Sharon Johnson
Virginia Tech, United States
I am an Associate Professor of French Studies in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures (MCLL). I am also a faculty affiliate (and former director) of our Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Program where I regularly teach courses as well.
“As I am a French Professor, I have been deeply committed to intercultural teaching my whole career (now at 45 years). All courses I have taught have a cross-cultural focus. With my two projects, one exceptional advantage to how the projects were set up is that students worked with authentic realia, not contrived content that one finds in Modern Language Textbooks—in English or French. Students had authentic interactions with their partners with asynchronous chats and one video conference per semester—that involved amazing insights gained and equally tensions and misunderstandings due to many aspects of language learning and not being able to express all nuances as one does in one’s native tongue and different discursive styles and cultural differences when expressing one’s opinions. Those two projects are one of two highlights of my entire career.”