Reinventing Language Learning from the Classroom to the Award Podium: The Story of Sandra Townsend

Madame and her former students, now close friends

Earlier this year, Sandra Townsend was honored by the French government with the Chevalière de l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques from Monsieur le Consul General Mustafa Soykurt. This prestigious award is dedicated to educators who promote the French language via innovative means, both inside and outside the classroom. According to Townsend, she “was not expecting” to be awarded such a high honor. Townsend, or Madame as her students refer to her, was awarded this honor in recognition of her immense contributions to the teaching of French across 50 years in the field. A few weeks ago, I sat down with her to discuss her career in education and how the value of teaching language has shaped her life.

“Never a Teacher,” she said.

One of the first things Madame Townsend said was that she never wanted to be a teacher when she was growing up in the 1950s and 60s, despite everyone pointing her in that direction.  Up against a male-dominated field of journalism and publishing, she awoke one day to the assumption that teaching would grant her autonomy and allow her to share her knowledge of French with her students. Years later, when considering a change in careers, she attended a career workshop. The questionnaire pointed her straight back to the classroom. “Maybe I was born to be a teacher,” she said, reflecting on the story. According to the French government, this couldn’t be more true. 

A Love for French… And Ballet!

At a young age, Madame Townsend may not have known that she would be an incredible teacher, but she did know she had a love of French. Her dad spoke French to her when she was young, always singing “La Vie En Rose,” she recalled. Aspiring to be a ballerina, she took years of ballet lessons, in which the language of dance is French (glissade, arabesque, pirouette, etc).

Throughout her life, she has continued to share that love of  French with her students and in her own family. Her husband majored in French in college and speaks French fluently. When raising her children, she shared her love of French with them. They grew up to speak other languages in addition to French, but the seeds of their language skills were planted at an early age. To top it all off, her son is married to a French woman. “Having another language is a precious gift,” she commented. 

Early Teaching Journey

After graduating from Middlebury College, Madame Townsend attended the Middlebury Graduate School in Paris, in a program designed for future teachers of French. At the beginning of her teaching career, she taught both English and French, which she described as “very complementary.” Eventually, she would transition to teaching solely French. Her biggest influences are the teachers she had in her journey through school.

For 35 years, Madame Townsend taught at the Derryfield School in Manchester, NH. There, she was teaching all levels of French students, from beginners to advanced level (AP) classes. Madame Townsend noted that, in her position as an educator, she holds high standards for herself…but those high standards apply to every student.”

Poetry & Baguettes

Baguettes are a fundamental part of French culture, and Madame Townsend’s teaching left no doubt of that. In her acceptance speech, she noted how her students would probably say that the baguettes she made were their favorite memories. The motif of baguettes arose once more during our interview, where she told me about how she used to make her AP Literature students memorize poems and recite [them,]… to bribe them, I would make my own baguettes.” This creative use of food to encourage learning was only one of the many innovations Madame Townsend brought to the field.

Taking  French Outside the Classroom

While many people think of education as confined to the walls of a classroom, Madame Townsend brought to life a vision of teaching that is more exploratory. This exploration is what fosters learning, especially in a language classroom.

She organized several homestays for her students in France. At first, the groups were organized through a program of the Experiment in International Living. When that ended, she was on her own to contact a teacher in France who would recruit students. Once the internet came into being, it was much easier to connect with families who offered their hospitality. This was a time when “there were no cell phones, and the students were truly away from home, having to adapt to a new family and a new culture and to speaking French!”

For Madame Townsend, these two weeks of immersive language experience were some of the best experiences she fostered for her students. She credited the “trust in teachers’ decisions” from administrative teams, parents, and community members as a strong supporting factor for the success of her immersion efforts.

Another story MadameTownsend told was about trips to the Laurentian mountains in Saint-Donat. The students had to speak French and know how to ski. They were immersed in a cultural program while enjoying the great outdoors of Québec.

Townsend also told the story of how her class came to “own a tree.” In the early 2000s, a windstorm swept across the countryside of France and took out many old trees. In response, Versailles established a “buy a tree” campaign. Madame Townsend rallied her classes to raise money by selling baguettes and coffee to parents in the morning drop-off line. Townsend plans to visit the tree one day when she returns to France.

Teaching Now – SNHU and the FAC

Currently, Madame Townsend is a professor at SNHU, where she continues to teach French in the classroom. She is also a teacher and tutor with the FAC. She told me the story of how she came to teach at the FAC after she retired from the high school classroom. Straight out of retirement, Townsend went to an art opening hosted by the FAC, where she met a woman who told her about an open position with the center. Since that first encounter, she has felt connected with and supported by the Franco-American Centre, not only as a teacher but as a member of the team of dedicated teachers and as a member of the community. 

From Left to Right: John Tousignant (FAC Executive Director), Mdame, Monsieur le Consul General Mustafa Soykurt, Adèle Boufford Baker (Past FAC President), and Jim Townsend (Madame's husband)

Madame Townsend recalled one student in particular that she had with the FAC: a young woman who wanted to be a pastry chef, who worked with Jacques, of Jacques’ Pastry Shop (in Suncook, NH). Jacques referred his employee to the FAC, where Townsend took up teaching her. With Townsend’s help, this young woman was able to go to Paris and complete a pastry school program. When Madame Townsend and her husband visited Paris, they made sure to invite the woman to lunch at their apartment, where they enjoyed her state-of-the-art pastries for dessert!

Another FAC student, an eight-year-old boy, came to mind as well. She described him as a “remarkable example of learning a language.”

The Value of a Language

“Having another language is like having another identity,” Madame Townsend said when I asked her about what the French language meant to her. Developing another language allows someone to find a whole new mode of expression. Madame Townsend highlighted how she was concerned with schools dropping their French programs. Learning a language, Madame Townsend said, is “a brain exercise… You have to work at it.” This brain exercise gives us increased health and mental benefits, but also allows us to develop a wider understanding of other people and cultures.

Leaving a Lasting Legacy

With this award, Madame Townsend joins a top tier of language educators who have been honored for their body of educational work. For her, this legacy has been crafted to live on in her students: “My earliest students of the 1970s are my contemporaries now,” she said, noting how quite a few of them became French teachers. Madame Townsend came back to the inspiration of her own teachers when considering her legacy. “Throughout the many years of teaching, I felt that I kept my integrity, that who I am is reflected in how I teach, with all of my being.” The legacy of her actions will live on in the students she taught and in how she influenced their lives.

The FAC celebrates Madame Townsend’s achievement and congratulates her on this great honor. She joins Dr. Katharine Harrington, French Professor at Plymouth State University, as FAC leaders to be honored with l’Ordre des Palmes. Townsend’s words of wisdom should resonate with all of us: “Share your passion with other people.” Sharing our passion for language will brighten our world.

Written by Kaleb Houle-Lawrence, University Intern