I am always fascinated by resourceful people!… Why? Simply because they use imagination to achieve their goals. I can name one person who is exactly like that: Alice!!!… This woman never gives up! She really wants to get her C level, not only for the paper that will secure her job position for the next five years (which is, unfortunately, the case for most civil servants), but also for her personal growth… Alice loves French and it shows! Although her full-time training in a language school has been an excruciating experience for her (she hates to be confined in a box), she is still enthusiastic with the idea of improving her skills in French… Many others would be disgusted by now: six weeks in a boot camp, another failed attempt at getting her C and, in January, another «probably too long» stay at the same boot camp!… Yet Alice remains an optimistic camper (or trooper?)!
A few weeks ago, she started what she calls «les lundis français»… once a week, she sents out an electronic message with useful tips and expressions in French to everyone in her division! And anyone who has to communicate with her on Mondays must address her in French!… What a neat idea! I do not think that, at the very beginning, people did respond with enthusiasm… and I even suspect some of them of having waited until the next day to contact her (unless there was an emergency)!
This past Monday, she decided to have her own contest: she wrote a message riddled with mistakes and she asked her colleagues to correct it! The winner will be the one who will spot the most mistakes. À gagner? A big fattening chocolate bar or, if ever the winner is on a diet, a beautiful picture frame! I heard there were a few willing participants…
Under’going second language training and learning French should actually be fun and Alice did understand that!… Instead of seeing it as the most miserable period of her life, she decided to be pro-active and make it enjoyable… not only for herself, but also for her peers. What she does every Monday (and God knows it is time consuming for her!) is something positive and everyone can benefit from it because they are learning from this activity!… Who ever said that learning cannot occur outside a formal setting?… Constraining people to sit in a classroom, more than seven hours per day, five days per week for an extended period of time, and never giving them the opportunity to gather with their peers for social cultural activities and sharing knowledge is the equivalent of a death sentence…
Yesterday morning, Susan told me that one of her colleagues had finally returned from his eight month full-time training: he cleared his required B in reading, writing and oral interaction… she went to congratulate him and she was stunned to see that he was not happy! Actually he looked sad and depressed… and he told her he really hated French now… He said he had never been so stressed each and every day of his life before! I suspect he will be one of those who will lose what he learned the hard way… and it will not even take him eight months! I would say that, in probably eight weeks, he will be almost unable to communicate in his second language… So much effort for basically no results! Except for a piece of paper stating that he has the required level for his job position. Then, with time, he will forget about all this until the day he will be notified that his level has expired and he needs to be re-tested… Of course, after five years without using French, chances are he will regress and therefore will fail at the exams (at least the written and the oral ones!). Consequently he will be sent to a boot camp again! And, the second time is always worse than the first one… why? because of the painful memories and a feeling of guilt… Hopefully, he will realize that he needs to maintain his skills in French in order to avoid another ordeal… and he might go back sooner than expected, since all positions are now turning into CBC! Something to think about and seriously chew on I guess…
I know this will not happen to either Alice, Susan, Dave, James or Seema… only because, right from the beginning, they decided that they would learn French for life! Not merely for work!… They are individuals interested in the cultural aspect of the language and they enjoy their journey of discovery… All these people may not have their levels yet, but on the other hand they know so much more! They watch «Tout le monde en parle», the most popular TV program in Québec… they listen to the news in French, therefore they can actually understand them from another perspective… For them, the province of Québec is much more than a «société distincte» or a nation of its own… it is a place where people breathe, live and have an interesting and flamboyant culture! All of this will stay with them and I am 100% convinced they will never lose their French because it is now part of their daily routine and life… Listening to Radio-Canada in the morning is a reflex for them… Booking their Sunday night to watch Guy A. Lepage and his guests discussing different hot topics and drinking wine is something natural… Bottom line, they enjoy it!!! And it should be this way for everybody… unfortunately, as long as language schools will run their business as boot camps, it will not happen soon!
THUMBS UP ALICE!
“À chaque instant, j’en profite pour manifester mon plein potentiel.”
Michèle Lemieux
LAST CALL FOR MY HOLIDAY GIVEWAY!
YOU HAVE UNTIL TOMORROW, DECEMBER 14, 23H59 ET TO ENTER… CLICK HERE!
Motivation + Imagination = A Five-year Guarantee!!!
I am always fascinated by resourceful people!… Why? Simply because they use imagination to achieve their goals. I can name one person who is exactly like that: Alice!!!… This woman never gives up! She really wants to get her C level, not only for the paper that will secure her job position for the next five years (which is, unfortunately, the case for most civil servants), but also for her personal growth… Alice loves French and it shows! Although her full-time training in a language school has been an excruciating experience for her (she hates to be confined in a box), she is still enthusiastic with the idea of improving her skills in French… Many others would be disgusted by now: six weeks in a boot camp, another failed attempt at getting her C and, in January, another «probably too long» stay at the same boot camp!… Yet Alice remains an optimistic camper (or trooper?)!
A few weeks ago, she started what she calls «les lundis français»… once a week, she sents out an electronic message with useful tips and expressions in French to everyone in her division! And anyone who has to communicate with her on Mondays must address her in French!… What a neat idea! I do not think that, at the very beginning, people did respond with enthusiasm… and I even suspect some of them of having waited until the next day to contact her (unless there was an emergency)!
This past Monday, she decided to have her own contest: she wrote a message riddled with mistakes and she asked her colleagues to correct it! The winner will be the one who will spot the most mistakes. À gagner? A big fattening chocolate bar or, if ever the winner is on a diet, a beautiful picture frame! I heard there were a few willing participants…
Under’going second language training and learning French should actually be fun and Alice did understand that!… Instead of seeing it as the most miserable period of her life, she decided to be pro-active and make it enjoyable… not only for herself, but also for her peers. What she does every Monday (and God knows it is time consuming for her!) is something positive and everyone can benefit from it because they are learning from this activity!… Who ever said that learning cannot occur outside a formal setting?… Constraining people to sit in a classroom, more than seven hours per day, five days per week for an extended period of time, and never giving them the opportunity to gather with their peers for social cultural activities and sharing knowledge is the equivalent of a death sentence…
Yesterday morning, Susan told me that one of her colleagues had finally returned from his eight month full-time training: he cleared his required B in reading, writing and oral interaction… she went to congratulate him and she was stunned to see that he was not happy! Actually he looked sad and depressed… and he told her he really hated French now… He said he had never been so stressed each and every day of his life before! I suspect he will be one of those who will lose what he learned the hard way… and it will not even take him eight months! I would say that, in probably eight weeks, he will be almost unable to communicate in his second language… So much effort for basically no results! Except for a piece of paper stating that he has the required level for his job position. Then, with time, he will forget about all this until the day he will be notified that his level has expired and he needs to be re-tested… Of course, after five years without using French, chances are he will regress and therefore will fail at the exams (at least the written and the oral ones!). Consequently he will be sent to a boot camp again! And, the second time is always worse than the first one… why? because of the painful memories and a feeling of guilt… Hopefully, he will realize that he needs to maintain his skills in French in order to avoid another ordeal… and he might go back sooner than expected, since all positions are now turning into CBC! Something to think about and seriously chew on I guess…
I know this will not happen to either Alice, Susan, Dave, James or Seema… only because, right from the beginning, they decided that they would learn French for life! Not merely for work!… They are individuals interested in the cultural aspect of the language and they enjoy their journey of discovery… All these people may not have their levels yet, but on the other hand they know so much more! They watch «Tout le monde en parle», the most popular TV program in Québec… they listen to the news in French, therefore they can actually understand them from another perspective… For them, the province of Québec is much more than a «société distincte» or a nation of its own… it is a place where people breathe, live and have an interesting and flamboyant culture! All of this will stay with them and I am 100% convinced they will never lose their French because it is now part of their daily routine and life… Listening to Radio-Canada in the morning is a reflex for them… Booking their Sunday night to watch Guy A. Lepage and his guests discussing different hot topics and drinking wine is something natural… Bottom line, they enjoy it!!! And it should be this way for everybody… unfortunately, as long as language schools will run their business as boot camps, it will not happen soon!
THUMBS UP ALICE!
“À chaque instant, j’en profite pour manifester mon plein potentiel.”
Michèle Lemieux
LAST CALL FOR MY HOLIDAY GIVEWAY!
YOU HAVE UNTIL TOMORROW, DECEMBER 14, 23H59 ET TO ENTER… CLICK HERE!