Background

The rapid internationalisation of higher education that has taken place in the UK has often focussed on student recruitment rather than the implications for learning and teaching (Carroll, 2015; Ryan, 2013). As a result, many higher education providers are grappling with the changing landscapes of their lecture theatres and seminar and approaching international students within a deficit model (Killick, 2015). The Higher Education Academy (HEA) has – with the sector – co-created a framework that seeks to redress this deficit model, arguing that internationalisation is a process in which we are all international, regardless of our linguistic, cultural or national identities. This is an opportunity to create resources that benefit all students and use their diverse, pluricultural backgrounds to give them the confidence to learn.

An example

Déjeuner Du Matin Jacques Prévert (Paroles, 1946)

Il a mis le café

Dans la tasse

Il a mis le lait

Dans la tasse de café

Il a mis le sucre

Dans le café au lait

Avec la petite cuiller

Il a tourné

Il a bu le café au lait

Et il a reposé la tasse

Sans me parler

Il a allumé

Une cigarette

Il a fait des ronds

Avec la fumée

Il a mis les cendres

Dans le cendrier

Sans me parler

Sans me regarder

Il s'est levé

Il a mis

Son chapeau sur sa tête

Il a mis

Son manteau de pluie

Parce qu'il pleuvait

Et il est parti

Sous la pluie

Sans une parole

Sans me regarder

Et moi j'ai pris

Ma tête dans ma main

Et j'ai pleuré.

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/d-jeuner-du-matin/ Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9ZfhONl68s With French subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MalR-e4IgAs Musical adaptation by Marlene Dietrich: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm1jdP-I4y4 Short, silent film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4YoBuJCbfo

Use of poem Aims To open up the space of the workshop as a mine of rich linguistic and

cultural diversity

To think about the sound and meaning of language, and its impact on you and others

To confront feelings of linguistic and cultural alienation in a safe environment

To overcome linguistic and cultural barriers through the interdisciplinary medium of poetry

To become more confident in an internationalised setting

An activity with students

Find a partner in the room, someone you don’t know

Read the poem – what does it look like on the page – is there anything unexpected?

Listen to the clip – describe the sounds – do they create a particular mood or feel? What is the effect and why?

Look at the words and see if there is anything familiar in your native language?

Perhaps there are some words or expressions that you recognise from learning French?

What can you work out from the poem in your groups?

By getting students to listen to the poem first with an unfamiliar partner, they are encouraged to approach a (fairly alienating) task together, looking for common ground, very possibly across different linguistic and cultural borders. United by the unknow-able, the dominant language of the UK HE class – English – does not necessarily help them. It levels the linguistic playing field from that perspective. Even if a student speaks French, they will help their partner with translation, working across at least two and possibly three languages. Also, the questions focus on the poem itself, not the language, so the skills they rely on are intercultural, communicative and creative – key competencies for graduates of today. This activity aims to provide a learning tool above and beyond the content/language of the poem as the task concentrates on students working together, gaining confidence in approaching the unfamiliar across languages, disciplines etc. Those staff and students from a non-Humanities background can identify with the shared problems of how to teach/approach difficult language/jargon/concepts with students from a diverse background. The actual translation of the language is much less interesting – pedagogically speaking – than the process of encouraging students to work together, learn from their different background and languages and learn to face the unfamiliar with confidence and not fear. In a longer time, comparing and contrasting the effect of the silent film, and

the Marlene Dietrich would lead to some fascinating discussion about different learning styles, about the importance and effects of language etc.

By sending out the clips in advance of the class, it could also be flipped. The actual poem can be used as a resource in a number of Humanities

French – this poem is used to introduce and practice perfect tense

Literary studies – shape of poem; lack of punctuation; part of Parisian post-war art movement

History/Cultural studies – Prévert’s political motivations and use of poetry as a historical tool to explore France at that time

Film – exploring musical and film adaptations