Making a difference 4,400 miles from home

A graduate student from France¡¯s University of Pau interned with Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø¡¯s French program this past semester. It was the first time, but likely won¡¯t be the last. 

Meet Cl¨¦mence Doumeng¨¨s. Fluent in French, English and Spanish. World traveler. 

¡°She¡¯s a great role model for our students,¡± said Dr. Kiki Kosnick, assistant professor of French who team-taught with Doumeng¨¨s. ¡°As a graduate student, she¡¯s not much older than our seniors. They can connect with her and imagine possibilities for their own futures."

Doumeng¨¨s, who grew up in southwest France, is completing a master¡¯s to teach French as a second language outside the French educational system.

¡°She and I have lived in different French-speaking places and have different linguistic contexts so this has added lots of dynamism to conversations in class and outside of class,¡± Dr. Kosnick noted.

Doumeng¨¨s says most of the French heard online is what¡¯s spoken in northern France/Paris, so her accent and word choices are different from what most Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø students have heard. ¡°And they teach me slang words, so it¡¯s a win-win situation,¡± she said.

Compared to her university, Doumeng¨¨s was surprised by the number of co-curricular activities for language students at Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø ¡ª but she jumped right in.

She organized the Speak Dating special event, plus practiced pronunciation and discussed current events one-on-one with students at the weekly French Table. Then there was the Francophone Film Festival as well as the escape rooms she planned for English-, German- and French-speaking students.

¡°She brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm to our French program and the World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures department,¡± Dr. Kosnick said. 

How Doumeng¨¨s found her way to Rock Island was partly intuition.

She was searching for a U.S. school to fulfill the internship requirement for her master¡¯s. While traveling through the Midwest last summer, she stopped in Rock Island to visit Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø¡¯s campus. She knew of the college because Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø students take classes at her university in Pau during their study-abroad programs.

¡°I walked around campus and really liked it, and started emailing the French department,¡± Doumeng¨¨s said. ¡°As soon as I met them [Dr. Kiki Kosnick and Dr. Taddy Kalas], I knew I could be here, and I would be respected for what I could bring. Being at Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø has always felt welcoming, safe and a good environment to grow as a student and a teacher.¡±

This summer, back home in Pau, she will work at the university while completing her master¡¯s thesis. Since arriving at Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø, Doumeng¨¨s changed her thesis subject to teaching gender-inclusive French as a result of working with Dr. Kosnick, whose research focuses on gender-just French and whose pedagogy centers these approaches.

¡°Gender-just language education is an emerging field, and it¡¯s exciting that Cl¨¦mence will be going forward to help grow this sorely needed work and become a resource on her campus,¡± Dr. Kosnick said.

After completing her thesis, Doumeng¨¨s is off to Spain for a one-year teaching program and possibly the beginning of a PhD program.

¡°I¡¯m looking forward to seeing my family and friends, but I¡¯m very grateful for my experience here at Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø,¡± Doumeng¨¨s said. ¡°I never felt alone. I felt supported every day, even before I arrived.

¡°I¡¯m also grateful for the students. My Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø students will always be my first students.¡±