Deborah Blaz has taught French and English to grades 7 through 12 for the past 28 years in Indiana. A native of of St. Charles, Illinois, she received her B.A. in French and German from Illinois State University, a diplôme from the Université de Grenoble in Grenoble, France, and, in 1974, an M.A. in French from the University of Kentucky. She also serves as foreign language department chair at her school, as state list manager for the Indiana chapter of the American Association of Teachers of French (IAATF), and does professional translation work.

Ms. Blaz is the author of six books for Eye On Education. She has frequently presented on successful teaching strategies at state, regional, and national conferences, universities, and high schools. A recipient of the Project E Excellence in Education award in 2000, she was also named Indiana’s French Teacher of the Year by the (IAATF) in 1996 and was named to the All-USA Teacher Team, Honorable Mention, by USA Today in 1996.

She is also weekend manager of a JoAnn’s store and grandmother of two, and teaches knitting classes.

Affiliation

Metropolitan School District of Steuben County, Indiana

Q&A

Eye On Education: You have taught both English and foreign languages during your long career in education. What are the differences in teaching these two subjects? Has your experience in one subject affected your instruction in the other?
Deborah Blaz: Both subjects use reading and writing, but at very different mastery and comfort levels. Foreign language students are basically dealing with kindergarten-level topics, and they feel more helpless in choosing strategies to learn them. Both subjects read great literary classics, learn new vocabulary and practice grammatical structures. Even better, both easily lend themselves to interdisciplinary units with food, music, art, sports and many other areas... Continue reading on the Eye On Education blog!