Tag Archives: by Julia Camilli

Laura Yanasak: Francophile Turned Teacher

Profile

Laura Yanasak never thought she’d end up standing in front of a classroom full of students. When she graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in French, she told herself, “I’m going to get a cool, cool job. I don’t know where or what but it’s not going to be teaching.” Now, as she enters her thirteenth year at the Milwaukee French Immersion School, she looks back at her initial resistance with a smile. Today, her students know her as Madame Yanasak. She has a superpower the average human might dread: teaching a class full of eager kindergarteners. Think that’s not hard enough? Try it in a different language. Her job is to introduce French to her students by immersing them in francophone language and culture.

Growing up as she did in Wauwatosa, a suburb twenty minutes outside Milwaukee, there wasn’t much exposure to francophone culture. It was a chance gift from her mother, a set of French flash cards, that first got her interested in learning the language. Middle school, when she first started taking French classes, presented an opportunity for Mrs. Yanasak to see “what else is out there.” She stuck with the language for long past her initial sixth grade French class. French sparked her curiosity to learn more about the world, a passion which only grew stronger during Mrs. Yanasak’s first trip to France at 16. Visiting Paris and the Loire Valley with her mother opened her mind to how big the world is; “there’s so much more out there,” she says, “than little Wauwatosa.”  

After college, Mrs. Yanasak originally planned to pursue a Master’s in French film from the University of Iowa. She eventually decided against it and set French aside to work at the Journal Sentinel in Milwaukee. After cuts to the newspaper caused by the ‘08 recession, she found herself back in school; this time as a teacher. A woman at a Friends Meeting gave Mrs. Yanasak word that a French immersion school in the area was hiring, and she spent a day volunteering at the Milwaukee French Immersion School. MFIS’ identity as a public school, and one of the few public immersion schools in the area at that, attracts students from all backgrounds. It took a leap of faith to imagine herself working there as a kindergarten teacher. She says the serendipitous timing of an open teaching position made the decision easier–that, and the instant hugs she got from the kids. With only a week and a half of turnaround time in between jobs, she dusted off her French-speaking skills and jumped right in.  

The first four or five years, according to Mrs. Yanasak, were rough: “you basically have to jump in and just start doing and you’re going to make an insane amount of mistakes.” She pulled 12-13 hour days, learning on the go. On particularly rough days, Mrs. Yanasak has to put on her “English necklace,” which her students respond to with wide eyes and gaping mouths.  All classroom communication is supposed to be in French, Mrs. Yanasak says, but when the necklace comes out, the kids know they’re in trouble. Moments like this, which can only be learned on the job, make her laugh. With more and more time in the classroom –she eventually bumped up to second grade and then down to kindergarten again– she decided to pursue her Master’s in Education at the same time as teaching.

Part of her pedagogy’s purpose is to inspire the sense of wonder learning a language brings, one that Mrs. Yanasak felt as a child with her French flashcards. Getting students excited about French means giving them access to the diverse range of francophone cultures across the world. Mrs. Yanasak’s students are young, and she often has to deal with kids biting one another and lots of temper tantrums, but she’s convinced this is the perfect time to jump in and learn about a language and culture other than your own. “I think language learning is one of the coolest things there is because little kids are just sponges,” she says. “They just take it in… It’s still so cool to watch their brains just grow in that way.” Learning a new language can be challenging, however, and Mrs. Yanasak has learned to meet students on their own ground. They are at different developmental stages, with some kids reading at a third-grade level while others cannot identify letters, all of which she must accommodate, in French. She teaches at an immersion school because there, students come together over a shared passion for language learning. 

Mrs. Yanasak took a round-about path to where she is now, but she takes pride in confronting the challenges teaching presents and in the work she does. “Teaching is one of the hardest jobs there is,” she says, “but it’s also one of the most rewarding.” The personal connections come as part of the job, from teaching multiple children from the same family to relying on her peers for support, are why she plans on sticking with this job until the end of her career.  And she should; Madame Yanasak plays an influential role in her students’ lives. The immersion aspect of her classroom, in particular, teaches students the importance of cultural and educational exchange. In the future, Laura tells me, we’re going to have to persuade Americans who don’t believe they need to learn a second language, that in fact it’s essential, if we ever hope to reduce xenophobia and a number of other ills that face our country. “Maybe one day,” she says hopefully, “we’ll have a language policy like every other country in the world.”

Quarantine 15

Op-Ed

Hand sanitizer, N95 masks, and ventilators. News coverage and social media-driven discussions about coronavirus focus on what we are lacking in the fight against COVID-19. In popular discourse, memes and Instagram stories have added another item to the list: self-control. Our apparent inability to socially distance ourselves from our refrigerators is causing Americans to sound the alarm against “Quarantine 15,” the idea that the average person will gain weight from stress-eating, boredom, and gym closures induced by the coronavirus. Why is it that in the midst of a global pandemic, we remain obsessed with how we look and what we weigh, especially when our appearance matters less than ever? 

Mandatory shelter-in-place orders mean American society is more sedentary than ever before. For the majority of us, the most steps we get a day are from moving from bed to couch, couch to fridge, with an occasional walk of the dog outside. With gyms, parks, and hiking trails closed, there are few options left to move around and be active. Yet, gaining a little weight during quarantine has quickly become a cruel joke –both something to simultaneously laugh at and fear– with some saying the “Quarantine 15” is just as worrisome as coronavirus. The cultural messaging behind this idea, spread by memes and humorous Internet comments, is that bodies who deviate from the Barbie-sized norm are somehow shameful.

If you have the privilege of a full fridge and are able to stay at home, the Quarantine 15 folks tell us, coronavirus is a lesser evil than imminent weight gain. Given the global pandemic, this obsession with weight and appearance is unseemly, to say the least. Healthcare workers aren’t worrying about whether or not to eat another slice of homemade banana bread; they are struggling to find pauses in their day to get a sip of water or use the bathroom. Households dealing with food insecurity aren’t concerned whether their pre-pandemic jeans still fit but instead are fighting to put food on the table. Those who wrestle with disordered eating are having their worst fears turn into the butt of a joke, all while trying not to fall into unhealthy coping mechanisms caused by this disruptive change in routine. In depicting weight gain as the enemy, “Quarantine 15” minimizes the challenges faced by all of these individuals.

With change dominating our daily lives during this pandemic, watching what we eat may represent a way to exercise some control in our lives. But in a time of crisis, shaming and making fun of those who lack this “self-control” reveals the darkly destructive American obsession with body image. Diet culture and ideas of thinness are so deeply ingrained in our cultural mindset that even in the midst of self-isolation and social distancing, we are measuring our self-worth based on how we look. As we’ve seen, coronavirus doesn’t care about numbers on a scale; weighing 110, 235, or 312 pounds has no effect on whether you fall victim to the virus. How we look and the number on a scale should be the last thing on our minds with the hyper-contagious, potentially fatal virus knocking on our doors. Our culture’s fixation on weight gain and loss before monumental events, from the dreaded “Freshman 15” to pre-wedding diets, takes its most ridiculous form in “Quarantine 15”. This pandemic calls for some perspective on body image: life changes, so does our body weight. 

What fatphobic “Quarantine 15” memes miss is that in times of crisis and social isolation, food can be a great source of joy. Food is not the enemy; it can be the vehicle of love. Cooking, baking, and bartending represent important chances to connect with others. Through sharing recipes, figuring out what a bread-starter is, and bingeing on Bon Appétit videos, you experience a sense of fellowship related to eating. The simple enjoyment of food and sharing it with people you love should not be understated or obscured in the panic of “Quarantine 15”. You don’t need to keep six feet away from your fridge, pandemic or not.