身為史學家，為台灣學生設計一堂能激發學習動力、為台灣社會帶來思辨力的課程是項挑戰。在台至今八年，這門為大學部四年級所開設的學年課「法國歷史導論」歷經不同轉型，為能將過去以法國人為教學對象的課程變得更貼近台灣學生需求，這些轉型與期望目標是什麼呢 ? 首先，在課程設計上，對台灣學生來說，關鍵是能夠掌握重大歷史事件，對此有基本認識進而了解當代法國社會。因此，目前採用方法為每週主題式單元進行，緊扣於法國人最深切相關之議題，而非傳統編年式教學，如：古希臘羅馬時期、基督宗教與法國大革命等。課程致力帶領學生脫離法國浪漫的刻板印象，理解法國實際全貌，每個主題都能針對現今法國社會提供思辨空間，例如：以歷史角度而非政治面向分析法國「世俗化政策」，並藉由時事「查理週刊」槍擊事件討論法國面對所穆斯林遇到的問題。最後，透過「法國歷史」對跨文化敏感議題提出討論，藉以理解當代法國社會，如：運用史學家批判精神客觀分析，對「殖民」議題做出探討，不做論斷或誇大解釋；同樣地，以德法兩國和解進而建立歐盟為例，歐洲歷史也可為解讀目前中日關係等亞洲爭議性問題的他山之石。「歷史」能鑑古、知今，並為即將社會中堅份子的年輕公民帶來展望未來的能力。

In a department of French language, teaching French history seems to be obvious. Yet, departments of French language in Asia only recently turned to the teaching of history, favouring literature. History would be too much politically engaged or controversial as a subject, i. e. a daring, risky attitude, whoever is the teacher.

As I graduated from a doctorate in history in a French university, most of the professors kept telling us that we had great chances to end up in teaching. The most surprising is that we had no pedagogy course, therefore none of us was prepared well enough for teaching French history, not to say teaching it to foreign students. Here appears the challenge of creating an entertaining method of teaching, that would be helpful to Taiwanese students and profitable to debates on social affairs in Taiwan, without lapsing into French patriotic opinions, and taking in account that the audience is not made up of French native speakers. Since eight years ago, this annual course of French history open to fourth-year degree students suffered fundamental changes, so as to evolve from French history course given to French students, into a French history course given to Taiwanese students. Which are the changes and aims of this course? First of all, as the knowledge of many events is pointless for Taiwanese students, every single century is being analyzed not in the same way as in French schools, but in order to make them aware of the major historical events which influenced present French society. Thus, the course frame abides by a weekly-topic structure, whose topics give the students the opportunity of better apprehending French culture and identity.

Then, history means investigating past events in order to comprehend present situations and foresee future phenomena. This course seeks to help Taiwanese students abandon clichés, to give them some clues about France as a whole and its realities, its splendour and its dark side. Every historical event studied in this course is an opportunity to exchange views on French society. We will examine French secularism, not in the light of politics, but in the light of history, which can then lead to a discussion about the issue of Islam in France and about the attack on Charlie Hebdo, accused of blaspheming Prophet Muhammad.

Finally, defining French society by studying its history also opens up the way to an intercultural debate on somehow touchy issues, such as colonization: how can this topic be introduced? In that kind of cases, the discerning analysis of an historian may be the right attitude to avoid an emotional approach of the facts. Moreover, studying European history might be the first step toward solely Asian issues. Through the analysis of past roots, history has the power to discuss future and give hope to young citizens who are about to become the new elite of society.