MADAME MAINVILLE'S INCREDIBLE (IMPOSSIBLE) JOURNEY OF FOSTERING A READING CULTURE... IN FRENCH

(Source:  françaispourl'avenir.org 2014)

Let's make something very clear:  it is very unlikely that as a French Immersion teacher, I will foster an intrinsic joy of reading in French in my students.  My best hope is that I can get them reading and not complaining too much about it.  Let me explain...

(Source:  Journal Le Reflet Témiscamien)

I am a native French Canadian from northern Ontario.  I spoke only French until I was 5 and once I started watching Sesame Street, Polka Dot Door & Mr. Dressup, as well as playing with the kids on my street, I learned to speak English.  I attended a francophone school my whole life and even attended a French language university where I studied in both languages.  I am fluently bilingual.  In my teens, I started learning Spanish and continued to learn my third language in university and also did an intensive study abroad program in Mexico.  I have a very functional Spanish.  I also started learning German and Italian.  I am not so functional in these languages.  I read fluently and by choice in both French & English.  This is not the case for most French Immersion students.

Why is this?  I learned English as a necessity... I needed it to mingle with other kids and understand the majority of English TV shows.  Students in French immersion are not learning it out of necessity but for a myriad of other reasons like their parents feel it is important to learn French in Canada or that there are biological and economic advantages to learning a new language to name a few.  Only some of my students made a conscious decision to join our late FI program therefore some of these students can be somewhat motivated to engage in all aspects of language learning such as reading but even those learners are rare.

Nonetheless, as a Language Arts/Social Studies teacher, I still want and need my students to read in their new language as language can only flourish in language rich environments and language rich environments include books.  (McLaughlin, 1995)

(Courtesy of Pixabay)

So, how do I do this?   First, I try to design inquiry units based on engaging themes/investigations.  For example, in Français langue 12, we look at why relationships fail and in Français langue 11, students researched what it feels like to be different.  In Sciences humaines 8, students explored how where you are born impacts your destiny and in Sciences humaines 9, we looked at how to overcome a challenge.  I always try to connect the themes to the personal lives of students and in doing so, I hope they will join me on the learning journey.

A second strategy I use to foster reading in French is by doing Literature Circles.  This highly adaptable strategy has been great at not only working literacy skills but social/oral interaction skills which are so important in the acquisition of a new language.  As Brown (2015) explains in her article "Literature Circles Build Excitement for Books", lit circles in particular help readers, even reluctant ones to engage with other students collaboratively to make meaning of their learning.  Sometimes, magic happens when the right book finds itself in the right hands of the right group...

An integral part of designing lit circles in your classroom is to provide CHOICE (Brown, 2015). It is vital that teachers honour student choice if the goal is to increase motivation and nurture a reading culture.  That said, in French immersion, the challenge in finding novels of varying levels that are connected to the theme and are engaging to read is very difficult.  When there is no French speaking TL in sight, the challenge is even greater.  I have spent years building up themed collections and continue to develop them.

(Graphic autobiographical novel series by Michel Rabagliati)

Connected to choice is the need to provide students with a large variety of texts that will meet the needs of ALL learners.  I have focused much of my research on finding reading material that will satisfy boys in particular.  According to Pat Miller (2008) in "Is your library kid-friendly?", one way to foster reading is to choose books that reflect all reader’s needs and interests based on gender & culture. I especially appreciated her making note of the fact that boy's reading needs are different from girl's. She notes that boys «...prefer action, minimal character development, humour, grossness, war, fast machines, and non-fiction – especially with photographs. » (p.23). For this reason I have made an effort to include graphic novels and non-fiction in all lit circle choices. The graphic novel genre is widely available in French and the works are of high quality and are engaging. Diversity in French language literature is harder to find and so this is when translated works are selected. Recently, I have read the translated novel George by Alex Gino, an author who identifies as "they". Gino writes a touching story about a 10 year old transgendered boy who is actually a girl. This story fits in well with a unit done by one of our grade 8 French teachers. Engaging students in reading means we must also stay current therefore our department is constantly updating collections.

Finally, I would like to connect this blog post to my Genius Hour Inquiry discussed in the previous post. Recently, I've begun requiring when students do research in Social Studies, to include at least one work of fiction. If we look at the First People's Principles of Learning, we know that "Learning is embedded in memory, history and STORY." We need stories to help us learn especially when it comes to engaging with our past. York University professor of Communication and Culture Jon Johnson, has done a lot of research on Indigenous Knowledge and land-based storytelling traditions in the Toronto area. He argues that the historical narrative is central to the learning of history as we learn more and retain more through story. He also states that fiction in particular is good because it teaches moral and rhetorical truths (that which is true to the heart) that dispassionate facts (and I would argue textbooks) cannot.

Blogger Rea Berg also supports Johnson's point about the importance of reading fiction. In her post titled "Why Teach History through Literature?" she states:

As a wonderful by-product, students brought up on an educational curriculum rich in the best literature often become compassionate, engaged, and thoughtful adults - the best possible educational outcome.

This is why we need to foster a culture of reading and how I am trying my best to do so in my ever challenging context.

SOURCES:

Berg, Rea. (2014). "Why Teach History through Literature". Rea Berg's Blog. https://reaberg.com/2014/01/29/bfb-fundamentals-why-teach-history-through-literature/

Brown, Mary Daniels. (2015) "Literature Circles Build Excitement for Books". Education World. http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr259.shtml

FNESC. "First Peoples Principles of Learning" (poster) http://www.fnesc.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/PUB-LFP-POSTER-Principles-of-Learning-First-Peoples-poster-11x17.pdf

Gino, Alex. (2015).  George. United States: Scholastic.

Johnson, Jon. Interview done in January 2017.

McLaughlin, Barry. (1995). "Fostering Secondary Language Development in Young Children: Principles & Practices." Education Practice Report 14. iteseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.528.9803&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Miller, P. (2008). Is your library kid-friendly? Library Media Connection, 26(6), 22-24.

Rabagliati, Michel. (2002).  Paul a un travail d'été. Québec: Éditions de la Pastèque.