For my inquiry project I’ve decided that it would be incredibly useful to touch up on my French abilities. I was in a French immersion program from grade six to grade nine, but eventually quit because I lacked motivation to continue and speaking a second language in classes was making the content harder than it needed to be. In recent years, I’ve re-discovered the fact that I love learning languages, and have been gifted with a brain that seems to be capable of retaining new vocabulary and applying new linguistic rules of foreign languages.
It is becoming more evident that speaking other languages will be an immense help to me, and others, in my career as an educator. I recently learned that around 15% of learners in BC speak foreign languages, and this number is increasing as people migrate to the province from all over the world. There is a need in schools for people who can help students learn and master English, in order to fully integrate into Canadian life. While foreign language acquisition is not ultimately necessary to teach English it certainly is helpful, especially in the early stages, for connecting with learners.
While there are several languages that I would like to begin to learn for this project, I decided to start with French. I think it would be beneficial to gain more depth in a language I already speak partially, rather than learn other languages shallowly. Deepening my French knowledge will help me eventually learn Spanish, which is spoken by a significant number of new students in Canada. Italian and German are other common languages spoken by international students, and experience in Latin languages will help me make sense of these in due time. I also speak a bit of Arabic, from when I was living in Lebanon as an English teacher. This is a language which I really hope to dedicate time to, as there are many Arabic-speaking Syrians living in BC, some of whom come to school with significant gaps in knowledge, due to years of missed school resulting from the war in Syria.
I aspire to learn all of these languages at some point, but for now I will begin with French. I will practice French through Duolingo regularly, because its gamification of language acquisition has made learning fun. I will also engage with various forms of media in French, whether it be movies, TV shows, podcasts, and music, among other things. I will do this for all 10 weeks of this project, and track my progress as I go.
