100 % of English at all Times

SCHOOL CONTEXT
My practicum IV took place in a elementary school, LEscale et du Plateau, in
Charlesbourg. This school belongs to the School Board in the north-east of Quebec, CS
des Premires -Seigneuries. The school is situated in an affluent area in Charlesbourg.
The majority of students attending the school live in the schools neighbourhood. There
are, however, some students who come to school from other areas not belonging
geographically to the school. The area in which the school is situated is not on the lower
rung of the socio-economic ladder. Nevertheless, some students live in nearby apartments
and consist of various ethnicities. The school offers a service of French (francization)
during the school hours to students recently arrived to Canada. These students are,
however, the minority.
The school offers very interesting and stimulating educational programs, which
contribute to its great popularity. There are: regular classes, classes for students with
language and learning difficulties, Montessori pedagogy and intensive English for all the
students of cycle 3, year 1 and 2. The school also offers activities in hockey, soccer,
cheerleading and more.
The school offers intensive English to all students of grade 5 and 6. This year,
there is one group of grade 5, one group of grade 5-6 and one group of grade 6. The three
groups spend 1/3 of a school year in intensive English, which represents 35 periods per
cycle of nine days. I spent all my practicum with the grade 6 students. These students had
their first intensive English experience last year as grade 5, from April until June.
Therefore, when they came to school after summer break, they all remembered the class
rules and they easily adjusted an intensive English rules and environment. Most of the
students were quite advanced in their second language acquisition and highly motivated
to speak English. They eagerly shared their last summer experience, while they went on
holidays to the English speaking Canada or the United States and they were able to
communicate.
After only a few days at the school, I realized that the school staff had a very
positive attitude towards English. The school principal is a former English teacher which
is a motivating factor for both the students and the parents. When entering an English
classroom, he always spoke English with the students. Moreover, other teachers and
educators made an effort to speak English in our class. If they were unable to speak
English, they asked permission to speak French. A hula hoop was a tool provided for
emergency situations for some who had to speak in French. A student or a teacher who
was in the hula hoop, had the only opportunity to speak English in our classroom. In

addition to that, the students have the possibility to spend a few days on a school trip in
an English speaking environment such as Ottawa or Toronto. As far as parents are
concerned, many of them are very pleased due to the fact that their child benefits from
intensive English both in grades 5 and 6. It is certain that parents positive attitudes
towards English play an important role in the learning process of their children.
Consequently, the children who receive support from their parents to learn English and
who understand why learning English is important for their future, most likely feel a
higher motivation to do their best in this complex process of learning a second language.

ANALYSIS OF MY PERSONAL USE OF ENGLISH

From the beginning of my practicum it was clear in my head that I would speak
English and only English with my students. It was not a difficult decision to make, as it
has been over ten years since I mostly communicate in this language. However, it is
important to mention that it is not due to the fact that I prefer to speak English to French.
It is mostly due to the fact that when I learned English in Great Britain, my teacher spoke
English only. It was a very similar situation with my French acquisition in Quebec, the
only language that my teachers used was French. It was amazing how hard my brain
worked in order to decode the vocabulary without looking it up in a dictionary. To this
day, I remember how impressed and proud I was each time I found the way to understand
more and more in these two languages. Having experienced foreign language acquisition
in the target language, I am aware that this way makes a language student not only learn a
language but also think in the target language with all linguistic structures, syntax and
vocabulary. I keep this in mind as it is for me the background of my own use of the target
language at school. For many students, English teachers are the only source of input in
English. Therefore, language teachers should use every single second of their time to
expose them with English.
My daily routine, to which students were exposed from the beginning of the
school year, was there to help them live in English. Each morning, I waited for them in
the school hallway greeting them, one by one in English. After entering the classroom,
students always approached me and asked about the subject of the lesson. These
questions really pleased me as it was evidence that the students were interested in my
teaching and, above all, in English learning. Afterwards, each student got ready at his
place with a book in English and did a silent reading for 15 minutes. Should there be any
students who accidentally did other things during this time, a soft invitation to join the
rest of the class in silent reading was most often enough. On a regular basis, students
who got settled down quickly with their books were rewarded with a teachers positive
feedback such as good job!, well done!. I also tended to praise this student in front
of the class Wow, look at Alex how quick he is! Bravo, Alex! or Thank you Amlie

for reading in silence, good job! Whatever activity was done, whether it was with the
whole class or in small groups, all the instructions were always given in English. The
same applied to the instructions on the homework or evaluation papers. In order to make
certain that everyone understood well, I also asked students whether they wanted me to
repeat and whether they had any questions. In addition, I always asked one student to
repeat the instructions to the class. I also went over the instructions projected on the smart
board. I often used different colours to make it clear, especially to those visual students.
Furthermore, a detailed lesson plan and homework was always written on the white
board, located on the side of the class, to which students could always refer.
When introducing new vocabulary, the new words were never translated into
French. With the help of the smart board, I often presented students an English definition
of new words. The students learned them in context, by paraphrasing or by giving
examples in different sentences, often using students names.
ANALYSIS OF MY STUDENTS USE OF ENGLISH IN WHOLE CLASS AND
PAIR/GROUP ACTIVITIES
From the beginning of my practicum, it was clearly stated that everyone who
passes through the door of the English classroom speaks English and only English.
English classroom is an English zone. This rule was also my associate teachers rule,
therefore it was not very difficult for me to enforce it. Students knew very well that they
would be punished for speaking French. Usually, my associate teacher gave a
presentation to prepare and if the presentation was not ready on the following day, the
student had to stay on recess and prepared the unaccomplished task. This was even worse
punishment, hence I did not have any problems with encouraging students to speak
English. They spoke English during my class all time. Even though we had to take a long
walk in order to reach a computer lab, students walked in pairs and still continued talking
in English. Moreover, as I often stayed during my lunch break in class, they often came to
me and not only spoke to me in English, they also spoke with their classmates when I was
next to them. In addition, even after switching the groups, my old students came to me
and still spoke in their second language. The English classroom was really associated as
an English zone. I am in favour of speaking to my students in French, outside the class as,
I think, a closer bond can be created between a student and a teacher. Interestingly,
students, while coming to my class during the break, spoke to me only in English.
Probably, knowing that I am not a francophone, they felt a sort of responsibility for me or
it was simply a manifestation of their national hospitality. Nevertheless, I decided not
to change their custom and we always spoke in English.
The English classroom, prepared by my associate teacher, provided input and
helped different types of students to maximize the use of English. On the walls, there
were posters with the functional language, useful expressions, connectors, posters for the

response and writing process. On the door, there was an enormous Welcome to the
English Zoneposter. There were also some works of previous students that gave the
students indications what their teacher expected them to do during the school year. They
were some placards with proverbs and quotes of famous writers and poets. Finally, the
classroom was equipped with a great number of English dictionaries, thesaurus or books
with English idioms and expressions. I was lucky to do my practicum in a class equipped
with a smart board which I could use for many interesting activities. We listened to songs,
watched short video clips or did interactive exercises. At the end of the period, we used to
play a scavenger hunt or a hangman game with newly acquired themes.
Following my associate teachers routine, I was in charge of the ESL class blog. Once
time per cycle, students had to read or watch a review, an article, a movie or a TV show
in English. Afterwards, students had to post a comment on their blog. Moreover, parents
were also involved in this activity, they had to sign the coupons that their child watched a
TV show in English and posted a comment. According to my teacher, parents who get
involved in the learning process of their child significantly impact the achievement and
development of the child. Leithwood states that parents engagement in school is nurtured
when they come to understand that such involvement is a key part of what it means to be
a responsible parent, when parents believe they have the skills and know-how to make
meaningful contributions to the schools efforts and when they believe that the school
staff, as well as their own children, value their participation in the school. (Leithwood,
School Leaders Influence on Learning; The Four Paths, p.8). To motivate students to
leave comments on their blog, my teacher and I evaluated their posts and organized a
movie ticket draw one time per cycle. This strategy worked very well and the students
eagerly participated in the activity.
MY FUTURE GOALS
I am very satisfied with my personal use of English and, at the same time, I am impressed
by the quality and frequency of English used by my students. I think that my experience
in learning English and French as a foreign language helped me develop good strategies
necessary to obtain success in learning languages. Moreover, it can be a good basis for
the art of teaching.
The goal that I am setting for myself is to always try to maximize students use of English,
right from the beginning of the school year. Students should understand that using only
English by their teacher will help them acquire the language more quickly. I am going to
share the passion for learning foreign languages regardless a kind of students who will be
entrusted to me. It is important to remember to adapt the language such as its flow or
choice of vocabulary, to get students motivated and passionate about the English
language. In addition, cultural teaching in foreign language classrooms should be as
important as linguistic knowledge teaching. Culture introduction should be integrated

with language teaching in many aspects and at multiple levels. I believe that language
learning goes beyond the boundaries of linguistic knowledge and proficiency, it also
touches culture, history, customs and traditions. My favourite proverb says: Learn a
new language and gain a new soul and this message I would like to transmit to my
future students.

References
Leithwood, (2009) School Leaders Influence on Learning; The Four Paths, p.8