For over two months, St. Cloud State University student Lauren Rhealt has attended French class as usual: taking notes, asking questions and talking to classmates. But unlike most students, she is not in class to learn a language. She has been observing French teacher Jason Swanson and his classes because she would like to one day teach French, too.
Originally from Fargo, North Dakota, Rheault is majoring in French at St. Cloud State University has visited France three times. Yet she hasn’t always enjoyed studying it.
“I didn’t like French in high school at all,” said Rheault. “I didn’t learn from the way my teacher taught and I ended up really frustrated and wanted to quit. My mom said I could go on the France trip, and if I still didn’t like French after getting back, I could quit it. But when I got there, I literally woke up one morning and was like, ‘It all makes sense!’ It clicked. I love being able to speak a different language and being able to express myself and speak to others in a different language. Being surrounded by something I’ve never been familiar with before opens my eyes and it helps me. I wasn’t able to experience a lot of culture in Fargo, and that experience helped me realize how different it is around the world. Even holding silverware is different. No one way of doing things is right or wrong, but I like to compare.”
She has compared different experiences she’s had as a student as she’s studied to become a teacher. She feels it is also important to be a friend and mentor to students.
“Some of my best teachers have given me different ways of looking at content. Especially by instead of looking at [an idea] the textbook way, opening it up and applying it to me, showing how it’d affect my life – showing an idea to me as a person, not just a body in the classroom. It’s important for teachers to let their students know they are there for them when they can’t talk to their family and friends. I know I’ve talked to some of my teachers about personal things because my family and friends already knew about them and were a little biased. It was nice to know my teachers were there to support me and I’d like to be there for my students, too.”
Rheault will attend her graduation ceremony on May 8 and finish classes on June 4. She has no definite plans for her future career yet but she has a few ideas.
“For next year, I’m trying to get a job in France being a nanny – it’s called an ‘au pair’ – and I’m checking my e-mail every second I can. Next year my plan is to leave the country. I know one day I really want to have a family and kids and now is my opportunity to go out and learn and experience things. I also want to learn Spanish. I’m talking elementary Spanish I this summer and after I have some experience in a French-speaking part of the world I want to go to a Spanish-speaking part of the world and get my [teaching license] in Spanish, too. I’d like to be a French and Spanish teacher. But that would be a long way off.”
Rheault may finish student teaching in mid-April, but she doesn’t believe her learning experiences will end then.
“I consider myself a lifelong learner.”
