About 310 million people are capable of speaking the French language, making it one of the most spoken languages in the world. It is also one of three languages taught at Foran High School, and it is being taught by the one and only Mrs. Edmide Duncan.
Duncan is a second-year teacher at Foran and she is the only one that teaches French class in the school building. Despite this fact, it doesn’t stop her from showcasing her strong passion for the French language which has existed since she was five years old.
Duncan loves the culture behind the language and she encourages many to try and learn it because French is a beautiful language to learn and it can be useful when traveling to different parts of the world.
A Chinese proverb that Duncan likes says, “To learn a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world.”
This is a proverb that she holds to be true as it deals with not just the language itself but also the food, cultures, and customs that are behind the language. Duncan’s goal when teaching her classes is to not only give her students a different perspective on the language but also the world as a whole.
“Learning another language just gives you an upper hand,” says Duncan.
French is one of the official languages of Haiti, which is where Duncan is from and how she became a native speaker of the language. This fact about herself gives her students a different perspective on the fact that French can be native to other countries besides France.
Despite having to teach multiple different students from multiple different grades, Duncan isn’t bothered by this fact as when it comes to teaching French, she believes that it is not about the grade of the student but instead about the level she teaches. This is because she has to differentiate the workload between each level.
Ever since her first year at Foran, Duncan has started to use more active learning strategies and cold-calling in her lessons to help keep her students engaged in class at all times and let her connect with the students better.
The community at Foran has been very impactful for Duncan and her teaching abilities. She finds it to be the most cooperative school she has been at and finds it easy to approach and assist other teachers.
Kim Vigil, head of the world language department at Foran says that Duncan is a pleasure to work with and helps keep herself and her fellow teachers energized due to her sense of humor.
Vigil has even learned from Duncan to “have a sense of humor about things and to have fun with the students.”
It’s clear that Duncan has integrated herself into the Foran community as she has helped her peers around her while also receiving assistance to further her teaching abilities.
