Rosie Baldwin

Rosie began learning French in England at 11 years old, in what was the equivalent of middle school, continuing her studies until she was 18. She loved French and appreciated her French teachers for encouraging and supporting her language study. After high school, she went on a two-week holiday to stay with a French host family with whom she has maintained written contact since 2016. She had inconsistent yet meaningful exposure to French doing various activities in England growing up.

She came to BYU seeking an undergraduate degree in early childhood development. At the time, she considered her written French to be better than her spoken French. She then enrolled in French 411, a class she found "really, really helpful" because it pushed her to speak at the superior level. She also appreciated the class for teaching her how to approach hypothetical situations from multiple sides and increase the sophistication of her language.

Rosie is currently a graduate student seeking a career in French dual language immersion. To maintain and grow her skills, she actively integrates French into her daily life by:

• Teaching French 101 (now in her third semester) and participating in a French-speaking ward in Lehi. The church setting also pushed her into researching gospel/religious vocabulary for teaching Relief Society in French 
• Setting her phone language and social media to French. She also reads her scriptures in French. 
• Speaking French daily with her friends and fellow French teachers. She made the decision to attend the French ward specifically after worrying about her language skills dropping during a summer when everyone was gone, carving out dedicated time for weekly review. 
  

Rosie embraces making mistakes! In high school, she felt like a failure if she didn't achieve 100%. Now she teaches students that they must "just make them" even modeling mistakes in her classes. For Rosie, good pedagogy involves getting learners over the "hump" of needing to be perfect. She would prefer students talk and say things incorrectly than have perfect grammar but only produce one sentence—the goal is extended discourse.

Rosie recommends taking an OPI workshop with the Center for Language Studies. By learning the structure of the language exam, she felt very prepared to take it. The interviewer will move the conversation from asking about your day, to more abstract questions, hypotheticals, etc all with the intent of pushing you and "trying to find your ceiling".

She suggests “dropping in topics” during the conversation that you feel confident speaking about that the interviewer can then expound on with you at a higher level. For example, Rosie mentioned a current event (Charlie Kirk shooting) which triggered a discussion about gun laws, education, and mental health—subjects she was already prepared to discuss at a sophisticated level.