I want to start my blog by sharing an experience that rings true to the effectiveness of new-story education, an experience that showed me first-hand the merit of active, experiential learning. As a student of French education ensuring language competency is paramount, especially being an Anglophone French education student. I wanted to exhaust another avenue to improve my communication skills and fluency, so when my University offered a Summer exchange I immediately signed-up. I stayed in Trois- Pistoles, Quebec for a month living with a host-family. My days followed a schedule in which I would attend a language class (which taught and reinforced fundamentals of the language), followed by an atelier where you chose an extracurricular activity to complete (I chose the reading and writing of French literature and French film), then every night there was a cultural activity to take part in (my favourite was the concert of Patrice Michaud, a known Quebecois musician). My experience in Quebec affected the ways I understood and appreciated the language in ways I could've never imagined, which is why I have solidified myself as an advocate for interactive education.
I believe that one of the many reasons my French was able to improve so much in such a short amount of time was the two-pronged immersion under which I lived. Not only was I immersed in the language when having to communicate with citizens of the town (most of which spoke no word of English) but I was also immersed in the language when living at home, having to communicate with my colocs (roommates) and famille d'accueil (host family) in French as well. When communicating with native speakers I received corrections that facilitated the improvement of my vocabulary and my comprehensiveness, simply living under conditions such as these refined my French and helped me ameliorate common Anglophonic mistakes that I often made. I believe that this method of language apprehension is much more affective than the passive, old-story method of learning French grammar and composition. Yes, it is necessary to learn subject-verb agreement, know how to conjugate verbs and know which modifiers go where, but composition and communication isn't something that can simply be memorized. You have to experience communicating in real-time with native speakers to prove testament to your semantics and be able to communicate within the perimeters of a conversation, forcing yourself to be reactive. Being able to write a sentence semantically and grammatically correct within the classroom is entirely different than being able to ask for directions to a native speaker or correct yourself and circumvent in order to explain something to someone who doesn't understand the context under which you speak. It is for this reason that I do not believe that a langauge is simply learned, but experienced and lived within--something that passive education simply does not facilitate, but interactive education does. William Temple said that "the most influential of all educational factors is the conversation in a child's home." After having lived in an immersive Francophone environment, I prove testament to Temple's observation. You learn the most under those and from those you most closely interact with. Having lived with a Francophone family taught me the most of all--vocabulary I never learnt in school, expressing cultural sensitivity and understanding and being able to communicate with the purpose of being understood. That is to say, living under, and experencing, a Francophonic enviornment is the most conducive way to learn French if the most learning occurs within the context under which you live.
Not only was I immersed in a language, but I was immersed in a culture. It is one thing to listen to a lecture about a culture's history and identity, look at photos in a textbook; it is another thing entirely to live in, and experience, the culture first hand--to have a hand of being part of a culture's history. I believe that it is through cultural interaction that a culture's identity is best understood and appreciated. When on exchange I was told Quebecois legends from natives of the area, ate meals that Quebecois families have been cooking for generations (my favourite of which was Vol-au-vent, a puff pastry filled with chicken that has been stewed with gravy and legumes), listened to traditional Quebecois music and learnt traditional Quebecois dance. These are experiences that not only enriched my understanding of French culture but are experiences that I can bring into the classroom. Instead of having students merely read a chapter on Quebecois culture, I can bring in the cooked meals that I ate, play the music I listened to, in order to evoke a first-hand cultural interaction within the classroom. Better yet, I can bring students to Quebec for a direct first-hand experience of the culture.
Throughout this post I have stressed the importance of active, first-hand experiential learning, as my exchange improved my understanding of French language and culture in the span of one month when I have been studying French and trying to improve my compentancy for years. I believe that it is through interactive education that students will be better able to learn and understand language. They not only learn to comprehend the language through their repeated exposure, but they force themselves to learn the nuances of the language and discover vocabulary that is learned solely from speaking to a native speaker. Not to mention, as a result of interactive education, students can become more motivated to learn and observe the applicability of speaking another language, both of which encourage and foster engaged students and continuance, I believe, of secondary language education. It is for these reasons why I am an advocate for mandatory immersive programs within secondary language education, even if it is taking students to Quebec for a week. Living in Quebec for a month reminded me why I have devoted my educational career to the French language and improved my communication and comprehension skills in ways that the classroom, with its passive approach to education, has been unable to do. Even though a month-long immersion may not fit into the curriculum, even a small amount of time can make a large educational difference.
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