Émile Bials De Sauzé (

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

, December 7, 1878 – July 10, 1964) was a French born naturalized-American language educator who developed the Cleveland Plan for teaching foreign languages. He is credited with originating the conversational method where students hear a teacher speak a word, then write it, then speak it. This method replaced the older method of simply memorizing words and grammar. Born in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, he graduated from the

University of Poitiers The University of Poitiers (UP; , ) is a public university located in Poitiers, France. It is a member of the Coimbra Group. It is multidisciplinary and contributes to making Poitiers the city with the highest student/inhabitant ratio in France ...

in 1900. He married Melanie Phillips of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

in 1903 and came to the U.S. in 1905. They had one daughter, Marcelle. He received his doctorate degree from Saint Joseph College in 1907. His career included heading the modern language department at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

and the French Department at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

prior to 1918. While teaching at both schools he became affiliated with the

Sigma Pi Sigma Pi () is a collegiate fraternity in North America. As of 2021, it had more than 5,000 undergraduate members and over 118,000 alumni. The fraternity is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded on February 26, 1897, at Vincennes Uni ...

chapters at each and was initiated into the organization. He then became director of foreign languages for the Cleveland Public Schools in

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

from 1918 to 1949. Upon arriving in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

he founded the ''Maison Française de Cleveland''. Members of the group met once a month where guest lecturers would speak on French literature and culture. De Sauzé took the time to train the district's teachers in his method which contributed to its success. He insisted that they participate in the activities of the Maison Française. He worked with Western Reserve University to set up a laboratory school for children in first grade through high school where language courses were taught in the target languages. Teaching students were required to spend time observing in the school to learn the methods being taught there. In 1922, he began one of the few foreign language programs in

elementary schools A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

in the United States. While in

he also taught at

Western Reserve University Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US * Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia * Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that ...

. After retirement he taught summer sessions at

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxe ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

until 1959. De Sauzé wrote fifteen French text books, one of which became the official text book of the United Nations for teaching French. The Emile B. De Sauzé Elementary School in Cleveland was named for him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Sauze, Emile B. 1878 births 1964 deaths Writers from Tours, France University of Poitiers alumni Saint Joseph's University alumni Temple University faculty University of Pennsylvania faculty Case Western Reserve University faculty Academic staff of Université Laval French emigrants to the United States Sigma Pi members