“Step away from the culture”: Paradoxes in Canadian French immersion Kelle Keating Marshall (Pepperdine University) and Wendy D. Bokhorst-­‐Heng (Crandall University)1 Intercultural Competence: Traditions and Transitions Fifth International Conference on the Development and Assessment of Intercultural Competence January 23, 2016 Westward Look Wyndham Grand Resort, Tucson, Arizona Jacqueline Discourses on language and identity (1) …or am I going to REQUEST a little bit of French service, or/ Sometimes I’m a bitch about it and just point blank REFUSE to speak English, even though it’s REALLY GOOD, because I want/ Usually, it’s the YOUNG FRENCH speaker who don’t have their identity CLEAR YET that they’re PROUD of being French, and I’m like, “I’LL make that person feel GOOD today.” (K: Yeah.) So, I’m going to BITCH until that person COMES. Reactions to cultural documents (2) J: Yeah, because that’s the THING, they want them to be/ If you fill out a survey at the end, that they’re comfortable saying “I’m FRENCH” instead of clicking the English. (K: Mm hm) I’ve heard that one at some point/ The WHOLE POINT/ You KNOW the identity’s the WHOLE THING. When they’re recognizing themselves as a French person instead of an English person or something, which we don’t DO in immersion. At ALL. K: Yeah. WHY would they do that? (…) J: Well, it’s MORE like in the questionnaire, are you going to request French or English? (K: Okay) kind of thing, I THINK. And the fact that, you know, if I’m going in a store, am I just going to assume everyone’s/ or am I going to REQUEST a little bit of French service (…) (3) K: … NOT to adopt Francophone culture. J: HIGHLIGHT, but not to ADOPT. Because (.) Yeah. They want them to be English still, I don’t know. But, usually the kids love it when you talk about Acadia, though. (K: Mm hm.) They’re REALLY interested into it. And it’s/ (Laugh) I had some kids, like, “So WE’RE MEAN because we’re ENGLISH?” Because I said that the English people/ I’m like, “It’s ONE English person who decided to do it, and the others had to follow the order, really. But it was YEARS ago.” I mean, there’s MEAN French people, TOO. You know, because I didn’t want them to feel mean. But, YEAH, it’s WEIRD that they say it though, right? They don’t want them to ADOPT it? Why not? [Jacqueline reads] J: Yeah, so, to make them realize that it’s/ (…) And we TRY to HIGHLIGHT it, and they’re SUPPOSED to do it in Grade 3, too, but usually what happens is it’s what gets kicked out if there’s something (..) else going on. There’s something more important, the French gonna get the kick. 1
Study funded in part by the ACTFL/MLJ Research Priorities Grant, 2015; the Seaver Research Council Grant at Pepperdine University; and the Stephen & Ella Steeves Research Scholarship Fund at Crandall University. 1 Cultural discussions in the classroom (4) J: But, yeah, I like to expose/ When I did The Voice last year, the kids were really into it, because she (Caroline Savoie) was from HERE, right? They WANTED her to win. They were SO disappointed when she lost. But I’m like, “Look at how Mika was REALLY into her.” But nothing happened out of that! I was so disappointed, though, because he really SEEMED to like her, though, as a singer. Um, but they couldn’t UNDERSTAND, but then we did watch The Hockey Sweater on YouTube, and there’s a French/ And then they WANTED to see the French version. We saw it for ENGLISH. K: Le chandail, right? J: Le chandail de hockey! And then I showed them in English first, because it was a requirement for the unit that we were in (K: Ha!) And then I said, “But he’s FRENCH!” And they said, “Well, does it exist in French?” I said, “Yeah.” And they wanted to WATCH it. And then I said, “Did you understand?” They really just wanted to watch it. So, I don’t know/ But you can/ HE really has a thick accent when he’s speaking, right? (…) J: And they’re all wearing the Maurice Richard sweater, and then he gets a Maple Leaf one and nobody wants to play with him, and are thinking he’s BRAGGING because he has a Maple Leaf one, which is really a CULTURAL/ How really Québec are not open most of the time to English speakers and/ Anyway/ DIFFERENT story, but/ (…) Anyway, and the kid (a student of J’s) was SO UPSET that he (Roch Carrier) was upset getting a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater, he couldn’t get over that part of the book! (Laughter) And I was like, “That was SO interesting,” but anyway. It was just funny, because seeing the point of view of an English person. As a French, you GET the point of the book. Élisabeth / Elizabeth Background and cultural Identity (5) K: I wanted to come back to this, because your (.) your story is a little different from some of the people we’ve interviewed. (…) But, you were saying your parents are from outside the province, so like how do you feel with like/ Uh, do you think/ Do you feel like you’re (.) Acadienne now that you’re here, or how do you/ E: No! Yeah, it’s funny, because people/ Because my maiden name is [Acadian last name] (..) So, everybody’s like, “YOU’RE Acadian.” And I remember (.) going to SCHOOL, and my parents were like, “You are NOT Acadian.” Even though/ Like, [Acadian last name] is an Acadian name. (K: ABSOLUTELY!) So, I mean I/ OBVIOUSLY I/ (..) THEY were just not RAISED in an Acad/ Like, my DAD was not, and neither was my mom, in an ACADIAN FAMILY, so the Acadian traditions, like, were certainly not passed down to ME, and (.) I (.) DON’T asso/ Like [husband’s name] is like, “Why don’t you have all/” That’s my husband/ Like, “The ACADIAN stuff,” and because I/ To ME, I just/ in my family it wasn’t/ we weren’t/ (..) They didn’t CONSIDER themselves, or US as like an Acadian FAMILY, even though we have an Acadian last NAME, just because my dad wasn’t brought up/ He was brought up in [another province] and there’s no Acadians THERE, um, you know, there’s no CULTURAL things like here in Moncton/ like in New Brunswick, um (.) so I DON’T, myself, I don’t associate myself/ or I don’t consider myself an Acadian. (.) Just (.) you know anything/ Even like, um (.) the quinze août and all that stuff, like I would/ As I was older, I would go with my FRIENDS and things like that, but (.) it kind of felt FUNNY. I felt AWKWARD (rising intonation) (.) during those celebrations, just because I (.) wouldn’t be like (K: Outsider) Yeah! I felt like an outsider, like, and, it’s just/ K: So do you have a/ This is FUNNY, because it’s gotten really POLITICAL. You can’t just say (.) like (.) canadienne-­‐
française anymore, because that actually means (.) Québécoise (I: Right), like it’s synonymous. And then there’s 2 like franco-­‐ontari/ (E: Ontarienne. Yeah. And I’m not THAT. laugh) So what (.) Like do you/ You’re just (.) FRANCOPHONE. Is that/ (…) I: Yeah. I would just say francophone, um (.) if I had to PUT myself in a GROUP, like OBVIOUSLY (..) people would be like, “Well, you’re ACADIAN. (.) Because you speak French and you live in New Brunswick,” but (.) NO, like that’s NOT/ (.) NO. And that’s NOT how I was brought up, and (.) you know, my grandpar/ You know what I mean? Like ALL of THAT. So, NO, I would definitely/ I consider just myself like a Francophone. Um (..) Yeah. (K speaks…) I’m just (.) HERE, speaking French in New Brunswick! (Laughs) Discourses on language and identity (6) W: This’ll feed into a question that we’re asking later, but I’m just curious about HOW does this feed into your CANADIAN identity? (..) So if/ E: I’m a FRENCH-­‐Canadian.
W: And what does being Canadian mean to you. Like, do you SEPARATE your French identity from your Canadian identity, or/? E: Oh, YES. Yeah. I/ Like I consider myself CANADIA/ Like a CANADIAN who speaks (.) French. Like (.) I think also because (.) from the time I left Grade Twelve (.) and then I did (.) you know FIVE YEARS (.) in an English university (.) and I teach in an Anglophone District, so/ When I’m in my class I speak FRENCH, but I’m AROUND English ALL the TIME. My husband and HIS family and (.) my colleagues, they’re mo/ Like, I mean (.) even though there’s a group of us who teach IMMERSION, when there’s OTHERS, we all speak ENGLISH. (.) So (.) like I DEFINITELY (..) THAT’S WHY I would s/ YEAH, I would see myself/ I see myself as a FRANCOPHONE (Rising intonation) but I’m okay with the fact that peop/ (brief exhale .) that (.) um (…) Like I/ I mean, like, I’m NOT like a HARD (.) COR/ Like (.) Do you know what I mean? Like. (K: Yeah! Yeah!) Uh, I’m OKAY with speaking ENGLISH. People get insulted because they have to switch. I DON’T. Like, it DOESN’T BOTHER ME, it’s only (.) RESPECTFUL and FAIR. And (.) where OTHERS (.) I KNOW/ And I’ve worked in the past, they’re like, “I can’t believe we have to switch!” and some would REFUSE TO. Like, I’m just/ I’m VERY/ You know what? I/ I FUNCTION in BOTH LANGUAGES (.) and I am a CANADIAN. Like, that’s how I (.) truly see it. Reactions to cultural documents (7) E: Well (elongated) (exhale, 5 seconds) Like, I/ CULTURE is a BIG aspect of it. I don’t know if it’s because I teach Grade Three, I don’t know if it’s like/ (.) I FEEL like we don’t (.) touch (.) a lot (.) on it in the sense that (.) I try to expose them (.) a LITTLE BIT. But, um (.) DEFINITELY (.. exhale) Like (.) I guess I don’t (.) do as (.) much as I PROBABLY SHOULD, with the c/ BUT (.) like (.) I REALIZE, like, like they’re saying, it’s to be able to communicate, and, to, you know, UNDERSTAND the OTHERS BETTER, and to (.) you know (.) eum (..) //But// K: //We were// particularly struck by this over here where it said (.) Um, (.) the (.) something, something, something, the French immersion program to HIGHLIGHT this relationship, to have (.) immersion students/ NOT, sorry, //NOT TO HAVE// (I: //Not to have//) immersion students adopt Francophone culture. (..) That/ E: Right! I think they’re just trying to say that we’re not going to PUSH that on THEM, maybe? Right? Like (.) I think MAYBE some parents are FEARFUL, and I KNOW/ (.) Because (.) it’s the REALITY, and I KNOW, um, a LOT of the FAMILIES HERE (.) they just/ The way they see it, they PICK (.) French immersion (.) not liking the idea that 3 their kids HAVE to learn immersion (.) but THEY SAY that they have to put them in the French immersion classes to avoid (.) their child (.) to be in (.) the (.) other/ the ENGLISH class, which has all the problems and stuff like that. And, a LOT of them are like, they kind of are FEARFUL, they’re like, you know, “We don’t want our kid to be, like, a Francophone, and we don’t want them to/” So (.) they’re kind of (..) kind of WORRIED about that, too (rising intonation). Like, I mean, we’re CERTAINLY not going to FORCE them into things, but it’s our job to EXPOSE them. Cultural discussions in the classroom (8) W: Do you focus mostly on local culture? Or French culture more broadly across Canada, or even globally? E: Uh (.) No. Uh. (laugh) Like I said, I HONESTLY in THIS CLASSROOM, we don’t do too, too much on CULTURE. It does (.) play a bigger role, like (.) as (.) they, um (.) Like in Grade Four, it’s Canada, and then in Grade Five, it’s the world, and (.) so, as they get OLDER, I find social studies in the older grades is DEFINITELY VERY CULTURAL, and there’s a LOT of projects, and there’s MORE THERE, I would say. Jessica Jessica: The making of a Francophone
17
Marriage and Home
French community
16
Mount Allison University
1st year French Instructor
15
Université de Moncton
French
14
University of Saint Anne
French Acadian
13
French Immersion:
Quebec & NB Acadian
12
Saint Pierre
Miquelon
11
Third Year University
French Minor
10
Mount Allison
1st year French Student
9
End of High School:
Anglophone; Unilingual
18
Children
Two Anglophones who raised two Francophones
4 Discourses on language and identity (9) I went to Mount Allison and took the first year French course and at that TIME I could not speak French. And (laughter) I found it VERY difficult, and I was VERY SHY in CLASS, didn’t/ I didn’t say anything more than I absolutely had to in class in French. Because when I went to high school I TOOK all the French courses right up to Grade Twelve FRENCH, BUT we weren’t required to speak French in CLASS so/ That’s the way it was, the OLD PROGRAM, the/ Immersion didn’t exist then. (10) At the end of that first year in French, I had to do an oral interview. So I thought, “I better start practicing.” (Laughter by all three) I talked about skiing during my oral interview, and I basically learned it all by HEART. But I started to develop a REAL INTEREST for speaking French, and I thought it was a lot of FUN, and so at the end of my FIRST YEAR/ Oh! The first year, I only took French because it fit into my course load! And my FATHER, he’s kind of been my mentor throughout my university years, and he said, “IF you want to TEACH, you need to LEARN to speak French.” And he had a LOT of FORESIGHT, my father, and I said, “Oh!” I said, “Well I could LEARN FRENCH, but I could NEVER be good enough to TEACH in IMMERSION!” (11) I decided to take French again in second year, because a friend said she’d help me with it and I didn’t find it EASY. And THIRD YEAR, I took Writing and Composition core French course/ TWO French courses. It became my MINOR. … That YEAR/ That THIRD YEAR at Mount Allison, I had taken a course from [professor name]. He was teaching a course called Expressivité which is Phonetics and EXPRESSIONS, French expressions, and he was SO full of energy and SO PASSIONATE about his subject, and/ How do you become passionate about PHONETICS (laughing), but he made US all PASSIONATE and it OPENED my EYES to the REASON French words are pronounced the way they were pronounced. (12) At the end of, uh, my THIRD YEAR I went to Saint Pierre et Miquelon for six weeks/ Hâllo! So I spent six weeks in Saint Pierre et Miquelon and started developing a PASSION for the language. (13) When I finished my B.Ed at Queens I felt like I wanted to do some more French courses to increase my fluency in French, so I did two French immersion courses back to back. I did six weeks in Chicoutimi and four weeks in Tracadie. (14) I started out teaching Core French. I did that for three years, and then I said, “I REALLY want to increase my fluency again even MORE in FRENCH.” And then I went to University of Saint Anne’s for a year in Nova Scotia. WONDERFUL experience. Met and interacted with ACADIAN people. I went back to visit Saint Anne’s for the following three years after graduating. They gave me summer jobs as the coordinator of their French language programs and it was just a wonderful experience. (15) (After teaching French Immersion to Grades 1 and 2 students for three years..) And then I said, “Oh! I need a new experience again!” My father said, “Why don’t you try doing your Master’s at the University of Moncton. So I took a year’s leave of absence, and studied at U de M for a year, WONDERFUL YEAR, excellent, positive experience. (16) And then, when I finished that YEAR, there was an ad in the paper for a job at Mount Allison as language lab coordinator, and to teach two French courses. So I applied for that, and I got it. And then I ended up teaching the FIRST FRENCH COURSE that I took at Mount Allison. (17) My husband and I married and we decided we would raise our children in FRENCH FIRST. French, because you know you want your children to be bilingual, but what’s the best approach? … so I said, “I REALLY want to start 5 my children in French as MATERNAL language. [My husband’s] father was French, his mother, ENGLISH, so they spoke English at home, but he grew up in Edmondson. So, his French is fluent; he SOUNDS like a Francophone and so we BOTH had FRENCH. We’re TECHNICALLY two ANGLOPHONES who raised two FRANCOPHONES. We decided to move to Dieppe, you know, and basically functioned in FRENCH. (18) They went to the French schools, both girls; they went to French CATECHISM. They did EVERYTHING in French. Annette and Élise Cultural Identity (19) W: What is more important to your identity, that you’re Canadian or Acadian? A: Canadian, for me. E: I don’t know. That is tough. (Pause). That is a tough one for me. Can you say equal? Ya?... Ya, because I’m, I’m really happy to be Canadian, but I’m really happy to live in New Brunswick and be an Acadian as well. So that is why I’m equally/ It kind of goes hand in hand. Like I’m equally proud, because if I would live in Alberta, I would be proud to be Canadian. Just. But would I be proud to live in Alberta? I don’t know. Reactions to curriculum documents (20) K: Do you think that your students ADOPT Francophone culture? E: Not as much as in the French District. For sure. Ya, no. I think they only know what we teach them. It is NOT necessarily in our program and there’s not an Acadian day here or something like that. Like in the French [schools], they make a lot of efforts and they have a lot of Acadian artists go and present in the schools and all that. We don’t have that here. But I don’t think that any other schools have that. And it’s maybe a component that has been (pause), not forgotten but (pause), I think. But then// A: But they they are supposed to do the cultural, teach more the cultural in Grade 1 and 2. Isn’t that the introduction that they are supposed to do, like, BEFORE they enter immersion? I think it’s more the cultural component. K: There is that cultural kit people have told us// A: Ya. A kit. And they are supposed to be taught that I think in Grade 1 and 2. E: And there is like a CD with French songs and all that. But it’s not as cultured. (pause). But I, I do find, like, it’s HARD to talk about it. Because, (pause), they are not the same culture as you. (speaks hesitantly). (pause). I don’t know if I can say that? And I don’t know how FAR I should go with my beliefs, and, and I wouldn’t want to impose anything on someone. And it’s jut/ It’s not a RELIGION or anything, but, it’s EASIER to do it … when everybody is (pause), like, you know, they have the same background. 6 References Bokhorst-­‐Heng, Wendy D. (2007). Multiculturalism’s Narratives: Some preliminary thoughts on comparative multiculturalism and multicultural education. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 39(6), 629-­‐658. Byram, Michael (1997) Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. Byram, Michael (2008) From Foreign Language Education to Education for Intercultural Citizenship: Essays and Reflections. Clevedon: UK: Multilingual Matters. Canadian Parents for French. (2014). French Second Language enrolment trends, 2008-­‐2009 – 2012-­‐2013. Available at: http://cpf.ca/en/files/2014-­‐Enrolment-­‐Stats.pdf Carrier, Roch. (1985) Le chandail de hockey. Toronto: Livres Toundra. Charmaz, Kathy (2006) Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. London: Sage. Dallaire, Christine, & Denis, Claude (2005, Spring) Asymmetrical Hybridities: Youths at Francophone Games in Canada. The Canadian Journal of Sociology, 30(2), 143-­‐168. Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/cjs/summary/v030/30.2dallaire.html Department of Education (2011) Social Studies Grade 3 Curriculum-­‐Provincial Identity. Fredericton: Province of New Brunswick. Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (2014) The Linguistic and Cultural Development Policy: A Societal Project for the French Education System. Fredericton: Province of New Brunswick. Edwards, Viviane (1989) French immersion in New Brunswick: The early years, 1969-­‐1985. M.Ed. diss., University of New Brunswick. Gee, James Paul (1999) An introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method. New York: Routledge. Haque, Eve (2012) Multiculturalism Within a Bilingual Framework. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Hayday, Matthew (2005) Bilingual Today, United Tomorrow: Official Languages in Education and Canadian Federalism. Montréal: McGill-­‐Queen’s Press. Hayday, Matthew (2015) So They Want Us to Learn French: Promoting and Opposing Bilingualism in English-­‐speaking Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press. Heller, Monica (1990) French immersion in Canada: A model for Switzerland? Multilingua, 9(1), p. 67-­‐85). Heller, Monica, & Labrie, Normand (2004) Langue, pouvoir et identité: Une étude de cas, une approche théorique, une méthodologie. In M. Heller & N. Labrie (Eds.), Discours et identités: La francité canadienne entre modernité et mondialisation (pp. 9-­‐39). Brussels, Belgium: Éditions modulaires européennes. Keating, K.L. (2014). 2014. Discourses of minority francophone space: The emergent role of an Acadian cultural center. Language in Society 43(5): 515-­‐538. Kohler, Michelle (2015) Teachers as Mediators in the Foreign Language Classroom. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. Kramsch, Claire (2009) The Multilingual Subject: What foreign language learners say about their experience and why it matters. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kramsch, Claire (2013) Culture in foreign language teaching. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research 1(1): 57-­‐78. 7 Landry, Rodrigue, Deveau, Kenneth, & Allard, Réal. (2006). Vitalité ethnolinguistique et construction identitaire: le cas de l‘identité bilingue. Éducation et Francophonie, 34(1), 54-­‐81. Retrieved from http://www.acelf.ca/c/revue/pdf/XXXIV_1_054.pdf Lantolf, James P. & Thorne, Steven L. (2006) Sociocultural Theory and the Genesis of Second Language Development. New York: Oxford University Press. Laxer, James (2007) The Acadians in search of a homeland. Canada: Anchor Canada. Lave, Jean &Wenger, Etienne (1991) Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lefebvre, Marie (2006) L’identité bilingue et le capital linguistique communautaire: le cas du Grand Moncton. Francophonies d’Amérique, Fall 2006(22), 73-­‐90. Lepage, Jean-­‐François & Corbeil, Jean-­‐Pierre (2013) The Evolution of English-­‐French Bilingualism in Canada From 1961 to 2011. Statistics Canada catalogue no. 75-­‐006-­‐X ISSN 2291-­‐0840. Ottawa, Ontario. Liddicoat, Anthony J. (2005) Culture for language learning in Australia language-­‐in-­‐education policy. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 28(2): 28-­‐43. Liddicoat, Anthony J., Scarino, Angela, Papademetre, Leo & Kohler, Michelle (2003) Report on Intercultural Language Learning. Canberra: Department of Education, Science and Training. Ministry of Education. (2005) Français langue seconde: français de base. Programme d’études et guide d’enseignement. Fredericton, NB: Province of New Brunswick. New Brunswick Department of Education. Anglophone East School District. Programs. Available at: http://web1.nbed.nb.ca/sites/ASD-­‐E/french-­‐second-­‐language/Pages/default.aspx Roy, Sylvie (2008) French immersion studies. The Alberta Journal of Educational Research 54(4): 396-­‐406. Ruiz, Richard (1984) Orientations in language planning. NABE Journal, 8(2), 15–34. Shohamy, Elana (2006). Expanding language. In E. Shohamy (ed.). Language Policy. Hidden agendas and new approaches (pp. 5-­‐21). London and New York. Routledge. Statistics Canada (2012) Focus on Geography Series, 2011 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-­‐310-­‐XWE2011004. Ottawa, Ontario. Analytical products, 2011 Census. Last updated October 24, 2012. Thériault, Joseph Yvon (2007) Faire société: société civile et espaces francophones. Sudbury, ON: Prise de parole. Vygotsky, L.S. (1978) Mind in Society. The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 8