French Instructor 'Madame Mootoo,' makes her mark in the Classroom.

Oct. 24, 2022

Lovingly referred to as Madame Mootoo, Aileen-Mootoo Robertson has been a French professor at Southeastern Louisiana University for 28 and a half years.

 She teaches a variety of French classes and has also been a faculty advisor of the French club for the past 12 to 15 years. She enjoys being a part of the club because the club compliments what is discussed in the classroom, and they are allowed to have more fun with the language in a more relaxed way. 

“I wanted to do something with French because I did not want to forget it, so I ended up teaching,” says Mootoo.

Although she advises the club, they have officers such as a vice president, treasurer, secretary and president who run it. Their president is Natalie Krebs, who is one of Madame Mootoo’s past students. It is her fifth semester in the French club so it is her third year. 

“I  joined because I was minoring in French and my friends from French class were in it. I have taken four French classes, and three of them were taught by Madame Mootoo. I became the president because our other officers were graduating and I enjoy being involved since I’m no longer studying French because I have my minor. It is a fun way for me to stay connected to French. I enjoy being president and getting to know so many more people through it who are interested in or studying French,” says Krebs. 

 Regarding the purpose of the club, Aileen thinks it is important to know a foreign language, it opens us up to another culture. It broadens our horizons and gives us another perspective to see another way of life. She also thinks it is very cool to teach French in Louisiana because of the French influence. 

With teaching French, there are some differences to be noted between the French lifestyle and the American lifestyle. 

“What stands out the most to me is eating. Americans have dinner between six pm and seven pm and maybe eat for 30 minutes. The French have dinner around eight and they spend a little more time at the table, it could be an hour or longer. When you go out to eat, you are there longer to enjoy your time, there really is no wait like there is here in America. Here, you have a wait, eat and leave to let more people in. You do not see that in France, but of course if a restaurant is full you just find a new one,” says Mootoo.

Madame Mootoo claims that in terms of lifestyle, in America you find people walking more whereas in France they walk and rely on public transportation. They also get about five weeks of paid vacation time. The education is a little different, for high school, the students have to take the Bac test. They pass the test and they go to college for free. There is a fee you have to pay, but it is not nearly as much as what it is in America. Other students go to graduate school or ‘L’ École supérieure,’ to get their master's or doctorate. The grading scale is more lenient than our grading scale because in America 50% is a fail, whereas in France their scale is out of 20, so a 10% out of 20% is passing. The system works a little differently, the American system is K-12, but in France, it is split up differently. However, you do end up spending the same amount of time.

I love teaching, I love teaching the language, and I love to have fun with it and my students,” says Mootoo.

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