An Interview with LCH veteran teacher Beverly Faber

Then vs. Now

April 1994 – a time when overhead projectors, videocassette tapes, ditto machines, transparency sheets, and large boxed televisions on carts were the key school resources of the day. It also happens to be the time when French teacher Beverly Faber began her career at London Christian High. 

“When I started teaching [at LCH], there was really only one long hallway,” recalls Mme. Faber. “There was no atrium, no Science wing, and no Humanities wing. The current atrium was actually where the Biology classroom was [located].”

Mme. Faber’s first classroom was where the current staff workroom is located. “It was very cramped,” Faber recalls. “I had a screen and I had an overhead projector…the old kind that was on a cart. I used that a lot!”

 “When I first started out, the computer lab was used for the computer course; no one else used the computers. There were no computers in the classroom at all, not even on the teacher’s desk – but don’t forget, this was 1994!” Today, Mme. Faber teaches primarily out of a computer lab and regularly integrates technology into her classroom – a sharp contrast from her early years at LCH.

Faber pinpoints a pivotal transitional moment in her teaching, “maybe 10 years ago…as computers were made more available to teachers. I remember bringing my class to the lab for the first time and playing online games to review French grammar and vocabulary – [I thought], ‘wow – this makes class so much more engaging and so much more exciting!’

Teachers Beverly Faber, Marlene Regnerus, and Henry Lammers on the 1998-99 Quebec Trip.

“We started to use the internet to do research on francophone countries. Before, it was all via books – I still probably have 30-40 travel books written in French that my students would have to go through; now, it’s just like – ‘Google – tell me about Madagascar!’ So much quicker!”

Teaching Strategies & Curricular Focus – Shifting Focus

Mme. Faber’s increased use of technology in her classroom was a perfect pairing to a shift in the French curriculum. “I would say probably around that same time – around 10 years ago – is when French teaching started to focus a lot more on…oral [communication], and specifically teaching through what is called authentic or meaningful tasks, for example. learning about things that students might deal with in their own lives with family and friends. 

When I first started teaching, I had a textbook that was ancient; the entire book was all grammar and none of it was taught in context! Teaching French back then was very written-based; it was not oral-based like it is today – that was just the curriculum! We did pretty quickly get a new textbook that was a little bit more thematic, so then each of those chapters usually concluded with some kind of written task and an oral task – [for example], creating a conversation and acting it out. Today, each unit has a theme and the grammar is taught thematically.

“The way I teach now is completely different than the way I taught 25 years ago. It’s focused on including the four strands of reading, writing, listening, and speaking in every unit. [There’s also] way more technology [being used] – I can do so many more activities online. I currently teach out of the computer lab, which is awesome. A lot of variety in the classroom is really important for me, so students are listening to audio files, they can play a game, they can do a speaking activity on the computer, etc.” 

Learning with Purpose and Meaning

“Learning a language is not just about regurgitating the facts (grammar tenses, etc.) but using them in an authentic activity,” says Mme. Faber, “such as a conversation amongst teens, being able to give opinions, describing people with adjectives, and being able to talk with a group of friends about your weekend. It’s not about whether you can conjugate in the passé composé, but can you take the passé composé and use it in a certain situation. I like to think [of that as] meaningful learning.

“I always tell my students at the beginning of grade 9 ‘You’re going to hear me speak a lot more French, and you’re going have to speak a lot more French than you’ve probably had to in elementary school.’ But you don’t go to Quebec to write ‘bonjour’ to someone; you want to be able to say ‘Hi! how are you?’”

In addition to the annual Quebec trip where Senior French students immerse themselves into some of the French culture, Faber believes that one of the most meaningful learning experiences for students in recent years has been the Grade Nine French classes’ visits to Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf – a Catholic, French first language elementary school in London. “My students created questions that came from all the units [in the grade nine course]. Then we went to interview the grade ones –  [who] laughed at us because, you know, we don’t speak like native French speakers! Then we…created a very colourful and creative storybook for each of those kids, and went back and read [the] stories to them. That was an incredibly meaningful project – it made my students very nervous, but it was really cool.”

Building Healthy Relationships

In her classroom, Mme. Faber believes that her Christian faith is integrated into her teaching primarily through who she is and her interactions with students to build relationships. “I try to really get to know [them] and see them as human beings who have interests and who have hardships.”

“In the senior French [course]…we [also] talk about things like Francophonie and the creativity of God with [the] different languages [of] the world. We also talk about how learning a language is being a ‘gift to a stranger’ (based on the book The Gift Of The Stranger: Faith, Hospitality, and Foreign Language Learning by David I. Smith and Barbara Carvill). We are showing respect when we try to speak to someone in their maternal language.” [Faith] also comes out thematically – for example through the Moliere play “L’avare” (The Miser) where we talk about greed and Matthew 6:19-21, or the book “Le Petit Prince” where we talk about how “L’essentiel est invisible aux yeux” (The essential is invisible to the eyes ) – it’s about having authentic relationships. 

When asked to share her favourite thing about teaching French at LCH, Mme. Faber notes that a highlight is hearing about how students are progressing in French class. “I always give my [grade nine] students a questionnaire after two weeks of teaching and I ask them, ‘how’s French going? What do you like? What do you not like? What do you wish was different?’ [It] just warms my heart when I hear kids saying French class is actually fun…so those are really great moments where you think, ‘Wow, I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.’”