Research grant sending Lynn Classical teacher to France

LYNN – Lynn Classical High School Foreign Language Department Head Youness Elbousty will spend three weeks researching language acquisition and teaching methods in Paris this summer thanks to a prestigious federal grant.Elbousty, who is in his second year as department head at the high school, says his primary goal for the trip is to research teaching methods and bring what he has learned back to the city to share in professional development with all of Lynn’s foreign language teachers.He is one of three educators in the country to be selected for the grant by the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., based in part on his resume and past accomplishments and also on scholarly writings that he submitted in both French and English.Elbousty will spend three weeks in Paris studying in graduate level classes at prestigious local universities, such as the University of Paris, and conducting research at a variety of locations in and around the city.”I am really looking forward to doing this. I want to do research and come back and do professional development in foreign language for the city of Lynn,” he said Wednesday. “I want to share my research and effective methods with all of my colleagues here.”A native of Morocco, Elbousty’s mother is French and he is extremely involved in French culture and teaching of the language at the school. Since taking over as department head, he has formulated partnerships with the embassy both in Washington and in Boston, providing opportunities for French officials to visit the school and for students to attend Francophone events in Boston.Later this month, 40 students from the high school will join Elbousty in attending a celebration of French Week at the French Library in Boston.Elbousty says his primary goal is to help students at Classical have an easier time learning a second language and understanding foreign culture and also to help teachers across the district create a more fluid teaching process.”I always find collaboration between teachers helps increase the success of students,” he said. “I am very excited to bring back stuff to share. Anything that will help advance my professional career and advance the knowledge of teachers and help the kids gain success – I always jump at that.”The trip will cap a busy summer for Elbousty, who is actually chaperoning 12 students on a school trip to France just one week before his professional development begins.He will fly to Paris June 20 and remain in the city with students until July 1, when he will return to Boston.Given a few days to recover from jet lag, Elbousty will turn around and head back to Paris with other grant winners on July 7 to begin the three week research trip.”I am always busy with something,” he said. “But I am excited about doing this research, I am looking to bring a lot of stuff back and hope we can implement that.”