Robert Ponterio
Professor of French, emeritus
Modern Languages Department
SUNY Cortland
Cortland, New York 13045
Current and Past Projects:
- FLTEACH: Communication Technologies for Professional Development and Foreign Language Instruction. Project includes the development of the worldwide LISTSERV discussion list "Foreign Language Teaching Forum". Twice funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Project directors and FLTEACH co-moderators Jean W. LeLoup & Robert Ponterio.
- Integrating Technology in the Second Language Classroom: Course materials for online modules for learning how to create materials.
- FLTEACH - FL Instructional Materials Database Online (Robert Ponterio & Jean LeLoup). A collection of lessons for the FL classroom following specific pedagogical models.
- Elementary French fill-in the blank activities (Robert & Marie Ponterio) interactive with specific feedback for wrong answers.
- Language Across the Curriculum Multimedia Development project to develop WWW modules for delivering authentic materials and training teachers to use electronic tools. Funded by the SUNY Office of Advanced Learning and Information Services (ALIS). Project director for Cortland Robert Ponterio. Individual projects:
- French civilization - Marie Ponterio (interactive with audio & video, designed to work on desktop, tablet and smartphone.
- Communications technology for FL Methods - Jean W. LeLoup.
- Statistics in Spanish (F. Valdes & R. Ponterio) Intro to statistics with vocabulary support for Spanish, English, French & Portuguese. Languages Across the Curriculum. Online materials: Funded by FIPSE. Project director Stephen Straight, Binghamton. Team leader for Cortland Robert Ponterio.
- Various writing projects, a sample of articles may be viewed online.
- Second Language Educators Conference keynnote address (SUNY Cortland Sept. 2012)
- Two upper level French projects: Culture & Language. (SUNY Cortland, Sept. 2018)
- Presentation Musical satire in French Civilization: From Louis XIV to the Revolution to Covid-19: From Louis XIV to the Revolution to Covid-19. (SUNY Cortland, Sept. 2022)
- Drawings for Art Classes
Sample Courses:
- French cinema - From its origins with the Frères Lumière to the present day.
- Romantisme et Réalisme - Connections & disconnections between Romanticism & Realism in 19th century France. Includes Les Misérables.
- Technology in the Foreign Language Classroom - Communicating in a global online environment using all the technical and language tools at our disposal. Addresses electronic projects for the foreign language classroom.
- French for Modern Communication (FRE 329).
- Survey of French Literature I: Middle Ages to 17th century.
- Survey of French Literature II: 18th century to the present.
- Le Couple et le rôle de la femme dans la littéraure - An examination of relationships found throughout French literature.
- Le Réalisme - An exploration of the representation of reality, not only in 19th century texts but though the literature and cultural outlooks leading up through the centuries to the period of "realism" culminating in "hyper reality".
- Romanticism, Realism, Symbolism - An exploration of the literary movements of 19th century France in their political and cultural contexts.
- The French Short Story - Aspects of short fiction through the ages.
- Elementary French I - French 101.
- Elementary French II - French 102.
- French Civilization - contemporary, undergraduate.
- Le Français Commercial.
- French Phonetics.
- La Révolution - An examination of the French Revolution through the study of literature and authentic materials from the periods before during and after the events.
- Teaching French Civilization - Graduate course exploring French civilization and methods of teaching about it.
- Teaching French Literature - Graduate course exploring French literature and methods of teaching about it.
- La Littérature du 18e Siècle - Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Beaumarchais, Prévost, Montesquieu, Laclos, Sade.
Travel
Travel is great. We love to get away and do all the things we
normally don't have time to do back at school, like trying out new instruments
and vacationing on the islands off the coast of France. We have traveled
extensively in most regions of France where we have many friends and relatives.
Many of our friends work near the sea, sailing, fishing, building boats, raising
oysters, or just spending lots of time by the shore. Hunting for shellfish
in the oyster beds is a prelude to a fine dinner. Getting a seagull tangled in your line isn't.
My wife, Marie, is French and my children, Tom, and Emilie are both bilingual. We met in 1973 during a summer exchange.
In the US we have lived in New York, Illinois, and Vermont.
Our son David died suddenly in 1999. Our daughter, Emilie, is from Vietnam, where we went to get her in 2001. Emilie graduated from SUNY Geneseo and is now living and working in New York.
We were married at the mairie de La Rochelle and in a little village
where my wife's grandparents lived.
But we have also resided in Metz (where I taught English at the university) and in Aix-en-Provence (where I was a student).
I've worked in a number of different jobs in France and in the US,
teaching math, physics and chemistry in French, teaching English in at the Univ. de Metz and Business English at the IUT in La Rochelle, selling trinkets to tourists,
and even flipping crêpes in a crêperie where we made 180 different kinds.
Though we spend a great deal of time in France, we also love to visit
Quebec. Fresh maple candy poured out over the snow in a cabane à
sucre is a personal favorite.
Since retiring, my latest language project is German. I completed most of a physics major, and I am currently studying piano and drawing/painting.
Our residence in France is in La Rochelle, on the west coast where we have a second home. We both taught at the university there in 2005.
