Jane's story
 

Now that I am retired, I am happy to serve on the board of AATF’s Minnesota chapter. I can finally give back to the organization that meant so much to me through my 30+ year career.

 

My French ‘journey’ started at the age of 16 and has shaped my life. I got my BA in French and Political Science at Macalester College, then spent five years in France where I earned a license d’anglais from l’Université de Nice and finally my maîtrise from l’Université d’Aix-en-Provence in Français Langue Etrangère. 

 

For the last 26 years of my career, I taught at Harding High School on St. Paul’s 

East Side. I loved being in this multicultural environment, and learned so much from my students as I introduced them to la langue française and la francophonie. Harding is an IB school, and I appreciated the structure and rigor that the program required of my students.  IB workshops took me all over the country and that was a professional highlight.

 

For many years my students participated in the AATF's National French Exam, and had some very nice successes with that. But the annual statewide oral competition, A Vous la Parole, was  my favorite activity and one that we never skipped. (I eventually required all my French III’s to participate. So much fun!) If you are a high school teacher and haven’t tried it, you should. Start by taking a few students, and then build on that over the following years.

 

I was so lucky to work side by side with wonderful French colleagues throughout my career, including Carolynn Johnson, Kathy Stoddart, Nancy Solo-Taylor, Dan Cornell and Jenny Funkhouser. We supported each other and shared lots of hard work and laughs. 

 

AATF exists to provide a professional development and support network for French teachers at all levels of instruction. Need help with advocacy? Ideas for building the program? Camaraderie? We can do all of that together. If you have ideas of how to improve AATF Minnesota so that it serves you and our community better, please reach out.