AbstractThe pedagogical intervention presented in this chapter uses a recent event that
received global exposure (the 2015 terrorist attack on the satirical journal Charlie
Hebdo) to engage learners’ critical awareness of the subjective dimension of freedom,
especially freedom of speech. To facilitate learners’ encounter with and
reflection on variation of cultural frames of reference, the intervention integrates
geosemiotics theory (Scollon & Scollon, 2003) within a socio-constructivist
approach to learning. A collaborative engagement inside and outside the classroom
is enabled with LinoIt, a digital and interactive bulletin board. The chapter begins
with curricular considerations to create a participatory and empathy-generating
classroom-based learning environment. A detailed description of the sequence
of project-based activities and assessments designed for a third-semester French
course follows. The research and creative projects can be adapted to lower or
higher level L2 courses and include other culturally organized constructs. I conclude
with insights into how to use the design of the learning activities and the
pedagogical sequence as a model for further curricular development and for the
professional development of graduate students and instructors.
Works published here are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.