Laure Rannou, a specialist having a Master Degree in Applied Linguistics and French as a Foreign Language (FLE) from Paris Diderot University, has recently come to Vytautas Magnus University on the initiative of the French Institute in Lithuania and the French Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs. She has already started giving lectures of the French language to our students in collaboration with the Centre of Francophone Countries and the Department of Foreign Language, Literary and Translation Studies at Vytautas Magnus University.

Laure Rannou explains her passion for languages in such words: “I have been extremely interested in Japan for a long time, so after graduating I decided to study Japanese language and culture at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilization (INALCO). Different meetings and conversations at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilization ​​have given me a chance to gain new experiences and develop a strong passion for the cultures of South Korea and Eastern Europe. Eager to master Korean, I started learning the Korean alphabet. Unfortunately, the process of intensive learning has been interrupted, so I have only learnt to read texts, but I do not understand and cannot speak Korean. However, it is still great to be able to read at least a bit and distinguish one word from another if necessary.

While trying to learn foreign languages, I naturally turned back to my native language and culture. Importantly, I became interested in French literature, cinema, history, and French chansons in particular. Even the hits of the eighties!”

After obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations and taking part in a Japanese language course, Laure finally decided to become actively involved in teaching. She had an extremely strong desire to convey French language and culture to others as well as travel to meet people living in different countries. She wanted to participate in linguistic and cultural exchanges together with numerous representatives of various countries as well. All these things served as an essential source of inspiration for her to finally choose teaching as a profession. That is also the main reason meant to explain why she entered the Master’s program in Applied Linguistics and French as a Foreign Language (FLE) at the University of Paris (formerly Paris Diderot University). Academic studies provided Laure Rannou with necessary expertise since this period of her life was inseparable from unexpected meetings and significant challenges. Lectures of linguistics and didactics related to teaching French as a foreign language allowed our intern to acquire much necessary professional knowledge. This knowledge was also enriched by periods of intensive pedagogical practice which helped her to understand important elements of teaching in more depth. Otherwise, it would be extremely difficult to prepare for the future profession of a teacher or a lecturer of French as a foreign language.

Laure Rannou explains: “In order to gain additional teaching experience abroad, I took part in the selection for the FLE program after devoting two years to my Master’s studies. This program had been publicly announced by the French Ministry of European and Foreign Affairs (MEAE). Lithuania was included to the list of potential destinations for internships. Frankly speaking, I knew the least about it, especially in comparison to other countries on the list. Willing to learn more and gain some new experiences, I chose namely Lithuania and I won the competition!”

Currently, the intern Laure Rannou is working at the Centre of Francophone Countries and at the Department of Foreign Language, Literary and Translation Studies at Vytautas Magnus University. She gives lectures to our students who have recently entered the Bachelor’s program entitled Language and Culture of Francophone Countries. At present she is also teaching at the LSMU lyceum and Dobkevičius progymnasium.

Laure Rannou actively cooperates with the French Institute in Lithuania and she coordinates various activities related to the spread of French culture and the Francophonie. The intern also seeks to establish a film club dedicated to French cinema at Vytautas Magnus University.

“Given the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, I will have to think and adapt some of the pre-planned activities or apply other strategies and methods in teaching French as a foreign language. The variety of my activities in different institutions, working with different pupils and students of various courses will inspire me to learn a lot, get to know some new things and increase my professional competencies of course” – says the intern Laure Rannou.