Entry #8

                                Goals

   I attain the goals that I had set at the beginning of the internship , because I developped interaction with children and I learned new words by interacting with new people. Efectively , there were a lot of barriers that were in place , like the fact that it was difficult to understood some people.

                                           Strategies

              The language Learning strategies were taken out from  the article , Profile of a successful language learner.  On my first blog , I only write two strategies that I use , but for real it was three. '' Practicing'' , '' using mnemonics techniques '' and '' communicates in whichever way possible'' were the three that I was supposed to write in my first entry.  Unfortunately , only two  strategies works for me. It was '' Practicing'' and '' using mnemonics techniques''.  Strangely , I never use the strategy '' communicates in whichever way possible''. I will continue to use these two strategies in my life . The strategy '' using mnemonics techniques'' will be using by doing my homeworks and  study my exams , but more especially
 Also , when I will be with my spanish friends and English friends , I will use '' the pratice '' strategy.

                                            Language

   My level in English was improved  in my grammar ,  the fluency of  the structure of ideas and the pronunciation. Effectively, The fluency was better and the ideas were more easy to construct in a sentence , because   I'm less stressed and more attentive. Also, my pronunciation  was better . But I found it difficult to improved my English , when  it was Noisy in the place, because I can't focus at work .

                                       Growth

   I can say that I learned a lot of things about myself throught this fantastic experience. I learned that I have the capacity to work with children in a  multicultural environment . I was really skeptical before my entry into this new place , but my perseverance and my good mood made my job easy.The days of three hours  become short days. My lazyness took a big part in my life, but when I began to work at this place it disapear completely. My desire to help was so more than myself , that I completely forget the hours.
The anglophone culture taught me a lot about myself. The French language look a like the English language .  The  humour is significantly the same  and the words have radically the same meaning. Been in an anglophone environment gave me the opportunity to learned the English humour , new words , expressions and I found English people really forthrights.

                                      The internship

   I gained confidence  and a lot of  patience  from this experience. Efectively , children calmed me a lot. I sincerely appreciated the time passed with them . If I had to do it again I would be with older children, because they are more mature and I could have a real conversation with them.

 

                                      Gratitude

    I thank my host with a card. I wrote a beautiful message Inside this.
 I write that I thanks to this internship because I found my new career: Teaching !
 

 

 

                                     The placement

       

            I will recommend this internship to an other student , because it's a beautiful experience to improved our English and interacted entirely in this language.  Also , seeing the multiculturality is a great oppotunity to understand how they live..

 

 

 

 

Thank you Emili and more specifically  Christi:)

                                            

Entry#7

     My conversation  face to face with Emili Gumy  the director of Boys and Girl's Club:

Me: Hi, miss!

Her: Hello , excuse me , but what's your name again?

Me: My name is Julie Bibeau-Felteau.

Her: Why did you call me?

Me: Oh.... well, I want to know more about the summer camp with Boys and Girl's club .

Her: Ok , what do you want to know ? Please clarify.

Me: I want to know if I can make application for this summer?

Her: Yes , if your legally of age, it's perfect. You must do that on April.

Me: Ok , perfect.

Her: Do you had others questions?

Me: No , thank you , that's all!

Her: Ok, bye , see you soon!

                  

                     What I would say in the future:

Me: Good morning Emili! How are you?

Her: Good morning Julie! I'm fine , thank you!

Me: I made you come to obtain more informations about the Boys and Girl's summer camp.

Her: Ok , how can I help you?

Me: I just want to know when is the right time to make application ?

Her: In April , generally it's the perfect time to make application. So you must give your CV , next April.

Me: Thank you so much! Have a nice week!

Her: You welcome! If you have others questions, please do not hesitate to approach me directly!

                                 The word that I learnt

An interaction that I had in English was when the lunchtime finished in the class. One of the child throw away something in the garbage and then the educator said the word. Lailing said: ''Put the garbage in the garbage'' .
When I heard that I was like :'' Did you made a mistake''? ( but in my head I was sure that what Lailing said was righ) . I replied , that dishes was the word to said that. But ,I found that dishes was reliated to washes . And '' déchet'' was really '' garbage''.

                                       New word:

The new word that I learned is garbage; because I learned the real definition of this word.

     

Entry #6

                                         

                  My listening comprehension

  It was really easier to understand the educators and the children ,in this sixth day of internship , than it was at the beginning. The reason is that I'm more focused and a special attention is given to what they say.  My stress as gone , so it's easier to assimilated their sentences and the words inside them.  Also , I try to interacted the least possible in french , but sometimes it's difficult. So, when I have struggle with some of the sentences I use a language learning strategy . The '' mnemonic techniques'' is effective , because when I didn't know the meaning of a word, I make  associations with similar  French and English words .

For exemple: When Lailing said that we will draw a ladybird , I didn't know what she meant.  What is a ladybug???? I search in my head some graceful insects  having a graceful name.  ''Coccinelle'' and ''libellule '' were in my choices. But I remembered that a ''libellule'' was a dragonfly.

 

                                 My accent:

I don't think that my English accent changed during my internship. The last time I went to my training , a asked an educator ( a bilingual) to find out if she noticed my accent and she replied affirmatively. She telled me that  she had difficulty to understand me , because I talk too fast. Every Thursday , I work in a children place so finding  difficults words is really hard. Educators want to make their sentences as easy to use as possible. They want to make themselves understood  in an easiest possible way , so they use an easy vocabulary to interact with children. It's for this reason that I didn't learn new ways to pronounce words . On the other hand, I noticed that I must put my teeth on my mouth to pronounce words beginning with '' t''. For Exemple: There, them , etc.

                                 The fluency:

After my sixth day of internship , I learned that they are some subjects that are easier to broch . The basic topics were the easiest ones to developed , because it was like I know them a lot.

For exemple: When I talked about  the activities of the day( what  we will do , which story I will read , and which activities will be interesting).

When I will help myself  , I use ''mnemonic technique'' strategy and also I ''practice '' a lot . When I do cognitions with words it really help my language.My stress disapears completely, and I speak more correctly.

                       The humour between English and French

I've noticed that English humour is more subtle then the French humour.  There's more allusion in English language humour than in French language. For exemple, when Jeffrey , an educator read a story for the kid , in front of the class , I can say that  it was memorable. I laughed to tears!!!

I explain. When he read '' Do you love me''?, the sentence in the book,  every children answered negatively  to this. He repeat this sentence a lot of times , mainly , because it was the more important sentence in the book. These children think that it's a real question adressed them. All I can say is that all the children in the place were English , so they uncouscious about the're assimilation of English humour.

On the other hand, I can say that I was totally disapointed when Jeffrey began to talk with an other educator using terms totally unknow for me. At the end of the conversation I understand that it was a conversation based of sexuals terms. I did not want to know more!!!!

                                    The accuracy:

I always made an attempt to speak more accurately. Also , I think that the repetition for the presentation with Eugénie helped me a lot . She practiced with me th ''s'' at the end of each verbs at the third person simple present.
EX: The boy helps her sister.
Now , I'm really consciencious about theses structures in each structure.

New words:

I learned the word ladybird, haha.



Bye:)

Entry #5

                         Cultural observations

    -  A lot of cultural objects are displayed in the host organization. Firstly, inside all the classrooms, there are some posters with children's names on them.

 -   Others posters were stuck up on the opposite wall where the children's bithdays were written down.

- The letters of the alphabets were spread  out on the walls and ladybirds represented the group name.


 

                                     The reading

The majority of the educators that I've interviewed read newspapers , during the internship ( when they have time). '' The Gazette''  '' Metro'' and ''24h''  were the most populars for the variety of information inside them.

                         The celebration of different holidays

    The majority of the educators that I've interviewed said to me that they don't celebrate the different holidays. I must say that all of the educators have different origins , so it can influenced the fact that they don't celebrate. I asked them about Christmas celebration and they all said that it was their favourite celebration.

                           The Christmas preparation

        I asked three educators about how they prepared for the Christmas holiday. The first , Lailing Codjoe is half Jamaican and half African. She told me that on  december 25 she is with her family. All together , they eat turkey , ham , rice and salad. , for this special supper. After that , they read the bible and opened their gifts. Lailing said that in her childhood , she was raised in a Christian home , but she is Prostestant but she doesn't goes at the Church .



The second educator was Nelly Paultre a Haitian. She said that the Christmas holiday is really sacred  for her. She is going to Christmas mass with all her family and after , together , they eat  turkey , ham , rice and salad. Afer that , they  sing some songs and opened gifts , at the end. She said that she was practicing Christian so she goes to the mass.

                                  Cultural observation

The other cultures I have been exposed  are the Spanish , Asian and Indian children. They were all really interesting. I've learned that some of these children didn't have enough motivation for talking in English or in French , so they just didn't opened their mouth when I asked them a question.

                    The type of English I have been exposed to:

I've been exposed to different expressions during my internship. The first one was '' Every dog has it's day''. This expression means that each man can have a bad period and after it disappears  and everything turns right.
For example: When a child cries after the educator talk to him and after everything goes well.

The other expression that I've been exposed was '' Beggers can't be a chooser''. When a child asks Lailing for a privilege  , but it's not quite what he wanted , after she sees it , she can't ask for another one.


I read a lot of books in front of the class. They were books about Thanksgiving  and Halloween. It was interesting , because  I learned new words at the same time.
 
On the other hand , I had the opportunity to use my idiom '' It's all Greek to me'' , but nobody understood me , unfortunately.


                                    Rewards and challenges:
The most difficult aspect for me was trying interacted with other children who didn't understand me.

But the best part was being with children and talking with them to enrich myself. Interacting and learning  about new cultures  was  totally fabulous.

Byebye ,


See you soon for new experiences!



 

Entry #4

                My linguistic interference

  On this third day of internship , I saw the French language has interfered with my communication in the English language . Effectively, when I didn’t know how to construct a good sentence , I picked french words that were similar to English. 

                                   The challenge

    One of the challenges caused by linguistic interference was trying to interacted with children who didn’t understand me. My accent can’t helped , in this situation. For example , when I questioned a child he answered me oinan other way. So, when I attempted to reformulate my point of view , my accent spoiled all my ideas.

 

   On the other hand, when I used the expression ‘’ it’s all Greek to me ‘’ , during an activity with some children , my word reached their target  for the educators . My accent and the pronunciation of certain words were mediocre. All of these observations contributed to my progress as a language learner , because I can see  my  week points : my pronunciation and my accent) to improve.

 

 

 

 

 

                            The difference between being an internship

                                                     vs

                                       being in a classroom           

 

     I saw a difference between being in a language immersion situation  and being in a language classroom. Firstly , when I was in my internship I was able to use the words and structures the in a better way for me and talk about what I want no matter if it was the right moment.  I was able to acquire language without a structured classroom setting , because I listened to the instructions that the educators gave me. I can said that it was like doing improvisation , because I talked  about  anything with the children.

 

  The language learning strategy that have been effective for me is ‘’practicing’’, because I always talked in English and repeated a lot of the same words in my head , to assimilate them. With this strategy they will stay in my head for a long time. Also, ‘’ the mnemonic techniques’’ strategy was really effective for me. When I didn’t know the meaning of certain words, I made cognitions with others words and associations.

 

 

 

                  New words, structures and  a new expression

''Put it away'' was a structure that I heard a lot of the time , during my internship.This structure served to make myself understood by  the children in saying ( stop playing) ! , when it was not  the time. Also , when we're going to the bathroom , the term ‘’ dry your hands’’ helped me a lot to tell the children what they must do after  washing  their hands. The expression ‘’ Every dog has is day’’ was used by an educator , when a child cried in the morning. Obviously , the child didn’t understand what was the meaning of this expression. Basically,
it means that every person has their bad days , but after it passed. In the future, I could use this expression , when one of my friends doesn’t feel good. What’s about the two word. I could use these two terms when I will be in a situation in my future job with children.

 

     

 See you soon:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Entry #3

                               My second day

  On my second day of internship at Boys and Girls Club, I was assigned to a new group of children. The educators , Nelly and Lailing were really sympathetic and they introduced me at my new group. I saw a difference between this group and the other group that I was with. Firstly, they are twelve children , nine girls and three boys. I saw that this group was more culturaly diversify than the first one. Effectively, Two were from Québec, one from Morocco, two from Philippines , one from Yugoslavia , one from Spain and two from Egypt.
Two childrens don't know English and French language and the three quarter talk only in English. It's going to be a long day!

                              My interaction in English

  On the morning, it was  free time , so , I head down to the toy bin , where all the children playing. I asked questions to a lot of guys and girls about where they come from , what is their favourite , colour meal and movie. Some children answered me clearly , but I saw  misunderstood on  some kid's faces. For the children that don't understand my questions , I try to explain on an other way , like in trying  hand gestures to represent  my words. Unfortunately, sometimes it failed. For example, when a child didn't understand me , he just don't answered  and continue what he was doing . Yes , it was a big challenge to try interacted with a child who don't understand what I've said ! I noticed , that the children were really polite with me and coming up to me for playing. This interaction contribute to my progress as a language learner , because the way that I interacted with these children , has helped to strengthen my sense of observation and my ways of using my gesture with them.






              

                       My observations of anglophone culture

   When it was time to lunch , every kids opened their lunchboxes and I saw a diversity of food. It was fascinating to watch them eating. The kind of meals they ate were  fish ,  macaroni and  rice. When the kid's weren't eating  fast enough , Lailing helped with meals. She used the term '' miss'' and '' madame'', to start a conversation with the girls. I've noticed that Lailing and Nelly were not treating the children like babies  ( It's good to help get this through quickly). Also , when the children  used  a lack of full of respect , the educators raised their voices to speak for themselves. The anglophone environment is a really welcoming place  and I saw a difference between a place like this and and a francophone environment.  The educators wear Staff t-shirt and jeans. Finaly, I can say that there is no break  during  my internship , because the activities that we have with children were not that stressfull.

 

                           New words and structure

I learned new words  and new structures, during my internship . Particularly, when I ate with the children. '' Chew'' and '' swallow'' words were regularly iterated, so I really acquired theses words in my head. Also ,  when it was time to make the homeworks ( make a drawing) , I heard the sentence '' follow the dots''  a lot of time by the educators. I can use these words  when I will be with for my future children. Haha:)

That's it:)



Have a good day and see you next week:)           

Entry#2

My arrival:

When I arrived at my internship placement, I was well received . Kim , my educator was here for me. Inside the basement, there was a lot of colors on the walls and I could already feel a pleasant atmosphere.

 My impressions:

The first thing that strucked me , was the fact that each child whom where of various nationalities were bilinguals. English and french were priorities languages , in this environment.I can said that Boys and Girls club is a place where English language is essential and the most commonly spoken. I saw my childrens. They were eight. Five girls and three boys.

The interaction between some childrens was a little bit difficult , because they don't understand me when I talk to them , so I must improvise. I use techniques to make my students more comfortables.
For exemple , I read a story in English. On a way , it will help the child to understand English and on the other way it will help me to practice this language.

My new vocabulary

When I went to the bathroom with my group , I ask to Kim some advices:

1 .Some childrens had problem to catch the soap , so I must interact with them and give clear indications. I learned  that '' put your hand under the water'' and '' wash each finger'' will be the right sentences to make myself clear.

2. After the bathroom visit, we took a walk outside the basement. More specifically on the park situed beside the club. It was cold , so I advise my childs to ''put on'' their coats , so I can ''zip up '' them.

3. During the walk , I saw a flower that I remembered the name in French , but I forgot the name in English. Pissenlit was called '' dandy lion'' pour dent de lions . It was fulfilling!!!!

See you next week:)