From Bonjour House preschool to grade 12 graduation at Vanier Collegiate I studied and learned in Canada’s both official languages. My parents, having had no background or understanding of the French language were approached by a lady when I was just about to enter preschool that preached to them the amazing opportunities and benefits parents can give their children by enrolling them in French Immersion. Having had no really good reason why not to send me to Bonjour House my parents decided it would be a good thing for me.

Looking back now I only recall a few nights in which I became frustrated because my dad was unable to help me with my homework. I think for many parents who only speak one of Canada’s official languages, the fear of not being able to help their children with their homework is a deciding factor that turns them away from deciding on whether or not French Immersion School would be a good idea. For me learning French was just another thing I had to learn. To be quiet honest it wasn’t until about grade five that I realized other children on my block were not learning French like me. I don’t recall every complaining about doing my subject areas in French, although my father might say different, I remember being quite proud of my French Immersion class in high school because we were a tight group and known as really nice kids. We had a bond that other students didn’t and we were often quite proud.

In the summer leading into to grade 11 I decided to do a six week summer work exchange to Quebec. When I arrived to Quebec to realize that my host family new no word of English, not even yes, you can image how terrified I was. I was not very confident in my French at this point in my life. Although we were a proud bunch of French Immersion students, we were often caught speaking English among ourselves in class, not very beneficial to our French communicating skills. I was nervous, but the summer turned into an experience of a life time. Being fully immersed for six whole weeks in the French language turned out to be the most beneficial educational experiences I have ever had. When I returned from Quebec however, it didn’t take long before my French language speaking skills had lost the improvement. Just like anything else, practise makes perfect, and this was something I didn’t do often enough.

After graduation I found that I did not use my French very often. Although I do recall a time when I was working at the Chateau Lake Louise and I was approached by non English speaking individuals seeking directions. It was amazing to be how fast and right in that instance my French came back to me. I was thankful that day for having had the opportunity to be able to communicate with this couple from France, and I could tell they were appreciative.

To this day I still encounter many times where I am grateful to be able to understand and communicate in both official languages. Although I am not currently pursuing my studies in French I often mention to my fellow teachers in training how beneficial and grateful I am that my parents enrolled me in the French Immersion system. I do believe that having graduated with a French Immersion Diploma I have received a very well rounded education and I have gained a deep understanding and appreciation of our countries bilingualism.

I would like to know your thoughts about French Immersion Education. Do you think it is important for us as Canadians to be able to speak and communicate in both official languages? What are your thoughts? Do you ever wish you could understand or communicate in another language? If you could learn a second language would it be French or another language? Why or Why not?

“The tie of language is perhaps the strongest and the most durable that can unite mankind.”
Alexis de Tocqueville

Yes it is true…we are only one click away on our mouse from experience our world. Thanks to the use of the web it no longer takes hours to research about another country and or culture. We can view millions of beautiful sites from around the world in just one hour, or even in 60 seconds. We can find out about what is good to eat, what countries are great to visit and what to expect if we were to go visit there. No more big heavy lonely planet books to carry around! It’s amazing how much we can learn about another culture just from taking the time to browse the net and read about life in another culture.

Although the experience of learning about another culture over the net might not be as dramatic or as impacting as being there in person to experience the smells, the nature, the people, the food and the atmosphere, it can be just as exciting when it is all so unfamiliar to us. However, thanks to events like Mosaic, which takes place in Regina this weekend, we who are unable to travel around the world to experience these things are able to do so right here in our own backyard. If you have never experienced something like Mosaic in our own city or community I suggest you check it out or start something up like it in your own community! Events like Mosaic give us the opportunity to connect with our community and experience the diversity of cultures and peoples who live right next door to us! This type of event builds respect and an appreciation for anothers background and culture. I remember when I was younger we did an ice show called, around the world in 60 seconds. Now you have to understand I did several ice shows when I was younger, maybe close to 7, but the one that always sticks out in my mind was this particular ice show. I think the reason for this is because I was given the opportunity to learn more about India and the types of dance in India. We were taught off ice how to do East Indian dances and then did it on ice. It was a great experience and I still have my beautiful green saree.

I think experiences such as these and Mosaic are important for us teachers to take part in. They help us gain a better understanding of the culture and backgrounds of our students. These types of experiences can also help us gain insight into what it may be like for our immigrant students who come from a whole different world than ours. It can also assist in creating and planning engaging activities centered on diversity and the cultures in and around our city and our world!

Please share with me some unique events or experiences you have had in regards to experiencing another culture, whether it be from traveling or just taking part in a great cultural experience! I would love to hear all about it!

“As the soil, however rich it may be, cannot be productive without cultivation, so the mind without culture can never produce good fruit.”

Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD

During our last ed computer class we covered a variety of topics regarding web media literacy, web awareness resources, web safety and media representation on the web. It just so happened that the night before this class took place I finally had some down time and was watching a tv drama series. I’m not sure what the tv series was called but the boyfriend of this young girl on this shown had convinced this young girl to take her shirt off so he could have a picture of her on his cell phone. The next day at school this young boy was showing everyone in the school pictures of her on his cell phone. It was difficult to watch how this young girl took the news about her picture being shown to everyone at the school. The mother of this young girl was not impressed when she found out and was quick to make sure that the young boy would be expelled from school.

This episode brought to my attention the many difficult issues we as teachers will soon have to experience. It doesn’t take long for word to travel these days let alone pictures or videos that may not even be originals of you, your loved ones or your students. It is important for us as teachers in training to be aware of what is out there on the net and how some things can have a very negative impact on our students, children, friends, families and our careers. Now that I am becoming more aware myself of media literacy and what this entails, I encourage all of you who may be reading this and any prospective teachers to really understand the positive contributions of media literacy education.

My professor Alec Couros made us more aware of how the internet can be very misleading in portraying societal groups and culture if we and our students are not informed properly or critically thinking about what is educational, talent or just plain noise or nonsense. This makes me think about how George Siemens mentioned in his presentation that there is a, ‘risk of people being satisfied with false knowns because it serves them well.’ After hearing George mention this I started to think about how much truth is on the internet and how much of it is false and misleading. It is scary to think that digital immigrants and or digital natives could soon be misguided into thinking that what is not real is real and what is real is not. How are we to know for sure what is truth and what is not when there are a million different sites telling us a million different things? How will this impact our future? How can we be satisfied with no truth? Is it not truth that allows us to continue our journey? Imagine a world that was always satisfied with false knowns , would we be happy beings?

Our professor also uncovered to us some “dark side” internet sites that are important for us as prospective teachers to be aware of. When I decided to browse a little on these sites I found hatebook.com to be a very incongruous site (if that is even the correct word to use). This sites, just as easy to sign up for as facebook.com, allows you to upload lies, join hate-clans, publish secrets and start a hate profile. How many of us would like our children or our students to sign up for this? This distasteful site even has a little button on the left had side that reads, “Meet Dr.Evil Here.” If we are unaware of this site existing image the numerous amount of other inappropriate sites are students could be browsing. Unaware of their impact on our souls, these “dark side” sites along with cyber bullying and the many other internet sites that depict misconceptions of societal groups and culture, can and are slowly creating a world where hate and evil are accepted and seen almost as satisfying? Is this the type of world we want our children and or students to live in?

Don’t get me wrong, I think the use of technology in our world today is helping to establish good communication and connect people from all walks of life. However, we must remain aware of this darker side of the internet, a side that if not taken seriously, could lead to demoralizing our world.

“Our teachers are responsible for our children’s welfare for the six or eight hours they are at school and we need to know without question that their safety will be paramount on the minds of teachers, faculty and volunteers.“
Mike Fitzpatrick