ALTERNATIVE AMERICA IN COUNTERPOINT : A PEDAGOGICAL INSIGHT INTO AFRICAN, FRENCH AND IRISH-AMERICAN EXPERIENCES AND EXPRESSIONS 1619-1919 PHILIPPE J. DENIS

Américanité/Americanness, as an absolute, eludes mapping, but it still exudes fascination and fantasy. This enquiry, built as a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) course, narrows the impossible scope by singling out three differently born diasporas, in an attempt to foster and hone cultural, literary and international literacy in Higher Education students or independent readers. Counterpoints: Cultural Immersion weaves together their traumas, trials and dilemmas in a made-up poetic and musical play. Viewpoints: Linguistic Production involves in-class trainees or autonomous learners in thought-provoking activities designed to scaffold literacy and sharpen proficiency. Focal-Points: Essays on Distinctiveness expounds the three groups’ unique legacy within Early America (1619-1919). How marginalized groups reinvent themselves not only speaks volumes about their vitality, it also lays bare their adoptive country’s workings, which they in turn re-shape.