A Global Classroom

Studying Abroad...in Cyberspace




The classmates of French 301 lived abroad last semester, at least virtually. They lived in an apartment building in the south of France, together with another class from Germany also studying French. They shared apartments, talked together, and dealt with the small hassles of everyday French life, from an irascible building concierge to noisy neighbors. And they made it all up--in French, on a website.

The architect of this novel cross-cultural living experiment was UMBC instructor of modern languages and linguistics Marie de Verneil, who likes to use imaginative, collaborative projects to teach language fluency. She worked with a high-school French teacher in Nuremberg, Germany, in developing the project.

"The idea was simple: We all lived in an apartment building, l'immeuble, in Marseilles," explains de Verneil. "We voted on the city after having done some background research." Fluent in not only French, but computer languages as well, de Verneil created a website of the apartment house, and by clicking on each apartment door, visitors can meet the residents created by the students. "In apartment 01, for instance, we have the abominable concierge," says de Verneil. "Students lived together, either as family members or friends. We all interacted, and we went through municipal elections together, eviction threats, and the daily problems of life: loud music, misbehaving cats, and a murder." Students created their own daily stories of life in the apartment house, advancing their French composition skills along the way.

The adventure was so successful that de Verneil and her German colleague are planning to create a virtual French village--lots of good stories there. To view "l'immeuble," visit www.research.umbc.edu/~devernei and click on French 301.

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