Sweet Briar College JYF in Paris Alumni Magazine - December 2018

Interview
with
DELIA
MELLADO
MEMORIES OF MME MELLADO:
Mme Delia Mellado’s quote:
“Vous avez vingt ans et vous êtes à
Paris - vous avez de la chance!” She
was right!
Pramita Kuruvilla, 1997-1998, USC
Mme Mellado’s grammar class
strongly influenced my thinking
about being a language teacher. It
was a new and good perspective on
language learning techniques.
Jamie Olken Pokharel, Fall 2003,
Wheaton College
I especially loved taking classes
at JYF offices with Madame
Mellado. She was a fantastic teacher
and I really loved her enthusiasm for
the language.
Samantha Galvan, Spring 2005
Every time Mme Mellado called
us princes and princesses.
Katelyn French, 2014
Mme. Mellado’s interactive (and
always comedic) French grammar
course!
Megan Johnston, Spring 2015,
How long have you worked for JYF and what do you
teach?
I have been working for JYF for many, many years… When I started
teaching our beautiful French language for JYF, my current students were not
born!
What do you enjoy most about teaching American study
abroad students?
All the students who come to JYF are very interested in discovering
French culture, and most of them already love it. This is why they are a very
exceptional audience. For them, French language is obviously a means to
achieve their goal, to enter French life and to belong, as much as possible, to
Paris. What teacher could ask for more?
What challenges do you experience teaching American
study abroad students?
First, I want to surprise them! They come to Paris to live a new experience
and I want to surprise them by giving them something different from what
they already learned, something maybe not better but different.
My concern is the language and only the language. I want to show them
that even if they have a good—and sometimes very good—level in French,
they still have a lot of things to learn. I try to give them as much as I can
during our three hours a week together. At the end of each class, I ask myself
what my students have learned during this hour and a half spent together.
Another challenge for me is not to forget anyone. Sometimes, students in
the same group don’t need the same things and I have to adapt my teaching
until I can see a smile on every face!
How do you see your role?
My role is a fantastic one! My role is to lead them to master our beautiful
but very difficult language! I want them to feel comfortable and not to fear
their professors’ reaction. The more they feel comfortable, the easier it gets.
What impact do you think you have on students?
That’s a difficult question. Learning a language requires rigor, but in
spite of that rigor that can be sometimes difficult but leads to efficiency, I
hope that I do transmit to my students my passion for French and foreign
languages in general, because learning a new language is like opening your
mind to different people.
Sweet Briar College
Professor Mellado has taught Sweet Briar’s Expression écrite and
Grammaire et syntaxe avancées since 1990. She and her course are
among the most memorable for many JYF alumni through the years.
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