This past semester my students studied French fashion and French food and created various projects with their research. Once these projects were done we had a planned academic discourse session on both topics. My goal is to have "planned" discourse evolve into daily, spontaneous discourse about every topic we cover in class.
French Fashion Academic Discourse
Q1: Why is fashion important? Is it?
French Fashion Academic Discourse
Q2 Why do you think French fashion designers have always been some of the most famous and gifted in the world? Why France?
French Fashion Academic Discourse
Q3 When you did research on French fashion designers, who was your favorite and what did you learn about him/her? How was his/her life different or similar to yours?
French Fashion Academic Discourse
Q4 What do you think this quote means?
Know, first, who you are. Then adorn yourself accordingly. – Epictetus (55-135 AD)
French Fashion Academic Discourse
Q5: Do your clothes define you? Why or why not?
French Fashion Academic Discourse
Q6: If you were a fashion designer what kind of clothes would you design? What would your inspiration for your clothing line be?
French Fashion Academic Discourse
Q7: Read this quote by Monica Murgia: Fashion designers manufacture more than clothing. They manufacture principles. They manufacture identities. Therefore, having a clear set of core beliefs, goals and unified aesthetics is essential to being a successful fashion designer. If fashion designers have beliefs and absolute goals for clothing with their own idea of beauty, what would your philosophy be?
Q8: In the fashion industry creative collaboration is extremely important? Why is it useful to collaborate with another person? How would it be difficult or challenging?
Q1: Why is fashion important? Is it?
French Fashion Academic Discourse
Q2 Why do you think French fashion designers have always been some of the most famous and gifted in the world? Why France?
French Fashion Academic Discourse
Q3 When you did research on French fashion designers, who was your favorite and what did you learn about him/her? How was his/her life different or similar to yours?
French Fashion Academic Discourse
Q4 What do you think this quote means?
Know, first, who you are. Then adorn yourself accordingly. – Epictetus (55-135 AD)
French Fashion Academic Discourse
Q5: Do your clothes define you? Why or why not?
French Fashion Academic Discourse
Q6: If you were a fashion designer what kind of clothes would you design? What would your inspiration for your clothing line be?
French Fashion Academic Discourse
Q7: Read this quote by Monica Murgia: Fashion designers manufacture more than clothing. They manufacture principles. They manufacture identities. Therefore, having a clear set of core beliefs, goals and unified aesthetics is essential to being a successful fashion designer. If fashion designers have beliefs and absolute goals for clothing with their own idea of beauty, what would your philosophy be?
Q8: In the fashion industry creative collaboration is extremely important? Why is it useful to collaborate with another person? How would it be difficult or challenging?
French Food Academic Discourse
Q1: What are some French foods you have learned about? How are they different from food in Kansas? In the USA?
French Food Academic Discourse
Q2: Many people link food and love together. Read this quote: Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. -Harriet van Horne
Why are food and love so closely linked, in your opinion?
French Food Academic Discourse
Q3. You are what you eat. Read these two quotes and discuss with your partner what they mean:
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin: "Tell me what you eat, and I shall tell you what you are."
Ludwig Feuerbach: "Man is what he eats."
French Food Academic Discourse
Q4: Read the following quote: Mahatma Gandhi: "There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread." Many people in the world go hungry every day. What does this quote mean and what could you do to help?
French Food Academic Discourse
Q5: Read this quote and discuss with your partner how eating with strangers, foreigners, or outsiders could promote world peace. Alain de Botton: "Forcing people to eat together is an effective way to promote tolerance."
Academic Discourse on Taking French - quotes and videos
Q1: Why is it a great idea to take a foreign language? What could you learn besides the language itself in a foreign language class?
Q2: Why would it be better to know more than one language? How could that help you in the future?
Academic Discourse on Travel
Q1: Foreign language and travel go hand-in-hand. If you study other languages you can easily speak to others in foreign lands. What does this quote mean to you? "We travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us."
Q2: Travel gives us a wider view of the world. What does this quote mean? "Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one's lifetime." - Mark Twain
Academic Discourse on Politics
Q1: Compare what we've learned so far in French this semester to the network below in the picture. How could the foreign language skills you've learned help tackle these issues?
Q1: What are some French foods you have learned about? How are they different from food in Kansas? In the USA?
French Food Academic Discourse
Q2: Many people link food and love together. Read this quote: Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. -Harriet van Horne
Why are food and love so closely linked, in your opinion?
French Food Academic Discourse
Q3. You are what you eat. Read these two quotes and discuss with your partner what they mean:
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin: "Tell me what you eat, and I shall tell you what you are."
Ludwig Feuerbach: "Man is what he eats."
French Food Academic Discourse
Q4: Read the following quote: Mahatma Gandhi: "There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread." Many people in the world go hungry every day. What does this quote mean and what could you do to help?
French Food Academic Discourse
Q5: Read this quote and discuss with your partner how eating with strangers, foreigners, or outsiders could promote world peace. Alain de Botton: "Forcing people to eat together is an effective way to promote tolerance."
Academic Discourse on Taking French - quotes and videos
Q1: Why is it a great idea to take a foreign language? What could you learn besides the language itself in a foreign language class?
Q2: Why would it be better to know more than one language? How could that help you in the future?
Academic Discourse on Travel
Q1: Foreign language and travel go hand-in-hand. If you study other languages you can easily speak to others in foreign lands. What does this quote mean to you? "We travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us."
Q2: Travel gives us a wider view of the world. What does this quote mean? "Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one's lifetime." - Mark Twain
Academic Discourse on Politics
Q1: Compare what we've learned so far in French this semester to the network below in the picture. How could the foreign language skills you've learned help tackle these issues?