Stories

This project was done with funding from the REAL grant and the Department of Modern Languages in Summer 2021 in collaboration with Dr. Heather Steele and the WWII History Project.

“I found the opportunity with the World War II History Project on Handshake. It was a great fit for the kind of internship I was looking for because it allowed me to not only practice my language skills but also learn about subject matter that was absolutely fascinating to me.

I’m so grateful for Madame Tanti’s assistance in getting my French back up to speed in French 3 my first year at SCU. Since then I’ve taken a French class every quarter, practiced French outside of the classroom with the French Club, and have even tutored as a peer educator. After several quarters of doing translations and readings for classes, I felt well prepared by SCU’s French Studies program to translate this journal. I was especially fortunate that in my French 100 class taught by Prof. Boutouba we read several works from the 19th and 20th centuries that helped prepare me for the particular vocab and grammar structures that I encountered in the WWII journals.

I really appreciate what an opportunity this was and value what I was able to get out of it. Not only was I able to improve my French but I was also able to learn about history and the French Resistance from a dramatic and intriguing first-hand account, provide a resource for English speakers to learn about these same things, and get some experience in a possible future career path that connects directly to my major. I would highly recommend any French major/minor with an interest in history to reach out to the World War II History Project and see what you might be able to do. The REAL program and Modern Languages & Literatures department were a great help and their funding helped make this summer possible for me."