Introducing Towela Okwudire, Lower and Middle School French

Towela’s educational journey has taken her to the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, University of Toledo, and the University of Alberta, culminating in several degrees including an MA in French Literature and an M.Ed. with a focus on early and middle years education.

No matter the learner, Towela is an incredible teacher, in large part due to her awareness and celebration of each individual learner. She shares “part of this self-discovery is through exploring the vastness of the francophone world and entering into dialogue and real interaction with more marginalized francophone people in literature and in the real world.

I’ve been so impressed that Towela has not viewed this moment as simply picking up where she left off, but truly embracing the chance to participate in our onboarding and growth activities for new faculty. In Towela, we truly are getting the best of both worlds as we welcome a new someone we have held dear for so long.

Towela's answers to our questions:

I’m back at Roeper and excited to be teaching Lower and Middle School French! I will be able to rejoin my World Language colleagues in the MS, but also to make new friends this time around on the other campus.

Not to be corny, but probably raising my teenage boys in the 2000s. That was interesting, to say the least! Other than that, another highlight would be having connected French language learners around the world through the school and community I started in 2019, named French Lit, which aims to invite adult learners to the francophone world through courses, meetups, camps and travel.

Definitely Zambia! It is my motherland and I would love to spend a year and reconnect with my parents’ villages there.

I hold three passports! I was born in Lusaka, Zambia and am the proud daughter of immigrants who came to the US and Canada in the 80s to continue graduate school and raise their kids. I’m married to an incredible Nigerian-Canadian man who has been a very hardworking tenured Mechanical Engineering professor at UM Ann Arbor since 2011. Together with our teenagers who attend boarding school in Ontario, and my relatives in Washington state, British Columbia and across Africa, my family really is ‘my people’ and I’m so proud of them all.

In my spare time, I love giving my time to participating in French Language associations, awareness groups and outreaches in the community and promoting the learning and usage of French in Michigan and in the US. I also attend French book clubs and love discussing all things francophone art, history and culture.

French phonetics is my favourite thing to teach and share with language learners of all ages. They are always so surprised by how much they can grow in the language by breaking down all the sounds one by one and paying attention to the lips to generate new and different sounds.

Being back at Roeper feels like being back at home! There is truly no other school like it in the world. I am confident that I’ll be able to continue to challenge myself and my learners in this environment.