Prof Quiz
At Seattle Pacific University, we have 195 full-time faculty who are experts in their respective fields. Each issue, we’ll introduce you to one and hopefully you’ll learn something new — we always do.
Name and title?
Michelle Beauclair, Associate Professor of French
Hometown?
Bismarck, North Dakota
What is your favorite French food?
Caramel macaroons at La Durée in Paris.
Where should Francophiles go in Seattle?
For French bread, croissants and patisseries, Seattle Francophiles should go to Le Panier in the Pike Place Market, La Boulangerie Nantaise on Fourth Avenue, or Bésalu in Ballard.
So, what's "Song Friday" anyway?
Often I give students partial lyrics to the songs with blanks
that they need to fill in, so that it becomes a listening comprehension exercise that has a lot more energy and sometimes humor than a typical dictation exercise.
Why do you think it's important?
Students tend to remember phrases better when they come from sources like French songs, films, or poems rather than textbooks, and there is usually a cultural component that can be highlighted as well.
What does your last name mean?
Beautiful light.
What's your favorite place to take students on the Paris study abroad trip?
I love to take students to the Musée de l'Orangerie where they can see eight of Monet's Water Lily paintings in two spacious oval rooms. Monet intended the paintings and the space to bring a sense of peace to French people after the First World War; I think that sense of tranquility is still palpable, if you go early in the morning!
What's your favorite class to teach?
It is a tie between La France et le monde, an upper-division course on the culture, literature, and film of the former French colonies in West and North Africa, and Topics in Francophone Literature where we focus on French Canadian and Caribbean literature and cultures.
What made you love French?
My grandmother began to teach me when I was 6. She was "ahead of the curve," having me listen to and repeat dialogues between two French children, Susanne and Robert, so that from the beginning, my learning of French was based on a communicative, proficiency-based model that is the norm today.
Where would you like to see a study abroad trip go in the future? Why?
I might consider a study abroad trip to Morocco, Senegal,
Burundi, Quebec, or Martinique some year given my interest in French studies outside of the "Hexagon" or mainland France.
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