After years as a Sessional Lecturer at UBC, Dr. Isabelle Delage-Béland accepted a new position as Lecturer of French. Here she explains what she hopes to bring to the department through her new role.
“I want to collaborate with colleagues to provide students with the best possible learning experience, in the classroom and beyond. I want students to be able to immerse themselves in a Francophone environment and feel like they belong to a community.”
What is your favourite aspect about your new role as lecturer?
Everything seems possible at the Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies (FHIS)! It is a diverse and dynamic environment that welcomes new ideas. I feel that there is a constant desire to do more and better, and that stimulates me a lot. Intellectually and humanly, FHIS is exceptional. Surrounded by so many dedicated members with diverse backgrounds, I believe I can constantly learn and grow in this community.
After teaching temporarily in several universities, I can finally settle and get involved in a single institution. I am grateful to have the opportunity to build strong relationships with my students and support them on their learning journey. The students at UBC are amazing: motivated, curious, and smart!
I am also delighted to coordinate the Upper-Intermediate French courses, since many of the students enrolled are doing a minor or a major in French. It allows me to build bridges between language courses and those of literature or linguistics. I must add that I am very pleased to serve on the TA Training and Mentoring Committee. I had the chance to be mentored by exceptional people and I feel that I can give back some of what I received when I was a student.
What are your goals?
I want to collaborate with colleagues to provide students with the best possible learning experience, in the classroom and beyond. I want students to be able to immerse themselves in a Francophone environment and feel like they belong to a community. Therefore, I am glad to be part of the executive committee of the Centre de la Francophonie de UBC. My colleague Antje Ziethen and I recently launched a movie club with the aim of making films from various Francophone cultures known. I hope I can develop other initiatives in the coming months and years to meet the needs and interests of students.
Promoting French in a minority setting is essential and every effort counts! I am also committed to integrating inclusive French and Indigenous content into language courses and I wish to involve my students in this process. Furthermore, since I am from Quebec, it is important for me to introduce students to different accents and varieties of French. These aspects are close to my heart.
What is your career background?
I started at FHIS as a Sessional Lecturer in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. Prior to joining FHIS, I taught a variety of language and literature courses at universities in Quebec (Université de Montréal, Université Laval) and Ontario (Brock University).
I have always been passionate about languages. I come from Montreal, where there is a lot of discussion about the defense and the future of French, and I hold a PhD in medieval French literature (Université de Montréal 2017), which led me to discover the history of French. In fact, the very first course I taught when I began my teaching career in 2013 was an Old and Middle French course (French before the 16th century).
Now, in addition to teaching, I pursue research in medieval literature, which means that students in my classes can enjoy short Old French lessons to deepen their knowledge of the language!
