French to knight US professor

An American professor will be knighted by the French government later this year for using social media to connect her students with their peers studying English in France. The French consul will knight Lara Anderson, of the University of South Carolina, as a member of the academic order that was founded in the early 1800s by Napoleon and honours contributions to French language and culture. Since 2005, Anderson has paired students taking a year-long French course she teaches with students at L'Ecole Des Ponts Paris Tech, a civil engineering university. Using French and English, they Skype once a week, chat by e-mail, communicate through Twitter and conduct Facebook group discussions. "They're on the sites all the time," Anderson said. "Why not throw the French in there? It's fun for them. They don't even realise half the time that they're speaking in French and not in English." "We call them ‘key pals,'" said Lesley Smith, a 21-year-old senior who found that French was indeed the language of love. She has been dating her former French language partner for two years. From / Gulf News