Teaching Opportunities in French
Training and Mentoring
The University of Minnesota is a recognized leader in the field of second language and culture education. As a Graduate Instructor, you will receive training that prepares you to excel in the teaching of language and culture, and assures that undergraduate instruction is of the highest quality at all levels.
As a new Graduate Instructor, you will teach one section per semester of a first- or second-year French course. You will receive extensive training, pedagogical support, and guidance from the director of language instruction and program coordinators. All new Graduate Instructors enroll in FrIt 5999: Teaching of French & Italian: Theory and Practice, which offers a theoretical background and practical training in second language pedagogy.
Application for potential graduate students in the department
Application for graduate students from other departments at the University
Information for international graduate assistants (document in French).
Special Teaching Opportunities on Campus and in France
Upper division courses
Doctoral students often have the opportunity to teach the department's advanced language courses and to work with a faculty mentor in a teaching practicum in literature and culture. They also have opportunity to teach in the FLIP (Foreign Language Immersion Program).
Preparing Future Faculty
Offered through the Graduate School, this professional development seminar includes a supervised teaching experience in an upper division course taught by a faculty member who serves as the student's mentor.
Graduate student assistantships in Montpellier and Paris
Students are selected annually as a lecteur/lectrice d'anglais in the English departments of the Université Paul Valéry in Montpellier and the Université de Paris 7. This experience has proved to be of inestimable value to students, in linguistic, cultural, and professional terms. Also available is an eight-week summer assistantship in Montpellier, involving teaching and administrative support for the University of Minnesota’s Learning Abroad Program.
Technological Support
The Language Center is a technology and resource center for all second-language teachers in the College of Liberal Arts. The center's facilities include state-of-the-art audio labs, a multimedia student lab, a classroom computer lab, and a classroom equipped with video cameras. The Language Center organizes forums, workshops, and courses focused on new technologies and their pedagogical uses
Professional Placement
The department has maintained its success in placing graduates in tenure-track positions in four-year undergraduate colleges and major research institutions. Each year, departmental faculty offer workshops to guide students through the search for a teaching position, from application letters and CVs, to curriculum development and interviewing techniques.