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MICHEL DEGRAFF: So
I start the class.

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On the very first day,
while they are still

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fresh and unsuspecting
of the class contents,

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of my own ideology, I
give them a survey where

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I ask very simple questions.

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You know, their
major, their year.

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But I also ask them
personal questions.

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Where were they born?

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Where did they travel?

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And during what years?

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They were in which parts of
the country or the world?

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And I asked them about some
of the course contents.

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You know, what do they know
about Creole languages?

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How they define identity.

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What does identity mean?

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What kind of images
does the word Caribbean

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trigger in their minds?

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So, very easy
questions to answer.

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But through these questions,
I'm able to see and to get

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a sense of both the
personal background,

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but also what kind
of assumptions

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they bring to the course.

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And then I can use that to
kind of have a beginning where

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I can address these fundamental
assumptions that they do bring

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in the course, and also
to connect the discussion

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to the personal profiles.

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And then as we progress,
I can, from time to time,

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check to see how some of the
ideas might have mutated,

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might have evolved
through our discussions.

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So it's a nice
benchmark to start with.