French Reviews
 
LITTLE FRENCH SCHOOL 1. Little French School, WINTER 2007 The PLE program has been an amazing opportunity for me to combine my language skills with a practical experience in the community. I spent my internship time in the kindergarten class at the Little French School. I spent four hours on my Tuesday and Thursday mornings at the Little French School helping out with all of the daily activities. Upon arriving at the school, I played with the children until it was time for “circle time”, which is where the children put up the day of the week, date, and the weather all in French. Anytime I conversed with the kids I spoke in French one or two times and then re-explained what I had said in English afterwards. After “circle time”, the kids had snack, where I passed out food, and wiped the tables after. Next was recess, a time where I helped the kids is put on their coats, go out and interact with all of the children in the school, and play games. I would speak French, unless they didn’t understand. Following recess, we would start our morning activity. This usually would be math, or working on writing, or a science or art project. I would be right there during the activity helping kids who didn’t understand. We would then start lunchtime, where I would heat up food for the children, and then clean the tables when they had finished. While the kids were finishing lunch, I would set out the kids’ mats and blankets for naptime. That is the majority of what I did everyday at the Little French School. Sharon. La Maitresse, did a great job at not making my job difficult at all. My job was basically an extension of her won, which made me feel like I was really helping her out in the classroom. I just did the things she didn’t have the time to do at the same time she was doing something else. Sharon was very supportive of my work, helped me communicate with the kids, and even taught me some French. This job was a very rewarding one. I expect to teach my own children French as they grow up, and this was an opportunity for me to see twelve six-year olds beginning to understand and converse in a foreign language, it was really a beautiful thing. Working with children is the easiest and most fun job possible. I really enjoyed knowing that I was having a positive impact on the lives of these young kids, even though they most likely won’t remember who I was. PLE gave me a great opportunity to do all of this, and it is set up in a way that is not at all stressful but is very supportive. I highly recommend PLE and especially work at the Little French School. FOX HOLLOW IMMERSION SCHOOL 1. FOX HOLLOW IMMERSION SCHOOL, SPRING 2007 Working with the Ecole Charlemagne and the PLE program has given me so many opportunities to use my French language skills in practical life. I spent almost every morning from 8-11 for three weeks working in a third grade classroom with Madame Michelle and her students. In the French class the children learn math and sciences, with some art, which gave me the opportunity to learn vocabulary I had never known and work one on one with students in French. There are two teachers at Ecole Charlemagne per grade, and the students are split into two classes which switch between English and French at lunch, and every month they start their day off with a different language. By third grade the students have very good French listening skills, and their speaking skills vary but they usually speak in French when they are told. Every morning the children come into class and do a French grammar problem in their workbooks usually dealing with plurals and singulars of nouns. Afterwards they learn a new phrase and form groups to act out the phrase for the class. After this they learn math and sciences, including learning the weather and how to care for plants… all of these lessons being in French. Madame Michelle had so much energy she made learning fun, even for me when I was unsure of some of the vocabulary. Some of my duties also included grading papers and tutoring students one on one just to help them learn the concepts. I also did minor tasks for Madame Michelle, so I was not with the children during their recess and music classes. Working with these children was so rewarding. They became attached easily, even calling me Mademoiselle Michelle. Watching them interact with the teacher in French and utilizing their newly attained skills daily was the most amazing thing to watch. This experience was remarkable, not only did I learn a great deal about French vocabulary and how to teach French to children, but I also learned how to use my language skills in the community. 2. FOX HOLLOW IMMERSION SCHOOL, SPRING 2007 At the moment I am working as an assistant teacher in a first grade classroom at an elementary school in Eugene. Fox Hollow Immersion School is a French-English learning institute where the students spend half of the day in a French-speaking classroom, and the rest of the day learning in English. For my bilingual internship, I lead small reading groups in French, and converse with first graders in French. It is my job to help students of differing learning levels, to read, write, and speak using the French language. Therefore, I help maintain a regimented and positive classroom environment by clarifying language confusion and helping them to adapt to the change of language. Also, I support and assist the teacher with arts and crafts activities, games, and math work, all conducted in French. At the moment we are spending half of class time working on a school play that will help the students gain confidence in the language, by memorizing lines and speaking and acting in French. I have been going into Fox Hollow Immersion School on Mondays and Wednesday for three hours per day. I spend most of my volunteer time working in Denise Paquin’s first grade classroom, and also go into the second grade classroom to read with individual students. So far, I have found the position to be very rewarding, because I am working with children who are all trying to cope with learning in a bilingual environment. I think it is a very respectable program because it is challenging students to develop oral and written fluency in the French language. When I volunteer in the classroom, French is the only language that is spoken. This institution enhances their opportunities in the international world, and allows them to appreciate and learn about the French culture. I would recommend the PLE program to other University of Oregon students who are interested in Romance languages, teaching, and volunteer work, because I have gained many valuable leadership skills, and my competence in the French language has improved greatly. CIRCLE FRANCAIS 1. CIRCLE FRANCAIS, FALL 2007 My experience helping Hilary Fisher with the cercle francais was great. My responsibilities included coordinating the French circle and advertising for it, creating email lists of people that were interested in the French circle, and attending and leading the actual event. This internship brought me many connections with a wide variety of people. I met many of the Graduate students teaching the first year French classes, and I was able to expand my oratory skills with them. I also met a few native French speakers, and learned a lot about culture from our discussions during the circle. My primary interaction, however, was with first year French students from the university and friends with no French experience who got dragged along. This was where the bulk of my learning experience occurred. I learned many things about the experiences of the graduate students in teaching first year French classes. I had previously thought that the best way for students to learn French is to be immersed in it, as that was how my Spanish classes worked due to the fact that my instructor was a native Spanish speaker and spoke little English. However, I found that when speaking with students on a casual basis, it was very difficult for them to stay interested in your conversation if you refused to use English now and then. I gained a lot of experience in finding creative ideas and ways of speaking to people with minimal language skills and help them to still get something out of the experience overall. One thing that was an interesting new challenge for me was having non French speakers join the circle. Most of the time they would listen and simply take notes, but it was a fun experience trying to get them to understand simple sentences by using gestures and descriptive cognates. It was a great learning environment for me as well, getting to practice French for two hours and having the graduate students and native speakers there as a resource as well. Overall, I learned a lot about teaching languages, and also improved my speaking skills. I have decided to continue to help with the Cercle Francais next term as well.