GOSHEN — The Lifelong Learning Institute of Elkhart County will host “A Virtual Visit to France,” as part of its 2025 Fall Series.
Presenter Joann Yoder, a former area high school French teacher, will take participants on an adventure through France by film.
The movies often center on the development of character, differently from American films. In four stories, participants will see gorgeous landscapes and meet unforgettable characters who overcome hardship and difficulty, but retain lives of love, friendship and kindness. Besides the people in these films, the landscapes, the beauty of Paris, and the delights of French cuisine are the other important actors in these movies.
In this class, students will enjoy a trip to 1920s Provence, the sunny south of France, in a two-part story of loss and love. Then, experience a slow drive around Paris as Madeleine recounts her life to a taxi driver on her way to a final destination, a nursing home. Complete the visit to France by savoring its cuisine in the context of a love story between a cook and the gourmet who employs her.
Presenter Joann Yoder spent her formative years in Boardman, Ohio, near Youngstown, from 1946 to 1959. Her academic journey began with a Bachelor of Arts in French from Goshen College in 1963, followed by a Master of Arts in Teaching in English from Northwestern University in 1964. During this time, she also taught English at Lane Technical High School in Chicago, a large public school serving 6,000 boys.
In pursuit of further linguistic and cultural immersion, Yoder studied French in Belgium from 1964 to 1965 at the École d’Administration. This experience prepared her for a teaching assignment in the Democratic Republic of Congo through the Mennonite Central Committee’s Teachers’ Abroad Program (TAP). From 1965 to 1967, she taught French and English in a junior high school, a teachers’ training school, and a nursing school in the Congo.
Yoder’s commitment to education continued with coursework in French and teaching methods at Memorial University of Newfoundland from 1972 to 1974. Between 1974 and 1979, she taught French at Towncrest Junior High School in the Goshen Community Schools. Further graduate studies in French were pursued at the University of Texas during 1984–1985.
From 1986 to 2024, she served as a French teacher at West Noble High School, with two of those years also taught at Goshen High School. Yoder’s dedication to global education was evident in her leadership roles during Goshen College’s Study-Service Terms in Guadeloupe in 1989 and the Ivory Coast in 1996.
Outside of her professional life, Yoder enjoys a variety of hobbies including knitting, reading, hiking, cooking, genealogy and studying wildflowers.
The classes will be 1-4 p.m. Oct. 30, Nov. 6, 13 and 20 at Greencroft Community Center, Jennings Auditorium, 1820 Greencroft Blvd., Goshen.
Register at www.life-learn.org or by calling 574-535-7566. This class is available in-person only. The cost is $20 for LLI members and $40 for non-members, and free for Medicaid & HUD with $10 annual membership.