I’m hoping that today’s Eriksonian lens will allow me to paint a slightly sunnier picture than I have so far of my time in Northfield High School’s upper-level French classes. According to Erik Erikson, the adolescent students I’m observing are grappling with the psychosocial stage of identity versus role confusion. I do believe that their French classroom environment and curriculum offers them some space to explore this stage of their lives. For instance, Wednesday’s French 4/5 class centered on discussions of family. The previous day, they had been reading about traditional Senegalese families. On Wednesday, this segued into small group discussions about the role of family in their own lives. Students took turns reading their group’s answers to the prompts about family aloud to the class. I was touched by a student named Chloe’s response to the question “Why is family important for you?” She responded, “Ma mère est ma meilleure amie“—”my mom is my best friend.” (Plus, I was excited to hear students produce French for one of the first times during my observations!) Chloe’s answer was also interesting in light of her response to the second question, “Do you like the role that family plays in your country”: “No, because I have to take care of everything in my house!” This is just a small window into the ways Chloe might be grappling with identity in her home life, trying to figure out what she wants her role within her family to look like. The second question also seemed to underscore students’ different perceptions of the role of family in American society. One student responded that she didn’t like it because women often feel like they don’t get to work, while another student took the exact opposite approach, claiming that she appreciated that American families are less strict in gender roles than other countries and that everyone can work. In fact, I would critique the assignment slightly because the teacher wanted each small group to arrive at the same conclusion and submit the same answer for the questions in their online textbook, but clearly these students all had different interpretations of the family. That’s not surprising, considering that not only is every family different, but each student’s search for identity is going to lead them to understand the concept of family differently. Nevertheless, I was happy to see the curriculum reflecting issues that were pertinent to students; they got to talk about themselves and their experiences. I can’t speak for the students in saying how they felt about it, but I certainly enjoyed getting to know a bit more about them as individuals through the curriculum.

Turning to talk momentarily about myself as an individual in the context of Marcia’s identity statuses, I believe that I fit pretty nicely into the moratorium category. While I was able to settle on a major based on something that I found interesting, I have no idea how this will translate into a career. I have vague notions about going into education, which I’m exploring by taking several educational studies classes this term, but I’m refusing to commit to anything yet. As a junior, I haven’t given much thought to what I’ll do after graduation; I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up in grad school, but this will probably be the result of wanting to delay my decision and explore further—more characteristics of moratorium. Ideologically, I have some sense of what I value, but I also realize how little I understand about how the world works and feel the need to keep learning before I solidify my identity around some cause.

As if she read my mind, my mom mailed me this cartoon (just because it’s fun to get mail, you know?). I can definitely understand what it’s like to be one of those fish, swimming around, bumping into other fish, seeing what their worldviews are, then swimming along as I continue to contemplate what mine might be. Thanks, Mom! Chloe might be onto something—maybe we should all be best friends with our moms. But I digress.

Before wrapping up, I want to bring my attention back to the French students in Denise Halvorson’s class again. I already brought up the example of the students’ conversations about family, but I’m generally struck by the recognition of humanity in class (even if I’m a little disappointed by the fact that it takes place largely in English). For instance, on Friday, the French 4/5 students were originally supposed to be doing a writing assignment, but Denise opted to push it back until next Wednesday. She was upfront about her reasoning with her students. When she first admitted that it was in her interest to push back the writing assignment, one student interjected, “Because you want to take the weekend off from grading? I respect that.” Denise laughed and joked that she appreciated the respect, but actually she still needed to finish grading the previous writing assignment, so she would be spending the weekend catching up on that. I appreciated her honesty with her students, and I hope that the rapport she’s working to build with them will help them overcome some of the discomfort that comes with learning a language. Having watched students doing everything they can to pass the responsibility of sharing what they talked about as a group with the whole class to a different group mate, or else freeze up or speak quietly when called on, looking terrified, I’m beginning to recognize how vital it is to create a trusting classroom environment that allows for error.

I’m also appreciating how much room a language class leaves for students to have fun with the material and to engage with things that interest them. Instead of writing the essay on Friday, the French 4/5 students listened to and talked about the singer Stromae’s new single. Maybe this seems corny and unnatural in a classroom setting, but it still hinted at all sorts of possibilities for students to find ways to learn French that they enjoy. In fact, I know this is possible, because I’ve done it myself in my own experience learning French—one might even say that, in a Marcian sense, listening to French music has been part of my “exploration” that led me to deciding on my French major. I’ve also talked to Carleton students in my French 101 TA session about how they’ve watched French Netflix shows with English subtitles and are excited when they start to recognize words. But perhaps I’m losing my focus and my observations of French at Carleton are a topic for another day!