Professor Sylvie Durmelat, who teaches in the Department of French and Francophone Studies, brought her French 3350 students on a virtual guided tour of McCord Museum’s newest exhibition, Indigenous Voices of Today: Knowledge, Trauma, Resilience.
A curriculum enrichment grant from CNDLS helped fund this virtual experience, providing a unique opportunity to students to deepen their cultural literacy and enhance their language proficiency in an engaging and experiential way. This innovative course design enriched students’ engagement with French-speaking Indigenous communities, highlighting their lived experiences, cultural heritage, and resilience in the face of colonialism.
During the tour, conducted entirely in French, students learned about the everyday life and traumatic histories of First Nations in Québec. They explored material culture through the lens of the museum’s artifacts, from ornate baby carriers to tools, which embodied the significance of children and community for Indigenous life. The virtual visit offered critical context for the class’ study of Manikanetish, a novel by Innu author Naomi Fontaine, which explores Indigenous identity and resilience in contemporary Québec.
Students were encouraged to draw connections between the historical insights gained during the tour and their ongoing analysis of French colonial legacies, extending their learning beyond the classroom and into the real-world complexities of cultural survival and identity formation.
“Through this collective experience, the class deepened its engagement with their semester-long exploration of the French colonial legacy and its aftermath in places including Algeria, Québec, Guadeloupe, and France’s marginalized immigrant neighborhoods, via characters who seek to understand their place in the world.”
Through the virtual tour, students not only gained a deeper appreciation of Indigenous history, but also practiced French language skills by actively engaging with the content. The experience also fostered collaboration among students, allowing them to discuss their reflections on the tour and the novel, creating a shared sense of intellectual and cultural exploration.
This virtual tour serves as an example of how faculty can integrate experiential learning into their teaching to connect students to broader global perspectives, helping them see the intersections of language, culture, and history in meaningful ways.
Launched under the Georgetown Learning Initiative (GLI), curriculum enrichment/experiential learning grants (CEGs) support course-related activities that enhance student learning.
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