classes taught

Teaching in the university setting since 2004, Rebecca has experience as an independent instructor, in charge of all aspects of courses, from course design to textbook selection, exam writing and curriculum support. Over the years, she has taught a variety of classes from literature, business, and advanced grammar classes for majors and translations classes for graduate students to basic language and French culture classes; she has also taught a lecture course on the History of Paris at Penn State. In Spring 2012, she will co-teach a class through the University of Iowa Lifetime Enrichment Adult Program (UI LEAP).

In addition to formal teaching appointments, she also promotes cultural understanding and awareness among children through French language enrichment courses that she teaches at an area elementary school, working with area high school students, and tutoring adult ESL learners.

Individual course websites and additional materials are available through ICON

Course Evaluations

Click on the course number or title below for a link to each course's syllabus and full course description.

semester/year course number course title
Fall 2011 9:115 Business French
Fall 2011-Spring 2012 9:111 Introduction to Reading and Writing in Fr
Summer 2011 9:206 French for Research II (graduate level)
Fall 2010-Spring 2011 9:111 Introduction to Reading and Writing in Fr
Fall 2009-Spring 2010 9:112 French Grammar
Summer 2009 9:205 French for Research (graduate level)
Fall 2008-Spring 2009 9:111 Introduction to Reading and Writing in Fr
Spring-Summer 2008 9:011 Intermediate French I
Fall 2007 9:012 Intermediate French II
Spring 2007 FR137 Paris: Anatomy of a City
Fall 2006 FR002 French II
Spring-Summer 2006 9:012 Intermediate French II
Fall 2005 9:011 Intermediate French I
Spring 2005 9:002 Elementary French II
Fall 2004 9:010 First Year French Review

teaching philosophy

The theoretical framework for my teaching lies in the socio-cultural approach of a communicative classroom.  This learner-centered approach emphasizes a classroom that incorporates communication between learners and a new culture, as well as connections and comparisons between previously held beliefs and new perspectives, within the context of a community of learners.  Second language acquisition permits the expansion of learners’ communicative worlds. An educator’s role is to assist learners and make them aware of their skills through strategically guided interaction.  Language development is an effect of exposure to both the material and social worlds. Continued ...

currently teaching

  • 9:115 Business French

    This course emphasizes the acquisition of basic concepts and practical vocabulary pertaining to both personal life (banking operations, credit, buying, investing, etc.) and professional life (marketing, advertising, international trade, etc.).  Through the use of current, pertinent topics from news headlines, students regularly engage in communicative activities, such as professional correspondence, oral reports, and translations, as well as authentic readings closely tied to class material.

office hours

Spring 2011:

Mon., Wed. 9-10:30 am

511 Phillips Hall

The University of Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa

map

email: rebecca-leal@uiowa.edu

tel: 319-353-2214

upcoming activities

“Motherhood in Exil: Myths and Representations of Franco-Algerian Post-War Maternity.”  Women in French Conference, Arizona State University, Feb 24-25, 2012.