Madame Schumacher, or Mme. Schu for short, has worked at this school for many years and had a wide repertoire of experiences that help her to educate people on the French language and culture. Her path to teaching was a long and winding journey that took many twists and turns in the process of her personal growth. This journey shaped who she is now and the way she teaches; her story starts in suburban Denver.
Madame Schu said that growing up in suburban Denver, it felt like everyone was the same. This could be what drew her toward her desire to be bilingual; she said that being bilingual had been a goal of hers since a young age. When she first joined high school, she had to choose which language she wanted to study. In her interview, she described her process of deciding which language to commit too. “I always wanted to be bilingual and in high school we got to choose between Spanish, French, and German.” She said, “I wanted something more romantic and more adventurous, and so I signed up for French.” She took French class throughout high school, but Mme. Schu never became as fluent as she had hoped. Eventually, she decided to commit to being bilingual when she minored in French in college.
Surprisingly enough, Mme. Schu had originally gone to college to be an accounting major. She had initially planned to focus on her major, but when she finally took French with an engaging teacher, she realized how much speaking the language had become a part of her life. “It’s so empowering, and it made me feel like I had a superpower, honestly, like I could do things other people couldn’t do. Even though anyone can become bilingual, most people don’t.”
In college, Mme. Schu decided she wanted to put her French to the test and go to France. “It’s actually kind of funny that I didn’t study abroad until I was 40!” Instead of studying abroad through a program, Mme. Schu just traveled to France during the summer. She said, “I had this boyfriend in college who didn’t want me to study abroad. And instead of being like, ‘wow you should do that because it sounds like a really cool life experience!’, he was like ‘well I guess you want me to be happy that you’re leaving’”, and he wasn’t very supportive. Schu admitted, “I should have done the brave thing and been like ‘oh yeah, bye!’ but instead, I was like ‘oh, ok I’ll just go and I’ll do this thing for a month.’”
In France, she did a volunteer project where they built walls in medieval villages. She said, “It was amazing! I got to work with like 10 different French people, and some people from Russia, England, and Finland.” As she reflected on her experience, Mme. Schu said that going to France opened her eyes to the world. Unlike her town where “everyone felt the same”, she was exposed to many different people and cultures. “We had these great adventures we had so much fun.”
Mme. Schu also noted that even though it’s sad she never got to study abroad when she was younger, missing that opportunity taught her just how important studying abroad is, which explains why she so enthusiastically encourages her students to do it. She said,” they get to live with families and have that experience [that I did], but in a safe way.” She continued to talk about foreign exchange and her students’ experiences. “On multiple occasions, the first thing people say to me after summer is ‘that is the best thing I ever did’ and I’m like, ‘oh my gosh, that’s so great to hear!’” She continued, “It encourages them to expand their world and become more independent, stronger, smarter. So those are the reasons I keep pushing for it.”
Moving away from the subject of foreign exchange, I drew on something I had been curious about for a while. I asked Mme. Schu about why she has her homework set up the way it is. She always says to never spend more than 15 minutes on homework. When prompted, her response was much more complex and heartfelt then I had expected. “I was teaching in Ecuador, and I was teaching a novel. I really wanted these kids to actually read it, and not just fake read the book.” She described how she assigned a project where students were supposed to draw out what happened in each chapter in little comic strips, and se got back a student’s project that was really detailed and beautiful. When Mme. Schu told her how gorgeous her project was, the student replied, “it should be, I spent 50 hours on it.” Mme. Schu said “It just sunk my soul. It’s like, that is not what this was about. Part of it was she was a perfectionist, but the problem was that I had given an assignment that really didn’t help them learn.” She admitted that her intention was “trying to hold [students] accountable, but instead I created a lot of work that really wasn’t necessary. I really want my students to have balanced lives, because I make sure I have a balanced life.” She continued, “I know that they have a lot of stressors in their lives between relationships, jobs, figuring out what they want to do in their lives; growing up. It’s already hard enough, I don’t need to just give them meaningless work to make it harder.” This really resonated with me because it proves how reasonable Mme. Schu is, and how much she really cares about her students. Schu says, “If I can get [my student] fluent by just giving them a really rich in class experience, and then just giving them homework for two days a week, and then just having them practice, [that’s ideal]”.
Mme. Schumacher says that she often tries to be like her favorite teacher from middle school and emulate the same type of classroom environment. “When people ask my favorite teacher, it was my 7th grade history teacher. She was full of bubbles and warmth all the time. She gave awards every week like ‘who tried the hardest this week’ or ‘who had the best attitude this week’, and she made sure to give them to every kid in the class.” Though Mme. Schu realizes she does not give out awards, she tries to cheer students on and give them encouragement when she can.
Though her path to teaching may have been a confusing journey, we are glad to have her as our teacher. Not only because of all she does to push her students towards success and helping them become fluent, but also because of her immense kindness and compassion. It seems she has met her goal of replicating the warm environment her 7th grade history teacher had created. The times she chooses to participate in spirit week are always the best, and her class parties never fail are always fun. So, thank you Madame Schumacher for being a wonderful teacher!
