I will never forget my first experience abroad. I was in 10th grade, and I went on a school science trip to the Bahamas to study marine biology. The trip was organized by one of my high school’s science teachers (incidentally, my father), and though we weren’t far from the U.S., I knew I wasn’t…
Author: Erin Austin
5 Tips for Raising a Bilingual Child
So you’re a World Language teacher, you’re about to have a child, and you’re thinking about doing “the bilingual thing”, huh? Congrats! It’s an exciting prospect! When I found out a baby was on the way, one of the first things I considered was whether or not we would attempt to raise our child bilingually….
Fête du Pain: a (truly) easy food day
“Can we have a food day?”“Can we eat French food?”“We never eat in here!” As a French teacher, I’m sure you’ve never heard those words from your students before… (Or, more likely, you hear them weekly!) On the one hand, we know food completely rules French life, so we feel like it’s our job to…
Semester Evaluations: let’s toughen up
If I got hurt as a kid, I could guarantee one of these responses from my dad: “Here’s a quarter. Go call someone who cares.”“I think we oughtta shoot ya.”“It’s two feet from your heart. You’ll live.” As an adult, my best friend, a therapist, was appalled to learn this. How could anyone say that…
3 Reasons Why You Should Adopt a Hosting Program
We all remember that first trip abroad. The butterflies were going crazy in our stomachs as the plane took off, and we knew we weren’t landing at home. The famous sites we’d only seen in books looked so different (and more magical!) up close. The food hit our taste buds in ways that challenged everything…
Au Revoir l’Acadie : ripe for global ed
The past two years I have added an extensive reading component to my French 1-IB French 5 curriculum. More importantly, perhaps, is my goal to expand the focus more toward global education and on building cultural competency. One step in building this curriculum is choosing books that feature cultures outside of l’Hexagone. This school year,…
Oh, Ugolin…you wonderful freak show, you!
(The unparalleled splendor of Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources) Spring Break is upon us! We’re almost there! But with that can come burn out. The year has taken its toll, we’re fighting seniors with senioritis (that started in September), and cabin fever can be a nightmare. The temptation can creep in to just…
The Passé Composé: 3 tips to help it stick
For some reason, I love breaking down the past tense. My students learn a few common sayings in the past tense in level 1, but after they build a vocabulary, I do eventually break it down and look at the elements. Tip #1: Use music I get a strange thrill when students come to class…
Meet Scott: your new best friend
As a language teacher, I make it a priority to take small, frequent steps to make my classroom more global. I will routinely share some of those very ideas here, and this post focuses on one of my favorites. The concept is this: as an adult, if I want to go global, a key component…
Bienvenue à Marly-Gomont (The African Doctor)
Part of the allure of Netflix is the simple act of scanning the available movies and adding to my queue. Click! Click! Add! Add! There’s a unique sense of satisfaction I get looking at my list and thinking, “Oh, yeah, Erin. Those are some great choices you have there! It’s arguably your best queue yet!”…
