For five years, I was the only world language teacher in my small public high school. The autonomy was fabulous! I didn't have to use a particular text book, and honestly I seldom incorporated one at all because I prefered to find and create my own materials. I was able to teach students language that felt essential for communication in ways that worked for them and for me. I derived great pleasure from seeing my students enter my course with no knowledge of the French language and leave in June capable of writing paragraphs in French without notes or dictionaries. The feeling of success and accomplishment at seeing my students discover French culture was immeasurable.
What was challenging about this kind of situation is that I didn't have a world language department with whom to discuss subject-specific issues. That said, I became a member of the English Department. I gained insight into the literacy needs of our students. Those needs were significant. The need for increased ELA instruction and preparation for the social studies state tests led to the eventual cutting of my French 2 course to make room for additional literacy preparation. Naturally I was disappointed, but it would have been unreasonable if I didn't understand that.
The need for greater student exposure to non-fiction texts is an invitation to world language teachers to increase students' literacy skills while deepening their cultural capital and knowledge of your subject.
Some of the ways to do this are:
1. You don't have to reinvent the wheel when incorporating non-fiction. Find out what kinds of routines students are accustomed to in their classes, and you will be able to seamlessly incorporate such strategies in your classes. For example, I learned how to hold Socratic Seminars from a history teacher and how to have a gallery walk from a special ed. teacher.
2. Find juicy readings! Anytime I see a compelling article on the Francophone world in the NY Times, I hit "save." While I was spending long afternoons holding my newborn son in my arms, I was also reading Bringing Up Bébé and French Kids Eat Everything. Reading selected extracts from one or both books would be a fantastic accompaniment to a foods unit, for example. Students love comparing cultural practices and attitudes, and by high school they start taking an interest in the psychology behind the way that they were raised. Go with it!
3. Go Out on a Limb! If you don't often incorporate English language, non-fiction texts in your classes, you are already trying something new...go all the way with it! You might consider holding a debate, having an essay contest, creating a game, facilitating a discussion between your students and students abroad using www.epals.com, bringing in guest speakers, creating a skit, having jigsaw activity or gallery walk to create even more depth to your work. The more students dig into a text through various activities and approaches, particularly ones that incorporate different kinds of thinking and appeal to multiple intelligences, the more cultural capital and literacy skills they will gain.
You are not surrendering to the other departments by incorporating skills that they prize. Au contraire! You are effectively creating value and ensuring relevancy to the wider curricular goals of our times by supporting skills that will help students succeed both in school and in life. By selecting non-fiction readings that support your units, you have final say over the direction you wish to take with this work. Make this an opportunity to provide your students with cultural capital and support your colleagues teaching goals, and you will help secure your department's role in your school.
