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Prior to teaching at ¾«¶«´«Ã½, Paola was accredited as both a French and Italian interpreter by the United States Department of State and served as an interpreter at the White House, the Pentagon and at other government institutions. Paola also worked at United Nations headquarters in New York. She is a native speaker of French, Italian and English, and has a C1 level proficiency in Spanish. 

Areas of Interest

• Languages for Specific Purposes
• Experiential Learning (Internships; Study Abroad)
• Translation
• Curriculum Development

Courses Taught

• FREN 2401: Intermediate French I
• FREN 2302: Intermediate French II
• FREN 3101: French Phonetics
• FREN  3321: The Business Culture of Provence
• FREN 3356: Advanced French
• FREN 4391: French for Business
• FREN 4356: Immigration and National Identity in France
• FREN 4385: Internship: 
• WL 3307 Perspectives on French Society: What does it mean to be French? 

Conference presentations

• "Developing a “Professional French” Language Course with Embassy Support," ACTFL 2019
• "French for Fashion and the Diplôme de Français Professionnel: a model for Second Language immersion abroad," ISLSP-CIBER: International Symposium on Language for Specific Purposes, 2020
• "Strategies for Building a Languages for Specific Purposes Curriculum," ACTFL 2021
• "Business French: implementation strategies for remote and hybrid formats," ACTFL 2021
• "Assessing WLSP Performance in On-Line, Hybrid and Remote Learning Environments," ISLSP-CIBER:International Symposium on Language for Specific Purposes, 2022
• "Developing a Professional French Language Course," ACTFL, 2023
• "(Un)specific Languages for Specific Purposes? Boosting Enrollment Through a World Language Internship and Course Focused on Professional Development," ISLSP-CIBER: International Symposium on Language for Specific Purposes, 2024
• "Connecting Beyond the Classroom: How Internships Can Boost Enrollments," ACTFL 2024
• "Comparing Proficiency of Novice Learners Online, Abroad, and On Campus," ACTFL 2024

Webinars

• "Enseigner le français des affaires en ligne? Mais oui, c'est possible!" Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie, September 2020
• "French for All: French in Higher Education," French Embassy, Washington, D.C., 2023
• "Le français professionnel dans l'enseignement supérieur: Simple tendance ou phénomène durable?" Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie, 2024

Presentations

• "Rebranding our language courses: how to present our courses so they reflect their content and their relevance," Interlinguistic Pedagogical Exchanges, ¾«¶«´«Ã½ Department of World Languages, 2019
• "Teaching a WL course on-line: Technology and Best Practices," Interlinguistic Pedagogical Exchanges, ¾«¶«´«Ã½ Department of World Languages, 2019
• "The relevance of world languages for future world leaders: why fluency in a second language and cultural literacy matter in today’s global economy," Ursuline Academy of Dallas, 2019
• "No tests? No problem! How to use real world tasks and authentic projects to assess student performance," Interlinguistic Pedagogical Exchanges, ¾«¶«´«Ã½, 2021

Research

• ACTFL Grant, co-recipient. Conducted a multi-year study that used ACTFL speaking and writing proficiency tests to compare the proficiency levels of novice learners of French and Italian across three distinct curricular models (intensive immersion programs abroad, intensive fully online courses, and traditional, semester-long courses on campus). 
• Global Literacy and Languages for Specific Purposes: Curricular Design for Building Transferable Skills, ¾«¶«´«Ã½ Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute, co-convener, 2020-present. Topics of interest include data driven research in curricular innovation and developing intercultural competence through languages.
• President’s Partners Grant, ¾«¶«´«Ã½, participant, 2023-2025. Global Seal of Biliteracy pilot: benchmarking proficiency levels with proficiency tests that award students the Global Seal of Biliteracy.

Publications

• The Road to Texas! Translated from original manuscript Au Texas! by Victor Considérant. Publisher: Deep Vellum Press, Dallas, Texas. 2024
• My Exile, My World ("Mon Exile était le monde"), translated memoir of Faustin Rusanganwa, a refugee from Rwanda, 2018 (publication pending)
• Comparing Proficiency of Novice Learners Online, Abroad, and On Campus. Foreign Languages Annals (co-authored, forthcoming)
• Learning Environments and Pedagogical Insights. The Language Educator (co-authored, forthcoming)