On a picture-perfect spring afternoon, Germain Choffart’s French 101 students took a field trip to Duke Campus Farm, where they were greeted and guided — en français — by Saskia Cornes, Duke Campus Farm director and assistant professor at the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute. Cornes, who now teaches in the environmental humanities at Duke, studied French as an undergraduate.
Cornes shared the farm’s academic mission and environmental initiatives. For example, did you know that some of the food waste from the Brodhead Center ends up enriching the soil at the farm after being composted locally?
She also discussed ongoing efforts to restore soil health after centuries of intensive farming. The lively conversation soon sprouted into deeper reflections on the Durham communities shaped, and often harmed, by the legacies of agriculture — both then and now.
Before setting foot on the farm, students prepped by crafting two questions to ask Cornes (en français, naturellement), and reading a modified version of the Duke Campus Farm annual report, with several sections translated to French by Choffart. After the tour, it was time for Des plantes mystères, a sensory challenge where students received clues about two plants currently growing on the farm and used their five senses to figure out what they were. To wrap it all up, each student shared a personal memory inspired by or associated with one of the plants.
The visit was part of Choffart’s broader effort to weave themes of climate and sustainability into his French curriculum.
Additional photos by Germain Choffart
