When thinking of French class, the first images that may come to mind are those of an Eiffel Tower, cheese, poutine, and cute classroom decor. The very last thing that may come to mind is the harm that you are perpetuating with your teaching practices. Even so, you may not be considering how your content and French curriculum uphold colonial hierarchies, thus perpetuating violence against racial & religious minorities.
The time to disrupt these harmful practices is today. I hope that you take the content in this blog post as an opportunity for reflection and action. Just reading and listening is not enough. We must commit ourselves to meaningful action immediately.
Please note that this blog post is the result of my own experiences as a Core French student, French undergrad student, a full-time French teacher in BC, and a participant in French teacher social media.
Simply adding diverse resources to our Core French or French Immersion curriculum isn’t enough
Ever since the murder of George Floyd, I have seen so many French teachers commit to diversifying their French curriculum.
However, simply adding diverse resources to your existing units is not enough. This is especially the case if your teaching practices, on the whole continue, to reinforce colonial hierarchies.
It’s like putting a bandaid on a broken leg.
We must examine why some of our teaching practices are problematic and how they continue to uphold colonial hierarchies.
Your content and resources are still eurocentric
Eurocentric French curriculum and content are deeply problematic as they play a major role in perpetuating racism and white supremacy. Continuing to teach French using eurocentric resources legitimizes the history and heritage of your white students, whilst rendering invisible the existence of your BIPOC students.
Many French teachers still rely heavily on the use of outdated textbooks. These textbooks teach the French language from a white, French perspective. Most of the content revolves around Paris, France, “French culture” (stereotypes) and the lives of white Parisians.
Additionally, these textbooks often entirely neglect the lives, cultures, and experiences of racial and religious minorities living in France. Given the policies of universalism and colorblindness in France, this history of marginalization and oppression is not at all surprising.
French-speaking African countries, the French Antilles and French Overseas Territories are entirely neglected in FRIMM and Core French curriculum.
Remember that French textbooks aren’t the only resource that can be eurocentric. Your choice of literature, picture books, music, and content must be thoroughly analyzed.
Marginalized voices continue to be left out of the conversation
Think of the classics taught by French language arts teachers in high schools. Or the French novels studied by elementary and middle school French immersion classes. How many of those French classics are written by francophones from diverse racial and religious backgrounds?
Did francophones from diverse racial and religious backgrounds just not exist during this period? Or was it that they didn’t experience success due to their race and religion?
I understand that white FLA teachers may feel that these French classics are a part of their heritage or the “French Patrimoine”. However, this French Patrimoine neglects the very people the French Empire colonized and subjugated for centuries. Why are their works not considered to be worth reading and studying in the French classrooms?
There is also the fact that French classics, filled with white characters, do not represent all our diverse students. How can book after book about medieval white characters be relevant to the lives of our BIPOC students?
The French literature chosen in FLA classes must be reflective of the students in that classroom. In fact, French literature must :
- inform white students about the lives and experiences of BIPOC
- empower BIPOC students
Questions to consider when selecting French literature for the classroom :
- What problems do your racialized students encounter in life?
- How does your reading list ensure that your students are heard and seen, and that their peers learn about their lives?
- What trials and tribulations have the families of your students endured? Also, what stories need to be shared in the classroom?
- How does your reading list contribute to a society that is more empathetic, informed, critical and trauma-informed?
Therefore, the answer is pretty simple. French Language Arts teachers must diversify their reading list.
You are promoting colonial hierarchies in your French curriculum
Here are some examples of colonial hierarchies you may be upholding as part of your French Immersion or Core French curriculum :
- linguistic superiority – promoting French, or even standard French, as a superior language
- avoiding teaching about racism, genocide, police brutality, colonialism because your students ‘don’t have the language to do it in French’
- only teaching about standard, hexagonal French
- centering Christianity
Do you leave space in your French curriculum to teach about Creole, Michif, Chiac or Verlan?
Also, do you teach about how the Arabic spoken in Algeria and Tunisia differs from the Arabic spoken on the Arabian Peninsula? Do you listen to stories and read articles about how empowering these languages and dialects are to the minorities who speak them?
Or do you only teach the standard, Hexagonal French?
Do you center Christianity in your pedagogy? I know you may say that Christianity is a part of the French patrimoine. However, Francophones and francophiles can also be Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Jewish, Buddhist. Are they not part of French patrimoine? And if they aren’t, why not?
Remember that Christianity was a violent means through which racialized people were conquered. Christianity meant rape, genocide, murder in the colonies. By continuing to only promote Christianity, and to avoid all talk of other religions, you are partaking in this violent colonial legacy.
And if you are reading this and you are Christian, I want you to ask yourself what biases and colonial hierarchies you are bringing into your classroom. Are these biases and colonial hierarchies preventing you from celebrating and teaching about your students’ religions? About the religions of people who live in the same society as you?
Remember that every opportunity you take to inform your students about diverse religions may mean that an innocent family is spared from violence.
Your content and resources do not address colonialism and the violence that preceded “la francophonie”.
When looking to bring culture into the classroom, many French teachers immediately think to do a single “francophonie unit”. This single unit cannot begin to cover the complex history of the French Empire.
Before we even begin to teach about all of the countries and places that speak French, we must address why they speak French. We must create a space where our students can listen to the stories of those who were subjugated for centuries.
While it may seem as though colonization occurred long ago, remember that people and countries all around the world continue to deal with the legacies of colonialism. These legacies are political, social, economic, and environmental.
Human rights violations and justice in French curriculum
There must be space within Core French & French immersion curriculum and content to address human rights violations and the search for justice.
To only present francophone people and places in a positive light is to teach your students 50% of the topic. To understand la francophonie, our French as a second language students must also learn about the adversity, resilience and the ongoing fights for justice occurring in many francophone communities.
