Français langue étrangère
Teaching French as a Foreign Language
July 2022 - Present
Las Vegas High School
Clark County, Nevada
I am the only French teacher at Las Vegas High School. Under my tenure, the French program has grown from a one-year program to a three-year program with room to expand either to AP or dual enrollment in the third year or in a fourth year.
My Role at Vegas
Moving to Las Vegas to take on the role of being the French teacher at Las Vegas High School was a big, but welcome change for my life. I dove in head-first and have grown the program into a three-year course offering for the 2,700 students of Las Vegas High. In addition to growing the program, I pushed myself by taking on larger leadership roles which included serving as the Student Council Advisor in 2023-24, the World Language Level 1 PLC leader in 2024-25, and being one of six association representatives at Las Vegas High School for the Clark County Education Association.
In my classroom, I continue to strive for linguistic and proficiency growth and development with my students. In PLC, which includes two Spanish 1 teachers and the Chinese teacher, I have pushed our group to expand our teaching practice to focus more on proficiency and comprehensible input based teaching strategies.
Projects
Fostering an environment of language learning and cultural comparison
Learning through Play
Engaging students linguistically in high-risk activities
Culture
Exploring France, Canada, and Franco-Africa
Growth Monitoring
Using ACTFL Standards to track yearly progress
The World at our Fingertips
Thanks to advances in virtual reality technology, students are able to travel to Francophone countries and UNESCO World Heritage sites right from the classroom.
Below: French 3 students use Google Cardboard and virtual reality on a personal device to explore the Château de Versailles.
Collaboration - Locally & Internationally.
French 2 Students Connect with English students in Canada and Art students at Millbrook
In 2019, I reached out to Millbrook's Technology Coach, Mr. Lewis, asking for help to find international connections with native-French speaking students. We were able to connect with Eryka Desrosiers, an English teacher in Québec, Canada. Together, we set up a video conference call between our classes to give students the opportunity to communicate bilingually. We would start off with a whole-group "Mystery" chat where both sets of students tried to determine where the others were located through asking questions; my students asked questions in French, hers asked in English.
We also had plans to have our students compare class projects and give feedback, though completing this portion proved to be a challenge north of the border due to a lack of personalized devices for students.
The accompanying project, nevertheless, allowed French 2 students to research famous French painters and artists. We then met with students from Ms. Bell's art classes at Millbrook. With her students, French students shared their learning of the artists' lives, while the art students led art critique lessons.
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Mystery FlipGrid
French 3 Students record a FlipGrid video for our "Mystery FlipGrid" where we teamed up with another high school. Students had to communicate in French to discover the other school's location.
Celebrate Culture
In addition to learning the language, students engage in cultural learning and have an opportunity to practice culturally relevant events, foods, and activities.
Using our Classroom
Students use the bulletin board of Francophone countries to complete an in-class reading comprehension activity where they had to identify countries based on descriptions of their flags.
Testimonials
By making connections with my students, I am able to create a classroom where students feel welcomed, safe, and comfortable to engage in learning a new language. Students regularly comment that coming to my classroom is one of the highlights of their day. And I love having them with me!
As a colleague, I am also able to create positive work environments where we, as educators, can engage in discussions about our love and passion for teaching. Through collaboration, we become better teachers for our students. I strive to be an educator who is a leader and a partner with my colleagues in terms of language instructional strategies, such as comprehensible input and teaching reading through reading and storytelling methods. While I myself am still a student of these methods, I know that we all grow and get better by working together!