventurous. our thoughts go to her family and particularly to her young children.
i trust that this coming year will be very active and that our department will continue to establish partnerships with the thunder bay community.
béatrice vernier-larochette, phd
chair and associate professor
new members join the language team
dr nathalie dumas
my name is nathalie dumas and i am the newly appointed french-canadian literature assistant professor. i have taught for 10 years at the university of ottawa where i completed a phd on the representations of sexuality in francophone literature. i enjoyed the sun and the mediterranean sea while doing a masters at université de provence (aix-marseille i). i am a “pure laine” quebecer, raised in a beautiful area known as “the maple country”.
in thunder bay, i have found the same sceneries, joie de vivre and love for hockey. i have been cheering for the chicago blackhawks since the day i was born – literally! – so it already feels like home! this year i am looking forward to sharing my culture with lakehead 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 as well as my passion for quebec and franco-ontarian literature. i also love movies from quebec and france and i hope to see many 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 at our “soirée cinéma”!
aimie shaw
my name is aimie shaw and i joined the department of languages at lakehead university in august. i arrived in thunder bay from seattle, where i’d been teaching for the last three years while completing my doctoral research at mcgill university in montréal. thunder bay is not entirely new to me as some years ago i completed my b.ed. in fsl in lu’s faculty of education.
my area of specialization is 20th and 21st century french literature and i am teaching 20th century french novels (fren 3834) this fall and 20th century plays and poetry (fren 3835) in the winter semester. in addition to teaching two literature courses, i am also pleased to be teaching a first year oral skills course (1510/1511) and a second year grammar course (2201). i am excited to be back in north-western ontario and to be part of lu’s dynamic community. i look forward to getting to know the faculty and 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛
in the department of languages over the coming months and reacquainting myself with the city of thunder bay.
jeannette mundinger hardy
my name is jeannette mundinger hardy and i am the new lab technician at the language department. this position is giving me the opportunity to teach conversational french classes.
i come from alsace which is a region in the north east of france near germany and switzerland.
i enjoy travelling and therefore i decided to study languages. after getting my bachelor in english
i went to wales as a french assistant. enjoying teaching french as a second language i came
back to france and i got graduated in french as a second language which i taught for 5 years to
various people. alongside, i decided to specialize in social working and i got my certification two
years ago which allowed me to work part time with handicapped people and part time with people
learning french.
extra-curricular activities
wednesday, september 25th was franco-ontarian day. to celebrate the culture and heritage of francophones throughout ontario, 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛
in chloé arrault and aimie shaw’s oral french 1510 classes came together to sing “omniprésent”, a song by well-known franco-ontarian musician, damien robitaille of lafontaine, ontario. the song was recorded and sent to afnoo, l’association des francophones du nord-ouest de l’ontario in celebration of the francophone community of this region and in support of the on-going work by afnoo. thank you to all who participated in this fantastic event!
fren 1510/fren 1511
the other colleagues in the department talked in class about the importance of celebrating la journée franco-ontarienne.
the department of language started its soirée cinéma again at the beginning of october with the
first film of the academic year: “les poupées russes”. it was well attended and everyone enjoyed
both film and popcorn.
the french club held their first annual wine and cheese event in the evening on tuesday 29th of october 2013 in the study coffeehouse. president ashley agostino said: “many french speaking 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛
, professors and friends took part in celebrating the club's re-opening. thank you for those who brought a dish for the pot-luck. your support was greatly appreciated. our next event is being planned for the middle of november”. for those of you interested in learning to speak french, or enjoy the french culture, please contact ashley (adagosti@lakeheadu.ca) for more details!
study in a francophone context
several 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛
wished to share with us their experience in a francophone environment.
lauren baryluk : "when i was 17, i spent 10 months living in a small town (romorantinlanthenay) about 2.5 hours south of paris. because i was abroad on a rotary youth exchange, i stayed with host families, and went to a french secondary school. i think i experienced the biggest culture shock in lycée because there is such an enormous difference between the french and canadian school systems. i was fortunate to have extremely generous and accommodating host families who immersed me in their family and culture, and took me to various parts of the country: i saw the ocean for the first time in lacanau, i went to the christmas markets in alsace.
plus, i also got to see more of the country through rotary excursions. as a canadian, it’s ironic
that gym class in france was the first time i had ever played hockey! all of my classmates looked
at me like, “are you sure you’re canadian?” this past summer, i returned to france, living in the
city of tours. it is somewhat comparable to thunder bay, and is in the same region as
romorantin; so i got to reunite with some friends!"
linda mccutcheon: i spent the third year of my undergraduate degree in grenoble, france. i
participated in a variety of classes, and extracurricular activities through stendhal university. i
went to france with a good level of french but looking to improve my fluency and day to day
vocabulary. i improved significantly throughout the year, largely due to my becoming a scout
leader with a group in grenoble. i spent several weekends camping with the scouts and attending
meetings weekly. i can tell you that there is no better way to improve than to have your every
mistake pointed out and corrected by 8 to 12 year olds! i had a great year and i would recommend
an exchange to every student in a language program because it really helps develop language skills and provides a great cultural experience. i will never forget my year in france!
elena soulias: during the summer 2012 a fellow colleague and i jumped on the opportunity to
take a class overseas. we were introduced to the ora program, ontario rhône’s alpes
program, through the international 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛
department at 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜
.
we applied for a 4 week french program in st. etienne, france. our residence was about a 15
minute walk away from the school and about 10 minute walk away from the mall/grocery store
which was very convenient for us.
we were told to complete a small test before our arrival which would indicate what level we were
at. the school devised the 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛
into 6 levels. there were about 100 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛
, some who
barely knew how to read and write in french to some that were very fluent in multiple languages.
it was a great way to learn as we were fully immersed in their culture. our oral skills in french
had significantly improved and our vocabulary was also enhanced tremendously.
the class structure was based on oral presentations and group work. we also took the time to
discover monuments outside the classroom. it was very engaging and a great way to improve our
french skills. every day there was also an activity that we were able to participate in which were
always very fun. for example, sailing, zumba classes, paintball, concerts, and many more that
kept everyone very busy. i would strongly encourage every student to travel overseas at least
once in their lifetime and in this case it is perfect because you get the chance to improve your
education, learn about a new culture, and meet great people.
alexandra naroski: this summer i embarked on an educational learning curve with the ora
summer language program in france. i began the curve while researching for my trip. i wasn’t
only learning about france for classes and the credit, i was learning in anticipation of
experiencing france myself. once i arrived in france i took time to travel before the program
started. i went on a tour in paris where i got to see le pont neuf, the statue of henri iv, l’arc de
triomphe, and the notre dame cathedral for example. learning about the history of france
brought me back to my classes in canada, as everything i was learning at lakehead was now a
part of my own experience. the next learning adventure began as i started travelling around
france and other countries close by. through travelling i was able to create my own references
and experiences. finally, i started my course where i learned so much about french culture,
language, and way of life. not only did i learn about france but i also got the chance to learn
about brazil, russia, italy, and ireland, etc as all my classmates were international as well. all
things considered, i can now appreciate what i learn in my classes this year because it is all
relevant to my own experiences. i can now make connections between what i have learned in
french class and what i am learning now.
stephanie chornoboy: j’ai passé cinq semaines à l’école internationale de français à troisrivières, au québec, cet été et c’était une expérience indispensable. j’ai reçu une bourse du gouvernement pour participer au programme explore. c’est un programme ouvert aux étudiants
de l’université et je le recommanderais fortement. les repas, l’hébergement, les cours, et les
excursions culturelles étaient tous inclus. c’était un programme d’immersion et il était obligatoire
de parler français tous les jours et les soirs. sinon, il y avait des conséquences. les animateurs du
programme avaient beaucoup d’enthousiasme et des esprits amusants. j’étais heureuse d’avoir
choisi trois-rivières parce que c’est vraiment une ville francophone et les gens étaient très
sympathiques. c’était une belle ville à côté du fleuve saint laurent qui se situe entre la ville de
québec et montréal, alors on a eu l’occasion de visiter ces deux villes magnifiques, riches en
histoire. j’ai appris beaucoup dans mes cours et aussi en parlant dans la communauté avec les
fleuviens. l’avantage le plus important est que c’est seulement quelques semaines avant la
rentrée à l’université au lieu de quatre mois entre le moment d’étudier et pratiquer mon français.
je suis sûre que cela m’aidera avec mes cours en septembre. avoir une expérience culturelle
française, je sais que je suis une étudiante très chanceuse.
nous en profitons pour vous souhaiter un bon premier semestre !