CAS CONNECT 2017

CONTINUES A new course in Oklahoma State University’s Department of Foreign Language and Literatures brings language to life by studying French foods and culture. “We were just thinking about ways to get more students in, and a colleague threw out the idea of having culture classes that would get more people inspired in the culture and inspire them to then take the language courses,” says Dr. Laurielle Turcat, who is teaching the French Culinary Staples course. A class focused on culture will bring a lighter touch to the art of learning a language. “Having a constant grammar language class can get really exhausting,” Turcat says. “There are a lot of ways to lighten up a classroom and talking about culture is definitely one of them.” Turcat enjoys baking in her spare time and had the idea of a culinary course in the back of her mind. Now was the perfect time to launch her idea. “I thought, ‘Everybody loves French culture for its culinary staples,’” she explaines. “So I will be teaching a little bit of language in terms of vocabulary words, but having it just be about culture and taking away the language barrier by having it just be about culture is really useful in terms of a broad education.” Students participating in the new course will discover the French culture and language through different food groups. The main units will focus on cheese, wine and bread, and shorter units will include spirits, pastry, candy and meat spreads. “Depending on who is counting, there are between 300 and 1,000 French cheeses that are all distinct,” says Turcat, lecturer of French in the department. But the class will also talk about how marketing is different in the French culture. “There are going to be sections that are focused on food, but there is also going to be marketing and what French culture values are seen through the marketing of food,” Turcat adds. “We will also discuss the habits they have — such as they have two-hour lunches, and you don’t talk about business until the last 10 minutes of the meal, so it is not just about food.” The French Culinary Staples course will include a social media aspect, as the course is strictly online. The social media part allows students to share their projects on a different platform. “The students will be required to do nine or 10 different posts throughout the whole semester,” Turcat says. “They will also have a tasting project. … They will have to post some videos of their tasting experi- ence onto Instagram.” By Karolyn Bolay 5 Curriculum modifications allow more students to explore language through culture and food