First, the teacher provides a "Frequently Asked Questions" document that lays out the basics of the course and its format. Following the principles of academic coaching, she encourages students to formulate their own learning outcomes within the course. It encourages them to leave the role of simple consumer and become an actor in their academic career. To this end, students sign a learning agreement. Then, regularly during the course, she encourages them to develop their critical sense in terms of learning, but also in terms of personal development. In particular, she regularly encourages them to engage in meta-reflection. The goal is to truly focus on oneself, one's personal progress, to enrich one's own learning, all in an atmosphere of mutual trust and non-judgment.
The structure of each session is normally fixed, although it can be adapted to the needs of the students. This gives them a framework and a sense of stability that helps to build trust. Sometimes, some exercises are dropped if the majority of students consider them useless. Following the model of the flipped classroom, students come to class having completed readings, a translation, and a translation review based on a question grid. They are also invited to write down one or more points of their personal questioning. The course often begins with a short activity (quiz, reading, sight translation), conducted independently. This allows the first arrivals to immerse themselves in the subject without waiting. The students then work in groups (3-4) to think about translation problems based on the work done at home and the question grid developed by the teacher. They compare their solutions, enrich each other's thinking, criticize their proposals and develop new ones. In translation, as in the social sciences and humanities, there is never only one possible answer. The objective is to provide students with tools for reflection, to develop their critical sense, to feed their curiosity and thus to motivate them to deepen their reflections. The small groups are not fixed and are reconstituted weekly in a random manner or according to the specific needs of the session. A feedback session with the whole class allows the teacher to take up one or two key questions during which students are invited to speak at any time. As a general conclusion, the teacher often asks students for very short feedback (sometimes only one word) on the content of the course in the manner of the "One Minute Paper". This allows her to "take the pulse" of the class, to create cohesion within the class and to give students the opportunity to reflect on what they have learned. She regularly brings back anecdotes from her own professional practice to stimulate and engage the students.
The assessment form (a translation) is also innovative. It is done on a computer with access to research tools and the Internet more or less restricted depending on whether it is a seminar paper or the end of semester exam. This format reinforces the coherence and authenticity between the examination conditions and the real working conditions (e.g., aptitude tests to be carried out in the context of an assignment).
