I teach FREN 3014 French Phonetics, which is a course that helps students improve their pronunciation of French and acquire a more native-like accent. In the past, a lot of the in-class time was spent on "coaching" students to improve their accent. Last summer, I was unsure how well I would be able to do that through Zoom – not entirely without foundation, as it turned out.  So early in the summer, I planned a hybrid delivery with five weeks of Face-to-Face (F2F) sessions (in weeks 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10) with a third of the class attending Monday, one third on Wednesday and the rest on Friday. Then the University said we all had to wear masks, so I revised for all Zoom delivery until I found out that face shields could count as masks.

How will life change after COVID?

The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (TC) French and Morris Humanities programs are pleased to announce a new partnership for Fall 2020: an upper-division course taught in French by faculty from both campuses for students at both campuses. Jennifer Row (TC) and Tammy Berberi (Morris) will co-teach Disabled Bodies, Minds and Selves in French Literature, Art and Culture.

Separated by language and location, librarians Brian Vetruba and Sarah G. Wenzel nonetheless join as partners in an unusual librarian exchange between the University of Minnesota and the University of Chicago.