Two cadets receive French government grants to teach abroad

John Taylor Marcus

Cadets John Taylor Marcus and Julius Grady Siler, both seniors from Greenville, have claimed two of 50 English teaching assistantships awarded to U.S. citizens by the French Ministry of Education for the 2009-2010 academic year.

"These are The Citadel's first French government English teaching assistantships," said Office of Fellowships Director Al Gurganus said. "To score a double in our first outing is special indeed." 

Marcus, a Palmetto Fellow with majors in French and English, will teach in the Montpellier school district where he studied last spring at Université Paul Valéry. In his application Marcus proposed to use Anglo-American and French perceptions of national identity in his English lessons. He intends to complement lectures with films about the U.S. South, from “Gone with the Wind” to “Moving Midway.” To accept the position in France, Marcus will defer for a year a graduate scholarship from the French department at the University of Colorado.

"Teaching English in a French school is a major step toward my doctorate and an academic career,” Marcus said.

Julius Grady Siler.

Siler, a Palmetto Life Scholar, will graduate with majors in politics and French. He served this year as president of the Citadel chapter of Pi Delta Phi, the national collegiate honor society for students of French. During the 2008 spring semester he was enrolled at Stendhal Université de Grenoble. Siler is assigned to teach English in the Grenoble district. He will defer admission to law school at the University of South Carolina. 

"The opportunity to work in France next year," said Siler, "will better prepare me to study international law."

Mark Del Mastro, head of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures, credits his faculty for molding the French majors' success.

“Working closely with the fellowships office, Professors Cathy Jellenik, Guy Toubiana and Bob Emory guided Cadets Marcus and Siler through the application process,” he said. “They embody the commitment to developing principled leaders and to international education at The Citadel."