Associate Instructor Positions
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Introduction
Teaching Approach
AI’s Professional Responsibilities
Orientation Workshop Schedules 2008 – French or Italian
Introduction
New AIs usually teach courses at the first-year level, and they are required to participate in an orientation and training workshop that takes place in August before the beginning of classes.. New AIs should plan to arrive at least a day early in order to begin settling in and acquainting themselves with Bloomington. Arriving even earlier is recommended since the Orientation Workshop is quite intensive, so students will not have much free time to arrange lodging during that week.
The goal of the Orientation Workshop is two-fold:
- to familiarize AIs with the Department's graduate programs and
- to prepare AIs for teaching duties.
AIs will meet the Department chair and the graduate advisor of their program on the first day of the Workshop. Advising and registration for the Fall semester take place during the second week of the Workshop. Please note that the majority of the workshop sessions will be conducted in English.
The main focus, though, is preparation for teaching. It is assumed that every candidate for a degree in French or Italian who accepts a teaching assignment in the Department contemplates a career which, in addition to teaching and/or research in specialized fields such as literature or linguistics, involves the teaching of foreign languages and, specifically, French/Italian language and francophone cultures.
Emphasis during the first week of the Workshop and beginning of the second week is placed on thinking about language teaching in general and on looking at "how to's" for teaching first-year French at I.U., illustrated by video examples. Toward the end of the Orientation, AIs will have an opportunity to teach a portion of an actual language class.
Teaching Approach
The teaching approach we have developed is frankly eclectic and addresses the needs of students who do not plan to specialize in French/Italian but who seek a general understanding of the nature of the language and an introduction to the French/Italian language and the cultures of French/Italian-speaking peoples. Our approach, which we label The Balanced Skills Approach, aims to provide students with:
- Experience in learning a foreign language which could be applied at a later date to in-depth acquisition of foreign language
- Conceptual understanding of the main structural features of French/Italian
- General knowledge of the cultures and institutions of France and other Francophone countries or regions (Quebec, Haiti, etc.), or of Italy
- The ability to comprehend ordinary journalistic prose
- The ability to understand carefully-spoken French/Italian when provided with a context
- The ability to communicate in French/Italian at a minimal level, both orally and in writing
- To teach a foreign language effectively, an instructor need not be a native speaker, but should:
- Possess an accurate accent and fluent expression free from serious grammatical errors, since first and second language classes are taught entirely in the target language
- Have methodological training in the teaching of foreign languages, particularly in the teaching of French/Italian to American learners
- Have knowledge of cultures of France and other francophone countries, or of Italy
We realize that not all holders of the BA (or MA) in French or Italian will be strong in all these areas. This is one of the reasons why new French AIs are required to enroll in F572, Practicum in College French Teaching, which completes the orientation program. An introductory course in Applied Linguistics (F580) is also offered in the Fall semester. In the spring semester, new French AIs are required to enroll in F573, Methods of College French Teaching. AIs needing to improve their French or Italian language skills may be required to seek outside intensive instruction.
Should you have any questions pertaining to the orientation workshop, please write to Jocelyn Karlan (jkarlan @indiana.edu), graduate secretary, Department of French and Italian. Please note that specific course assignments will not be made before late August.
AI’s Professional Responsibilities
- Teach one section of a course one semester and two the other semester
- Provide approximately four hours of in-class instruction per week per section
- Prepare daily lessons, using common lesson plans when available, as a guideline (many AIs spend about two hours preparing for one class hour)
- Correct homework and exams in a responsible, thorough, and timely manner
- Hold several office hours weekly
- For French AIs: during Fall semester, with guidance, develop several days of common lesson plans
- With guidance and as part of a team, write one or two exams each semester
- Attend course meetings and any departmental workshops related to language instruction
- Maintain gradebook and do necessary grade reporting paperwork
- Maintain communication with course supervisor and the department: check e-mail and mail regularly, process and turn in requested paperwork in a timely and complete fashion
- Arrive before the semester begins and stay several days past your administration of your students’ final exams
- Participate in observation/evaluation of your teaching: self-reflect and evaluate, attend follow-up conferences, carry out peer observations
- Administer anonymous student course evaluations at the end of each semester
- Carry out other duties as necessary and as assigned
- For French AIs: enroll in F572 (Fall semester) and F573 (Spring semester)
