Month: July 2017

Upon reflection, the language acquisition process can be addressed in many different ways. While I was aware of the different elements of language, such as writing, speaking, and listening, there are many different exercises by which to improve these areas. For example, we would read aloud and improve pronunciation and read and answer questions for comprehension or listen and answer questions for comprehension, also have grammar lessons or written exams. The language acquisition process is ultimately multifaceted and exhausting. In terms of the cultural differences I came into contact with, they were pretty well handled and didn’t require too much adjustment on my part. The lateness of the dinner is an example of a cultural difference, but I quickly adjusted my internal clockwork and came to enjoy the late night meals and conversation. In terms of language learning the SLA experience has shown me how much I have left to learn. I have definitely met my goal of being able to be confident in my language skills and to employ French whenever possible, as well as improving my level. However, I am unsure as to whether or not I improved it enough for the coming semester of French classes in Paris. I probably needed more time at the institute or just need to sit down and memorize grammar. In my time before I return to France I will put a lot of effort into mindfully memorizing verb formations and vocabulary. At the same time, I do not want to undermine the progress I have made after my month in Tours, but I also need to rise to the challenge of mastering French.

As a result of my SLA Grant experience I have brought back insight into how to interact with people who I not only do not know, but who share a completely different basis than me, starting with the language. The pace of life in Tours, France is something I have come to admire and appreciate and seek in my own life; while slower, it is seemingly more mindful. The dinner conversations that opened up politics and philosophy alike to questioning and discussion is the sort of open challenge and address that I long to have in my daily interactions. If I could give advice to someone who was considering applying for an SLA Grant or preparing to start their own summer language study I would tell them that it is a beautiful experience and one they should take advantage of, that while it is mentally and emotionally exhausting, it is the sort of satisfying exhaustion that leaves you happy you did it. I would ask them why they want to do this, why learning this language is important to them and to tell them to let that motivate them to go and talk to a someone who they perhaps wouldn’t normally if only for the sake of practicing and improving their language. It is easy to get lost in the culture and in the role of observer when going abroad, but for the sake of learning the language it is important to not fall into the idea of learning language through osmosis.

My immediate future following this SLA experience is very clear, as I will be studying at Sciences Po in Paris for the duration of the Fall semester. I will grow what I have learned already by enrolling in a B2 French course for the semester and by having two other college courses in French, all the while living in France! When I return from my semester abroad I hope to continue to take courses in French and keep my level of French up by potentially seeking post graduate opportunities in France or to teach English in a French speaking country. In the meantime I will continue to read the news in French and to listen to French music. Keeping up the level of language as well as learning it requires a constant and mindful attendance. I hope to take French into my professional career of international human rights lawyer or some other field. I definitely hope to live and work abroad for at least a few years in the future. While this SLA Grant experience showed me the difficulties of living abroad, it also showed me the beauty of it and it has definitely made my desire to live abroad more of a realistic goal.

During my first conversation with my host father, the car ride from Saint-Pierre-des-Corps train station to his quaint home, I bumbled through introductory French with vigor, falling back on d’accord and the hmm sound whenever I couldn’t understand. After one week, I’m still vigorously bumbling and Tours still looks quaint save for a scarcity of cobblestone.

What surprises me is the abundance of activity around Tours. There are multiple language schools and colleges, and tourists (mostly French) frequent “Tours Old Town” and Avenue de Grammont, the road running North-South through the middle of town. Rather than making it kitschy, all the activity gives Tours a vital air which is partaken of most consistently at La Guinguette de Tours sur Loire. La guinguette means “the tavern” and many towns along the Loire have one situated by the river, so mention of “la guinguette” is understood to refer to the local riverside dive. This week, I went to Tours’ on Wednesday for an outdoor movie and on Friday to dance with fellow students.

At L’Institut de Touraine, the language school where I’m studying during my séjour, students from around the world attend anywhere between a week and a year strictly to learn French. I’ve already met students from Taiwan, China, Japan, Turkey (tentatively Kurdistan), India, and Spain, as well as many other Americans. Americans make up the largest portion of students, so I have to discern who amongst them is willing to speak French if I want to get the most out of this experience. As of now though, tout va bien.

At least in regards to language-learning. My navigational ability still wants improvement. Without phone service, I’ve tried to familiarize myself with the layout of Tours by walking. The day after I arrived, a Sunday, I planned to take a half-hour walk to Place Jean-Jaurais. The said Place is the central junction of all of Tours, so it’s useful to recognize. It turns out that unfamiliarity with Tours can lengthen the walk there and back to about 3 hours. The next day, the first day of school, I got lost returning home because I exited the Jardins Prébendes d’Oé via the wrong gate. I walk through those gardens everyday on the way to school and back, and now through the correct gates.

I enjoy getting lost in Tours more than in most places. Old buildings line the streets, many of which are strikingly quiet. Detours can lead to gardens, wine bars, or (as I discovered on what I thought was the way to Musée des Beaux-Arts de Tours) a beautiful mental hospital.

The most ridiculous of these misdirected outings occurred this Saturday, when I met a friend to attend an outdoor play. Online, the event had an attached map with a pin. I recognized the spot as an insignificant point along a road near my host family’s house, but I showed up anyways to find my friend confusedly searching. We didn’t find the play because the pin was misplaced by about three blocks. Despite foreknowledge, I really expected to find the play, even in the middle of the road. Maybe because of a sensory overload, or maybe because I’m an idealist, I feel a sense of heightened possibility here and am thrilled for the weeks to come.

 

 

I have never had such an opportunity to make travel so academic so conscientious. While I have traveled alone before, I am expecting this experience in Tours, France to be unlike before because I am arriving to a place wherein I do not speak the language well and wherein I do not know the people who I will be staying with. I am fully prepared for this experience, and am excited for the higher level of French I will achieve. People say there is nothing like learning a language in a country in which they speak it, but I will now finally be able to attest to that commonly accepted idea. While the 22.5 hours of instruction will surely take an effect on my French, I expect the atmosphere to challenge me to be more outgoing and willing to speak French despite the possible grammar mistakes. Furthermore, I feel some pressure to increase my level since I will be attending Sciences Po in the fall. I hope for the best and have high aims, I am also fully prepared to look foolish for the sake of improvement.

1. Reflect on your language learning and acculturation during your SLA Grant experience. What insights did you gain into the language acquisition process? How did you engage and understand cultural differences. Did you meet your goals for language learning that you articulated on the blog before you started your program? Why or why not?

This question is a bit hard for me, as I have spent the past year studying abroad gaining insights into the language acquisition process. However, changing the school at which I studied certainly helped me gain more insight into the process of teaching one’s brain to easily and rapidly use a foreign language. The professor’s at L’alliance Française had clearly received great training in the way the brain functions in relation with foreign languages. My professor taught me numerous new tools for helping learn a language, which I had never even thought of before. Gone are my days of believing that French television is enough comprehension practice! Overall, I am extremely happy with the results of the program, and I can confidently say that I honored my pact to only speak French (with minor exceptions…) during my SLA. My ability level has certainly risen during my studies, and I can even say that my ability to speak fluently (as opposed to translating back and forth between french and english) is much more concrete than before.

2. Reflect on your SLA Grant experience overall. What insights have you brought back as a result of this experience? How has your summer language study abroad changed you and/or your worldview? What advice would you give to someone who was considering applying for an SLA Grant or preparing to start their own summer language study?

This experience has been especially impactful, in part, because I engaged the language in an incredibly diverse class. Students came from all over the world, were different ages, some married, some with children, and some college students like me. Not only did I enjoy the diversity after a year in a University setting, but these students offered me valuable insight into their fields, how they moved to France, and how they have utilized their French skills to work their way into certain careers. This has been incredibly important, as a few students in particular really steered me into a new career direction. Living in Paris also helped me broaden my worldview, as I was constantly encountering French culture and the cultures of the immigrants who surrounded me each and every day. The city truly helped me learn and experience culture in a way that I never have before.

In terms of advice, I would certainly advise students to speak solely in their target language. In addition, I would recommend that students make sure to spend time with native speakers. While it can be comforting to find friends who speak your language and understand your culture, speaking with natives will help you learn to speak colloquially and without accent (well, at least not a bad accent…!).

3. How do you plan to use your language and intercultural competences in the future? Where do you go from here? How will you maintain, grow and/or apply what you have learned? How might you use your SLA Grant experience during the rest of your academic career and post-graduation. How will your SLA Grant experience inform you as you move forward academically, personally and professionally?

I will hold my SLA experience near and dear to my heart no matter what my future holds. However, I can also say that this experience has helped me understand that I want to continue to work with the French language for the rest of my life. Because of this, I will be using each and every opportunity on campus to continue my French progression. This includes French Club, Café Français, and (hopefully) conversation opportunities with native speakers. Further down the line, I will ideally work within the International Development field, in which French will be an integral skill, as much of the work takes place in French speaking countries. Not only this though, but I will also take what I have learned about cultural sensitivity, personal growth, and language growth with me when I (hopefully) embark on Western Africa to aid in the development process. Overall, my SLA grant has been a breath of fresh air that has acted to reinvigorate my passion for language, culture, and respectful humanitarian aid.

Perhaps one of the most important things I have learned over the past six weeks is, put simply, learning a language is difficult. I would venture to say that before arriving in France, my language abilities were already decent. Therefore, mastering small grammar concepts, acquiring new and more precise vocabulary, and simply speaking that language in most nearly all of my daily interactions have been the factors which most greatly accelerated my language acquisition. As I mention later in this post, the most important skill I acquired this summer was a greater confidence to speak French. This was only made possible, however, by actually speaking with native speakers, whether that be an employee of a museum of my “host-parents.” In addition to building confidence, speaking to native speakers provides further opportunity to employ techniques and vocabulary learned inside of the classroom. This opportunity complements the opportunity to make errors and be corrected, something which the French like to do but is actually helpful to those learning the language.

In reviewing and reflecting on my goals which I set for myself at the beginning of the summer, I believe that I achieved a degree of success relating to every one of them. As already mentioned, my inhibitions of speaking French to native speakers has been greatly diminished, largely through the experience of living in with a host family and having to sustain dinnertime conversation in French. The classroom lessons during my first four weeks at the institute very muted aided me in achieving my second goal which focused on grammar and verbs. Moreover, phonetics practice and simple classroom discussion advanced my pronunciation. Referring to my third goal on my blog page, while I did not study as much literature as I would have liked, I read independently and learned more than I imagined about French art. Regardless, I believe that my progress in other areas of my language capacity will aid me in my study of French literature at Notre Dame this fall. Lastly and on a more cultural note, my appreciation for the French political scene has greatly increased especially considering the unique nature of this year’s election. Seeing the shared problems between France and the United States, and those problems unique to France, deepened my political knowledge and made me thing about American problems from different perspectives.

Considering that this is my first time traveling to France, and Europe in general, my SLA Grant experience in its entirety has been more than rewarding. I now fully realize the impact of history on the differences between American and French culture. I also realize that the United States attracts a great deal of attention from other countries. While the US is obviously extremely powerful no the world stage, I believe that it is easy to forget that many people from other countries follow American news somewhat regularly. Another component of American influence is the prevalence of the ability to speak English among students from other countries. As my new friend from Taiwan, Jennifer, said, “America is the only place I know where it is so common to be monolingual.” It is true that as an American the need to speak another language is simply not that strong, but I now better comprehend the danger of this mindset. By adopting monolingualism as convenient and expecting others to speak English, one runs the risk of creating cultural disturbances and limiting his or her own potential. While I have has several opportunities in my life to change languages or stop pursuing one altogether, I now know that I will be forever thankful for my decision to continue to pursue French and the opportunity to become closer to mastering it through the SLA Grant opportunity. For those students considering applying for an SLA Grant, my first piece of advice is: Apply! As your trip approaches, you may be nervous about entering into a new culture for an extended period of time, I certainly was. Just know that as long as you make an effort to speak and learn, most native speakers will appreciate that and want to help you. After all, isn’t that what you would do too?

In the coming weeks when I travel independently around France and in the coming months and years when I continue to study French at Notre Dame and hopefully abroad, I will call upon my experience gained through the SLA Grant for guidance. I firmly believe that the most valuable thing I will take with me upon returning to Notre Dame is the confidence to speak French in a variety of situations, a skill which only the experience of being abroad can provide.  During my first semester at Notre Dame, I typically hesitated to speak up in French class and the same was definitely true when I arrived in Tours earlier this summer. Fortunately, I believe that I have made enormous strides in the sphere of my character and language capability. To speak further of the general experience of being abroad for an extended period of time I look forward to my junior year at Notre Dame, when I hopefully study abroad in France, and will therefore already know(to a certain degree) what I can reasonably expect in terms of the culture and language. In addition to the academic advancements I have made during my time in Tours, my personal mindset has developed to a great degree. Namely, I have become very aware that as a student, I must be always be conscious of cultural differences and willing to respect those. And while I am certainly more knowledgeable of French culture, the friends of various nationalities whom I met enriched my view of the United States, life in other countries, and the common bond which humans, and particularly students, are capable of sharing.

While a professional utility of my SLA Grant experience may not have manifested this summer, I believe that it will considering that I would very much like to pursue an internationally oriented career, particularly with a Francophone nation. Together, the improvements in my language skills and cultural competency will permit me to not only continue my studies of the French language but form deeper connections with the cultural and its people.

As a concluding note, I would just like to take one last opportunity to everyone who has made my time in Tours possible. To the donors to the SLA Grant, the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, and the Center for the Study of Language and Culture, I say thank you. Also, I would like to express my gratitude to the Institute de Touraine, my host family, and all of the friends I made in Tours who truly made my summer remarkable. While I can view my time in Tours and in Europe in general as a valuable experience in and of itself (which it certainly is), I believe the true value of my trip manifests in the knowledge and experience which I will be able to use in coming years to continue to expand my relationships and knowledge in the most worldly way possible.

Attached I have included pictures of my independent travels after my program in Tours finished. The SLA Grant enabled me not only to study French and French culture but travel and see Europe in a much larger capacity than I anticipated.

St. Peter’s Square

The Colosseum

Trevi Fountain

Lake Lugano

Duomo di Milano

Luzern-chapel Bridge

Lion of Luzern

Zurich