Karen Turman

 

Biography

A sixth-generation Californian but mostly raised in Minneapolis, MN, I discovered my love of language learning and French culture as a child. I eventually earned my MA/PhD in French Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara and have taught French for twenty years. I have lived in Montpellier, Lyon, and Paris, France, and traveled to many overseas Francophone regions including Côte d’Ivoire and islands in the Caribbean Sea, Indian Ocean, and Pacific Ocean. In Second Language Acquisition, my research and practice include community engagement scholarship in addition to topics of social justice and sustainability in the language curriculum. My most recent publication is entitled “Francophone Pacific Topics in French Language Programs: Teaching Transcultural Competence and Sustainable Literacy” (French Review). This work showcases pedagogical initiatives highlighting sustainability literacy, environmental justice, and Indigenous perspectives in Ma’ohi (French Polynesia) and Kanaky (New Caledonia). An avid jazz roots dancer for several decades, I am also currently developing research on experiential learning through dance pedagogy in the French language curriculum. My scholarly fields of interest also include 19-century Bohemian Paris, the Jazz Age in Paris, fashion studies, musicology, and popular culture studies. My other recent publications include an article entitled “Prince’s Innovative Style: A Minneapolis Icon,” featured in the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion (volume 3, Fall 2022). I have loved teaching French courses on social justice and language, Francophone communities and cultural practices, and sustainability and French industry at Harvard University for eight years and am excited to teach a variety of new courses in the MLCS department!

What is your favourite thing about teaching?
There are too many things to list, but I love hearing about students making connections with French language out in the real world and discovering that initial “click” when they interact with other French speakers for the first time.

What is the last book you read and loved?
I devoured “When We Lost Our Heads” by Heather O’Neill, an unhinged historical fiction novel about the friendship between two wealthy girls as they come of age in 19th-century in Montreal.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I would love to go diving with orcas in the Galapagos islands, or really anywhere that I can see orcas in the wild.

What three words best describe your experience as a teacher?
Enthusiastic, engaging, creative

What is your favourite word in French?
Today ? « Esprit » comes to mind—perhaps because I knew the word from the clothing brand as a kid before I started learning to speak French. I love how it is so close to the English word « spirit » but the pronunciation is completely different and impossible if you don’t understand French phonetics.