Laura Florand, Senior Lecturer of Romance Studies

Working with an established cohort to explore the possibilities that improv techniques could bring to our pedagogy was a very enriching experience, and Nan’s guidance and leadership through this process was invaluable—her knowledge and experience, but also her warmth and support and creativity throughout.

While generally I prefer working with Fellows drawn from multiple departments and to step outside my usual language silo, this might be one case where I would recommend a fellows with a language focus if possible, just because some of our needs are different. I remember noting, in response to another fellow’s desire to find exercises that got students to dig deep courageously, that in lower level language classes in particular, speaking at all was courageous. But I think Nan did a great job of balancing these different needs and of introducing a wide variety of activities we could adapt to our courses.

Some exercises that I have already been applying in my classes and that I have found to be very useful include:

Do You Know What I Like about This? (A peer feedback exercise that I actually learned from Nan in a workshop during the pandemic and which has become a go-to tool that I love.)

One-Minute Autobiography

News Flash!

Do You Remember When?

Sound Machine (which we used to work on descriptive texts, particularly two excerpts students had read that described cities through their sounds)

Students report really enjoying these exercises and the fun ways they change things up and engage them with texts, language, and discussions. I enjoy them too—I enjoy the energy they bring to the class, and the playfulness they help generate. Their feedback encourages me to continue finding ways to adapt these playful pedagogy tools to my fall 2025 classes and to bring one in every day if I can.

Thanks so much for all your work with us, Nan, and for including me in this cohort!

IMAGE CREDIT: Laura Florand

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Laura Florand