Reticular Activating System

Now it seems that when your interest becomes your passion and your passion your career, it does not end just because you retire.

My weekly visits to the small French school always rekindle my curiosity of how & why learning occurs. So I suppose it was not a surprise that when I visited the offices of ‘Let’s Speak’ I homed in on the English language text books. They say a good teacher is like Blackpool rock, teaching & communicating runs all the way through.

The conversation led from English language teaching to dyslexia and the fact that French dyslexics are discouraged, even not allowed to learn English (Spanish being the replacement MFL). I was unsurprised, but amazed at this response and it seems that the company have been asked for help by several sets of parents whose dyslexic child has been refused English, because they will, “be unable to learn because of their intelligence”...

 I was aghast and asserted that in terms of the spoken language it was means, methodologies and motivation that was the difference and that dyslexia does not mean low intelligence, but different intelligence and learning styles. 

The discussion that followed proved that you never lose that passion, knowledge is not far under the brains veneer of mundane daily life and, above all creativity grows if you allow it.

Result: I have agreed to become a part of a working group, in the Pay de la Loire, looking at dyslexia teaching & learning.

Inaugural meeting Domfront 28^th June ~ now who would have believed that?

Not my loving husband who, when the e mail invitation arrived, scanned the text and said, “sounds good to me let’s do it”. Perhaps I should have known, as my good friend in England pointed out, “You don’t do retirement very well do you?” 

Le Petit Bac

My attempts at a thank you poem for my French hosts, which I performed the afternoon I left. It is based on a French game, called 'Le Petit Bac', that adults play with children to help develop vocabulary and identify homophones & rhyme,  Getting the cadence & the rhyme took some doing, so no grammatical comments...
I will never be a writer in French, but it was written at midnight after five days immersion and sounded great verbally.
After all the trip was with 'Let's Speak'

Le petit, petit poème,

Merci le bon séjour,

Du vin et éducation,

Fromage et bonheur.

 

La langue c’set très confusion,

Monette la patience bonne.

Je parle verbes, et Louis

Cultural à Francophone.

 

La grammaire et des erreurs

Les ‘tu’ & ‘du’ & ‘eu’.

J’ais apprendre toute les heures.

Merci pour 'tu' et 'tu'.

 

Tristement je départe

Pert être rendez-vous.

Ma maison a Carelles.

Vous avez bien venue 

Sejour a Evron...

 Sometimes you forget what it’s like to be a student. You move so far from being a learner that you can’t remember how it feels to be uncertain and not understand.. Having watched our English immersion students struggle, comprehend and live the learning experience, I decided it was time I followed their example and immersed myself in French.
Since qualifying as a teacher inthe early seventies I have always been driven to improve and to learn more. Through London University externals, the Open University & numerous accredited courses,  to a Masters degree at Manchester I have striven in,  my own time,to learn more.

Now was my time to apply all that knowledge and all those forty experiential years. With some trepidation I set off for my sejour with my French hosts Monette & Louis. What a wonderful time, eight hours plus daily in French. Beautiful  house  ,excellent French cuisine, fine wines and cultural education; I ate, drank and yes, even dreamt ,in French.

And what did I learn? Well in addition to consolidating my grammar and improving my conjugations I learnt the pleasure and confidence that being relaxed into a language gives. All my early childhood memories of learning and writing, all that excitement came flooding back. Like then I was eager to learn more, practise and apply. Hungry to communicate at my level of cognition it was a rewarding & truly amazing experience.

I learnt too, the skill of a good teacher; who can make confusion & sadness into comprehension & pleasure. So this is a thank you to all those past teachers who inspired me and who may never know.

 

And to my newest teachers and now friends ~ to Monett for her patience and creativity and Louis for his humour and oenology, I say “ Merci mes amis”.

What did I learn? Well I relearnt the excitement of learning!

(With special thanks to Sarah & Beatrice of ‘Let’s Speak’ who were so encouraging).

Teacher becomes student...let's speak about it

Its a common question amongst UK property owners in France, to ask, " So how long have you been in France?",  rapidly followed by,"can you speak French?" This is the  measure of your staying power, literally. So this made me think about our love affair with La belle France, a relationship that spans over thirty years.

Funny to look back and remember the naivety and lack of knowledge, both linguistically & culturally and the distance travelled over the years. Timeline reads\;

• 1980 Honeymoon on BMW motorbike touring Brittany & camping. Tourist phrase book, no school French we read ICI as a company name, tracked down an old military 'Camping' and couldn't understand why all the farm sites were 'a la ferme'...closed!
• 1987 Train trip to the south of France euphemistically named 'Mediterranean Express' stopped at every siding
• Ongoing car and camping trips down, across, via most regions. Linguistically faltering our way through, 'boisson v poisson' and 'demain v deux main' and so many other confusions.
• 1993 Basic French course & feeling very confident. Finding out why we were so oftern laughed at when booking; 'machin means whatsit/ thingamy' and 'Ron sounds like rond'...hence, "one room for Mr Round Thing" 
• 1995 decided in to buy a place, took to 2006 to find the funds & decide where.10-6-06 purchase and  a meaningful date. As Ron pointed out to the notaire, "this time we won"!He was not amused.
• 2007/8/9 Cauldon College French courses &  finally GCSE 2010 at the same time as I passed my Headteachers qualification, NPQH and equally proud of both.
• 2010 Stayed for five months & discovered the strength of pictures & humour in improving communication."Vous voulez la chienne Ron?", "Non merci je suis complete, non beaucoup le mange"......Franglaise!
• 2010 a hospital stay which improved my confidence whilst treating my sunstroke, after that nothing could be linguistically that scarey, "Je suis mieux..."
• French friends ever helpful, always supportive and thanks to Nicole, Evlyn, Valerie, Jean Claude, Patricia and all the others, I could not have do it without you!

So it is that today, 16 May, a very special day, my step daughters 40th  birthday, I take my courage in both hands and 'Immerse' myself in French. I have booked via a company called 'Let's Speak', to stay, for f ive days with a French family and speak,think, eat and breathe only in French.

 So how long have I been in France? 30+ years and can I speak the language, well let's see how I measure up!
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Bon courage Pauline!

Wisdom does not always need age...

We were highly flattered, earlier this year, to be asked if we would accept a repeat booking for a English Immersion student, who stayed with us last year. It is one heck of a compliment when a 15 year old asks to spend a good part of his holiday, not just with you, but working with you to improve his spoken English.
To say we felt honoured is an understatement, we were blown away. This young man is from a complicated background, English is his third language, with a forth one, German underway, but he realises that language and  particularly spoken language...communication, is so important.

We have just spent a week being inspired by the motivation, humour, courage & dedication of this young man and have we enjoyed it! We have shared jazz  and Brazilian concerts, archery, cooking and cycling.
throughout  all he has applied himself consistently. His written understanding had improved greatly, but it was his constant application and development in spoken English which was so inspiring.
And when we returned him home at his family invitation, we were treated to a small soiree.. All the children gathered around the table while our star student presented his illustrated account of his stay with us. To see & hear his confidence and pride was wonderful and his parents and family obviously felt the same.

We listened to an impromptu recital by his siblings, first the double bass, then his sister on the saxophone & finally,the younger sister, one on the clarinet.   We shared their laughter, their home made cake and more than anything their family, it was great. Feeling a little sad, we prepared to leave & then realised it wasn't going to end like that, it. So we all decided that technology , in the form of Skype would  be a great way to keep in touch & for our young friend to keep practising his English.





Motivated by our week and this teenager I have decided to follow his example and become an Immersion Student myself, but in French. If I can apply, work, practice and achieve even ten percent of what he has I will be delighted. So I say a humble & very sincere  thank you; youth has advised age and inspired maturity.

Doubler...France v UK

I have been working ,voluntarily, for three years teaching & building links between a small Staffordshire village school and our local village in the Pay de la Loire. The children have exchanged pictures, letters, postcards, drawings and messages of all kinds. I have endeavoured to share something of the culture of the two countries looking at similarities and differences.
 Consequently, I produced a leaflet for  parents explaining the twinning of the two groups of children and, out of courtesy posted one through the door of our village Mairie. The reaction and counter reaction from both villages has been amazing; first the French mayor rang & came to express his interest, then the Head in the UK presented the information to the Parish Council . And so it was that  the local newspaper, the 'Leek Post &Times', picked up this story and published .

When we arrived back in France I gave the maire a copy of said press article and what happened next was not what I expected. First a call from a local bilingual Brit, who has lived & worked in France for 30 years, then a  meeting with the mayor...twinning it seems between the villages is what was on his mind! And  that last week we found ourselves  in a meeting with two French ladies from a local twinning association, our British aid and the mayor. To say immersed in French would be an understatement, more drowning. We sat, like watching Wimbledon, whilst the discussions bounced around the comfortable room. Of course we had to  partake of coffee, wine and  chocolate (choose any two from three)  and as we began to think it was all beyond us, it suddenly struck me there was a lot of repetition of ideas.
This is a republic so everyone must have their say and then re affirm their view and then all come to the conclusion. Our bilingual host worked gallantly to keep the conversation moving and the pace was such that at times I was not sure which language we were in; English v French , which was it|?
Finally the maire concluded, " Je propose..." and it was agreed that he would write to the  Parish Council, contact the local linked village maire and talk with parents about a proposal for the children to perhaps visit each other. My job was to get the contact names & update the Headteacher in England.
Meeting over, shell shocked we stayed to talk to our new English acquaintance, a fellow artist / photographer, and muse over the developments and whether and at what pace things might come to pass. Art talk led to art teaching and links with the local Art Bo and this led to  Ron agreeing to teach drawing to amateur artists...in French!


Our French teacher in the UK offered some good advice when we started living for longer periods of the year in France; "Join everything" Jessica advised, "show enthusiasm, join in...anything that interests you". Not being club people in English the concept was a bit alien to us and finding groups & interest a challenge.I tried swimming, but you don't actually talk much when ploughing down the pool. Then we tried a motorbike group and went on a moto ballard . What was it a that made me think, that sitting alone on a bike for hours, would aid our French communication?

Now it seems that what we have done is invent our own groups...just didn't expect it to be international or high order French art teaching. When does a problem become a challenge? Answer when you open your mouth, in either language, too soon.

The Nutella Principle...

One of the key attributes and wonders of French parenting is their ability to instill in their off spring a pleasure and respect for food and all the elements of enjoying it.

Our latest young guest was a prime example, trying everything put in front of him, eating with grave dignity and assessing all the new processes & flavours he encountered. Now if that all sounds a bit twee,  bear in mind that his dietary experience, as an English language  immersion student, stretched across a full English breakfast,  Scott's porridge, the span of a good Balti curry with all the ancillary trimmings and even mushy peas! And with all, he considered discussed and held conversation about the item, quite something when you think of the textures & flavours of our mixed cultural food.

Whilst many English children would not consider fresh seafood ('insects form the sea') or sausages made from offal (eating with your senses, in this case smell), French children will, it seems try everything. Their passion for all things related 'a table' means they don't worry if the texture is 'like baby food' or question whether its a sauce or soup.

Made me think of a German/American exchange student who stayed with us  in England some years ago. Prior to his arrival we were told he ate nothing but Nutella for any and all meals. Now this is a healthy enough option within a balanced diet, but sometimes even things that are good for you,to excess, can be bad. With his parents permission and after a couple of  days of no Nutella & when he had run out of snack bars, he started to try everything. Result a balanced socially functioning young man, who sat at the table & conversed while he ate & enjoyed his many meals with us.

So it was that this week we sat in a local French restaurant and watched transfixed as a grandma and her small grandchild partook of their mid day meal. The small girl sitting in a high chair was only about three years old,but  was, trusted with, and used to perfection, a knife & fork and a glass for her water. She did not throw or mess with  her food. If the fork was difficult to handle,she picked up the frite & placed it  on the prongs. She sipped her water carefully, replacing the glass precisely and then took her serviette to dab her mouth dry...it was delightful. And all this whilst talking to her grandmother & observing the French etiquette of putting her cutlery down whilst talking or chewing.
I can't imagine many English children achieving this at that tender age, but for her it was expected, this is what you do.
I think sometimes we forget if we don't expect certain standards & behaviours we will never get them.

But just in case it seems as though there is no hope for the children of the UK I finish on the the little village in Staffordshire, where I support the French lesson and take in items and  food stuffs so they can experience the French culture.It seems that our planet or at least Europe is becoming smaller. because, when tasting various French foods, the children asked, " Yes but how do you say pain au chocolat in French"?
So perhaps if you don't look for differences you don't find them