This series of workshops will focus on the theme of diversity as a key point of contact between A-level French teaching, where it features both as a highlighted aspect of contemporary society and as a theme in prescribed literary works and films, and current work in French and Francophone Studies at University level, where it represents a core principle in curriculum development and broader institutional priorities.

The series aims:

1.    To share insights into the centrality of diversity, as a theme and as a disciplinary and institutional priority, to current work in French and Francophone Studies at University level.
2.    Through these insights, to (a) enrich A-level teachers’ sense of their subject; (b) inform advice for students on course choices (both GCSE to A-level, and A-level to University) by highlighting current developments in approaches to material from the French-speaking world on University courses; and (c) enrich University provision, especially in first year, by increasing understanding of current approaches at A-level.
3.    To provide extension and enrichment activities and materials to support A-level teaching. 
4.    To define a set of online resources to be developed on the basis of participant feedback and reviewed in a follow-up event.
5.    To develop networks among teachers and between teachers and academics that will sustain future outreach work in the subject.

Dates

The series will comprise five one-hour online workshops between October 2022 to March 2023 and a concluding half-day in-person event in April 2023.

Workshops

These will take place on Zoom between 5:00-6:00pm on the following dates:

Wednesday 19 October - 'Diversifying French Studies: from the francophone to the transnational' with David Ewing

Wednesday 23 November - 'Writing Contemporary France' with Dr Sura Qadiri

Tuesday 24 January - 'Literature between France and Algeria: From Albert Camus' L'Étranger to Kamel Daoud's Meursault, contre-enquête' with Professor Martin Crowley

Monday 20 February - 'Film between France and Algeria: Rabah Ameur-ZaÏmeche' with Tobias Barnett

Thursday 16 March - 'Diversifying French Film' with Dr Laura McMahon

In-person event

This will be held on the Sidgwick Site in Cambridge on Wednesday 12 April 2023, 11:00-15:00.

Thanks to the support of the Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France, a limited amount of funding will be available on a first-come-first-served basis to support travel to the in-person event from outside of Cambridgeshire by state sector teachers or PGCE students. 

Workshop & event structure

Each workshop will be led by a member of the French Section at the University of Cambridge, and will be structured so as to enable discussion and exchange. Starting from aspects of the topic covered in A-level teaching, sessions will connect these to elements of University teaching of the topic and to current research in the field, providing targeted, accessible extension materials and exercises.

The in-person half-day event will:

(a) provide participants with networking opportunities to support ongoing CPD and future outreach activities; (b) develop discussions from online workshops, and (c) from these discussions, sketch online resources for subsequent development.

Informal discussion over refreshments and lunch will frame two dedicated, structured discussion sessions: ‘Teaching contemporary France: questions of diversity’, and ‘Teaching literature and film: postcolonial France and the French-speaking world’.

The development of online resources on the basis of the series will be informed by the work that produced the existing Cambridge Collaborative A-level Resources for Languages, and will build on the materials already available.

Event timetable:

11:00 - Registration & refreshments

11:30 - Plenary discussion session: ‘Teaching contemporary France: questions of diversity’

12:30 - Lunch (provided)

13:30 - Breakout discussions

14:00 - Plenary discussion session: ‘Teaching literature and film: postcolonial France and the French-speaking world’

15:00 - Finish and depart

Booking

Participation is free of charge and booking is now open via our online registration form

Please note that there is a limited number of spaces available for the in-person event on 12 April. Late registration is accepted during the series, including the in-person event if there are places available.

Any questions? Please email the Outreach Coordinator at outreach@mmll.cam.ac.uk 

Our supporters

With thanks to the ASMCF for their generous support for this project.