Over 12 years ago, I managed a summer program in Paris for "CIEE" (Council on International Educational Exchange). At the end of my 2nd year, they offered me a gig as director of their program in Rennes, France. Knowing that I would never finish my PhD dissertation if I settled in France, I reluctantly declined the offer. But when they asked me to recommend someone, I immediately thought of Loren Ringer (the fellow who's living at our place for the semester... it was a trade!). Loren has kept the Rennes program safe and sound and flourishing for the past 12 years and finally was offered a sabbatical. Perhaps somewhat returning the favor, he asked me if I wanted to fill in for him for the semester.
It took over a year to work through the ins and outs of this (ex)change. I'm taking a leave of absence from the UW and CIEE is now my employer for the next 5 months. I will not be teaching but rather managing the almost 50 students studying in Rennes with CIEE. What's in it for me? Well, lots. It will be a nice change of pace and I will be able to concentrate on one job (I seem to wear too many hats in my position at UW-Madison) and that is to keep the program running smoothly. I will perhaps be able to observe the French teachers there (I admit it, this is the teacher/geek coming out in me but I'm really looking forward to that because the US and the French teaching strategies are often very different yet both can be very successful). I also hope to continue working on one maybe two big projects to bring back with me to the UW (my Second Life teaching experiment and maybe a publication).Of course, another big bonus is that Mark and I will be able to get out of Madison for a while and spend some quality time together. We'll be doing some traveling -- Marseille with Eric and Fabienne, London with Niall and Seamus, Interlaken with Rolf and Susan -- and hosting a few visitors as well. Mark will maybe learn some French.. but probably not. Knowing Mark, he'll learn a lot of French.
