Jackie Forster, recipient of the Distinguished Teacher Award, 1989

French

Since joining the University of Waterloo in 1976, Jackie Forster has been a part-time language instructor for intermediate courses in French language. Both past and present students have described Ms. Forster as an effective teacher whose enthusiasm for the subject is both infectious, and whose personal rapport with students is obvious. One of her students, remarking on her ability to teach with both authority and passion, said: “Going to Jackie’s class was not nearly as painful as most early morning classes.” A real test of an instructor’s ability to affect a student is to teach a course by correspondence where a student, typically off-campus, is taught through a series of cassette tapes. Ms. Forster has been able to effectively break through the potentially impersonal qualities inherent in a cassette taped lecture and provide quality instruction in an innovative and enthusiastic manner. Her commitment to both her students and her subject matter has been demonstrated in Ms. Forster’s response to this award. She has chosen to use the cash component to endow an ongoing prize for students of intermediate French language.