• No results found

The teaching of French as a second language and the integration of incoming students into the French school system

N/A
N/A
Protected

Academic year: 2021

Share "The teaching of French as a second language and the integration of incoming students into the French school system"

Copied!
19
0
0

Bezig met laden.... (Bekijk nu de volledige tekst)

Hele tekst

(1)

1

The teaching of French as a second language and the integration of

incoming students into the French school system

Subject: MA Internship

Organizations: Collège Lucie et Raymond Aubrac & EREA Alexandre Dumas University supervisor: Audrey Rousse-Malpat

Internship supervisors: Alice Mery & Caroline Burban Final date of the internship: April 19, 2019

(2)

2 Name of student: Maxime K.F.M.-J. VERRIER Student number: S3689239

Course: Master Multilingualism

Table of contents

Introduction ... 3

1. Presentation of the context ... 3

Legal framework of the UPE2A units ... 3

The Casnav and the UPE2A in the Paris Academy ... 5

Presentation of the two classes ... 6

Motivations and learning goals ... 8

2. Description of my role and activities in the classes ... 9

3. Evaluation of my experience in relationship to my learning goals ... 11

Particularity of teaching French as a second language ... 11

Consideration and use of the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of the students ... 11

Multi-level integration of the students ... 13

4. Reflection on this placement ... 14

Efficiency of these units ... 14

Recruitment of the teachers ... 15

Reinforcement of a stigma affecting vocational courses ... 15

Recognition of the different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and the question of standardization ... 16

Conclusion ... 17

(3)

3

Introduction

This placement report is meant to give an overview and a reflection over the placements I realized in two different Parisian schools, the Collège Lucie et Raymond Aubrac and the EREA Alexandre Dumas, from February to April 2019. I realized these placements in two different types of UPE2A classes, which are classes meant to integrate pupils coming from abroad, and to famil-iarize them with the French language and the French school system. In the Collège Lucie Aubrac, I was working with pupils who had never or barely been schooled before, while in the EREA Al-exandre Dumas, I was with older pupils who, for the most part, had been schooled, and were theo-retically to be guided towards vocational courses afterwards.

I will first describe the context of the internship, by presenting the legal framework of these units, the organization of the Parisian ones, and the two classes where I worked, before presenting my learning goals. Then, I will present my role and activities during the internship. In a third part, I will evaluate what I have learnt during this placement, and in the last part, I will reflect on these learnings.

1. Presentation of the context

Legal framework of the UPE2A units

UPE2A (Unité pédagogique pour élèves allophones arrivants – Pedagogical unit for in-coming allophone pupils) classes are, in France, classes whose aim is to welcome and integrate pupils coming from abroad, and who do not speak French sufficiently to integrate “regular” classes. Their existence follows the Art. L332-4 of the Education Code, stating that “particular actions are envisaged to welcome and school non-Francophone students newly arrived in France” (“Des

ac-tions particulières sont prévues pour l’accueil et la scolarisation des élèves non francophones nouvellement arrivés en France”, my translation), which completes several principles seen as

fun-damental in the organization of the French education system:

- Art. L111-1 of the Education Code: “The school ensures every pupil the learning and command of the French language (“L’école garantit à tous les élèves l’apprentissage et

(4)

4

- Art. L111-2 of the Education Code: “All children have the right to school education, which, in complement to the actions of their family, contribute to their upbringing” (“Tout enfant a droit à une formation scolaire qui, complétant l’action de sa famille,

concourt à son éducation”, my translation).

- Art. L131-1 of the Education Code: “Education is compulsory for children of both sexes, French and foreign, between ages six and sixteen” (“L’instruction est obligatoire pour

les enfants des deux sexes, français et étrangers, entre six ans et seize ans”, my

trans-lation).

The organization of these classes is fixed by the circular no. 2012-141 of October 2nd, 2012, which sets the principles of the integration of these students, detailing the procedures to be followed upon the arrival in France of the student, their placement in the appropriate unit, the teaching in said unit, the guidance towards different “regular” school pathways, and the qualification of teachers.

This circular gives responsibility to organize these classes to the different Casnavs (Centres

académiques pour la scolarisation des enfants allophones nouvellement arrivés et des enfants issus de familles itinérantes et de voyageurs – Academic centers for the schooling of newly arrived

al-lophone children and children of itinerant and travelling families), which are organized by the cir-cular no. 2012-143 of October 2nd, 2012. These centers are organized by the academies (regional circumscriptions of the Ministry of National Education), and are meant to adapt their actions and programs following the local situation. This is important to note because for most other matters, the French education system remains highly centralized.

Following the circular no. 2012-141, these classes should be created in “schools where so-cial mix exists and where the school environment will stimulate a sociocultural integration for incoming allophone pupils” (§1.2, “les établissements scolaires où la mixité sociale est effective et

où le milieu scolaire favorisera l’intégration socioculturelle des élèves allophone arrivants”). In

the école maternelle (from age 3 to age 6), incoming students are put into “regular” classes. In the

école élémentaire (from age 6 to age 11), they are first evaluated by an education officer, helped

by Casnav teachers, taking into account their knowledge of the French language, of other languages taught in the French school system, their competences in writing and reading (in any writing sys-tem), and their level in other school subjects, such as mathematics. In the secondary stage (from age 11), they are also evaluated by an education officer and Casnav teachers, and UPE2A teachers and school counselors (conseiller.ère.s d’orientation psychologues) take part in this process (§1.3).

(5)

5

The circular also requires the amount of schooling to be taken into account in the organization of these classes, with pupils who have never or hardly been schooled before having more French classes and being able to stay in these units for a longer period of time (§2.1).

Following this circular, the pupils are to be included in “regular” classes as much as possible, and the UPE2A is conceived as a temporary adjustment (§2.1). An exception to this is for those in secondary education who have never or hardly been schooled before, and who are firstly grouped in those units full-time. When put into “regular” classes, there must not be a difference of more than two years of age with the reference age. The main goal is “the command of French taught as the language of instruction” (“la maîtrise du français enseigné comme langue de scolarisation”). In order to reach that goal, they have intensive French classes (minimum 9 hours a week in primary schools and minimum 12 hours a week in secondary schools), and at least two other subjects are taught, preferably mathematics and a foreign language. The pupils are not supposed to be included in these units for longer than a schoolyear (§2.2). When they are to quit these units, they are to be guided following standard procedures, and the circular states that their insufficient command of the French language cannot be a reason to deny them admission into any school pathway (§2.3).

Unlike for other school subjects, there is no specific competitive exam (CRPE, CAPES, CAPLP or CAPET) to teach French as a second language in these units. There is an additional certification (CCFLS, certification complémentaire en français langue seconde), which can be ob-tained by tenured teachers (professeurs titulaires) in other subjects. This certification is not a re-quirement to teach in said sections, but the teachers who do not have it are trained to prepare it (§3.1). In primary schools, teachers who studied the teaching of French as a second language have priority, and in secondary schools, French teachers have priority, as the teaching of French as a second language is part of their training.

The Casnav and the UPE2A in the Paris Academy

In the Paris Academy, covering the commune of Paris, the Casnav manages 141 UPE2A units in the different education stages. The admission procedure is different following the age, corresponding to the organization of education in France. Since écoles maternelles and écoles

élé-mentaires are partly managed by the communes, all parents, incoming or not, have to go to the

arrondissement hall (mairie d’arrondissement) to enroll their children at school. However, for

(6)

6

with the Casnav Paris, in order for the child to take a test to assess their level. As mentioned above, this test evaluates their knowledge of French, their knowledge of other languages taught in the French school system (such as English, Spanish, Arabic or Chinese), their competence in writing and reading, and their level in mathematics. The mathematics part can be taken in several different languages, corresponding roughly to the languages of instruction of the main countries of origin (Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish, Standard Arabic...). In many cases, the language of instruction is not the native language of the student, and many languages are barely used as lan-guage of instruction, leading to numerous lanlan-guages not being offered, for example West African languages (students from Francophone West African countries generally take the test in French in this case).

Following this test, the students are affected in one of the different UPE2A units. The af-fectation is done in function of the age, and of the school background. The age determinates whether the pupil will be sent to a collège (for the younger ones) or a lycée (for the older ones). If the pupil has never or barely been schooled, they are sent to a UPE2A ENSA (élèves non-scolarisés

antérieurement, students not previously schooled). At the lycée level, it depends on whether their

level in other subjects is comparable to the one of French students attending a general or a technical

lycée: if such is the case, they are sent to a UPE2A LGT (lycée général et technologique, general

and technical lycée), and if it is not the case, they are sent to a UPE2A LP (lycée professionnel, vocational lycée). The ENSA at the lycée level are always in lycées professionnels.

Presentation of the two classes

The Collège Lucie et Raymond Aubrac is a collège situated in Paris 11th arrondissement. This collège hosts a UPE2A ENSA, whose French teacher is Alice Mery. There were nine pupils at the beginning of my internship, and ten at the end, coming from different backgrounds, in terms of place of origin, citizenship status, spoken languages, and family situation.

Three of the students came from Mali and spoke Bambara. One of them came from Ivory Coast, and spoke Dioula; she also had the Malian citizenship and could speak Bambara due to her father living in Mali and to both languages being related. Another student was born in Italy, had lived mostly in Senegal and a few years in Italy, and spoke Wolof, and some Italian. A fifth student came from Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and spoke Lingala and Portuguese. A student came from Sudan, one from Egypt and a third one was stateless born in Kuwait. Those

(7)

7

three students could speak the dialectal Arabic of their country, as well as Standard Arabic. The one born in Kuwait also spoke English and Danish due to him having lived in a refugee camp in Denmark, where he was granted refugee status. Finally, a tenth student came from Georgia, spoke Georgian and Russian, and had been in France for a while, mostly in hospitals, as he came to have a kidney transplanted. Most of them had never learnt to read and write prior to being in this class: four of them could read Arabic (the three Standard Arabic speakers, and one of the Malian pupils who had attended the madrasa), and the one who had been in Denmark had learnt how to read and write in English and Danish there.

These students were either living with one of their parents, with both parents or with mem-bers of their extended family such as uncles and aunts. Some of them had come to join one of their parents who had been working in France for a while, and who were able to secure them a rather comfortable situation. On the other hand, one had come with his mother and siblings to put an end to the domestic violence suffered by the mother. This latter student was living in precarious condi-tions, in an emergency shelter. Many of them usually used their native language at home, with the exception of the one from Angola and Congo, and the one from Côte d’Ivoire, who probably used several of these languages. The one living in an emergency shelter also spoke French in the shelter, because otherwise, as he mentioned once in class, he would just spend his time there sitting and staring into space.

The EREA Alexandre Dumas is an EREA (établissement régional d’enseignement adapté, regional school for adapted teaching) situated in Paris 15th arrondissement. An EREA is a school dedicated to troubled students or students with special needs. Besides “regular” pathways leading to the vocational DNB (diplôme national du brevet, national brevet degree) and to CAP (certificat

d’aptitude professionnelle, vocational qualification certificate) in cuisine or in commercialization

and services in hotels, cafés and restaurants, this EREA hosts a classe relais (relay class), dedicated to school dropouts, a MAVIP section (module d’accompagnement et d’insertion professionnelle, unit for support and professional integration), meant to help students with disabilities enter profes-sional life and to provide them with appropriate coaching and guidance in doing so, and two UPE2A classes: one UPE2A LP and one UPE2A ENSA. Given the vocational formations offered in this EREA, there was also a pedagogical restaurant, where visitors could enjoy a lunch or a dinner prepared and served by the students as part of their training. In Caroline Burban’s UPE2A

(8)

8

LP class where I did my internship, there were at the beginning seventeen students, and twenty-two when I finished my internship. They also came from very different backgrounds.

Most of the students in this class came from Francophone West Africa, mostly from Mali and Guinea, and some of them came from Senegal. The students coming from Mali and Guinea spoke different Manding languages, mostly Bambara or Maninka, which were mutually intelligible. The students from Senegal spoke Wolof. Some students came from North Africa: one from Mo-rocco, one from Algeria, two from Tunisia and one from Mauritania. They each spoke the dialectal Arabic of their country, as well as Standard Arabic. Three students came from Afghanistan and spoke Pashto. One student came from Bangladesh and spoke Bengali, and one came from Peru and spoke Spanish, and close to no French. Some of them could also speak other languages, either because of their importance in their home country (such as English for the student from Bangla-desh), or because they learnt them during their migration (such as Serbian for one of the Afghan students or Spanish for one of the Guinean students).

Most of them were unaccompanied minors (mineurs non accompagnés), in custody of child welfare services (ASE, Aide sociale à l’enfance) or of associations, living in congregate care insti-tutions, or in hotels. Among the unaccompanied minors, one was living with a foster family, and one was in contact with a French family who followed his schooling and assisted him through many procedures. Some other students were living with family members, only a few of them were with one or two of their parents. The majority had come to France by themselves to escape poverty or war, illegally, risking their lives through informal migration routes, going through several countries, and sometimes learning some of the local language in the process, as mentioned above. Living in congregate care institutions, in hotels or with French families, the vast majority spoke French out-side of school. It seems that only the student from Peru spoke Spanish at home.

Motivations and learning goals

I decided to join these classes for different reasons. Having different experiences of teach-ing French as a foreign language in foreign countries, and of teachteach-ing German in France, and ded-icating myself to the teaching of French as a foreign language, I wanted to discover this particular context of teaching French as a second language in French schools to incoming allophone students. Besides, I enjoyed reading and learning about topics related to multilingualism in education during

(9)

9

Dr. Joana Duarte’s class “The Multilingual School”, and I thought that doing such an internship would help me strengthen my knowledge about these topics.

My goal was to figure out the particularities of the teaching of French as a second language, in contrast to the teaching of it as a foreign language. The French distinction between “français

langue étrangère” (French as a foreign language) and “français langue seconde” (French as a

sec-ond language) is important to point out, as the latter designates a situation in which French, alt-hough not generally being the native language of a given population, is the official language, used in administration, education... This is the case, for example, in Francophone Africa (see Spolsky 2018 or Organisation internationale de la Francophonie 2019). In the case of UPE2A units, French is taught as a second language. I also wanted to find out if there were any differences in the teaching and learning of French according to the origin and to the situation of the pupils and how the differ-ent cultural and linguistic backgrounds of the studdiffer-ents were mobilized in the process of teaching and learning. I wanted to see how the linguistic component of the teaching was completed by other elements to anchor it in the sociocultural context (of the students, of the school or of Paris) and how the pupils were integrated into the school and the school system, in order to prepare for their admission in “regular classes”.

2. Description of my role and activities in the classes

At the beginning of my internship, I was mostly observing the classes, their dynamics, in order to figure out, along with the teachers, the role that I would take during the internship. I occa-sionally helped some students on their assignments, and I went to them to read and check their work. The students were first intrigued by my presence, and they soon became enthusiastic and started to call on me more and more for me to help them. An example of tasks that I did during this time was, in the Collège Lucie et Raymond Aubrac, helping students, who were struggling with reading, to read some texts, by helping them follow the words with their fingers, for example. Another example, in the EREA Alexandre Dumas, was reading through the draft of a student’s placement report.

After this initial stage, corresponding to the week before the winter holidays (in February), I took more and more initiative and responsibility in the class, and I became a sort of teaching assistant (as my role was similar to the one I had held in the teaching assistant positions I had

(10)

10

abroad). During the classes taught by the teacher, I provided additional information, I gave my point of view on linguistic or cultural matters... When the students were working on assignments, I walked in the class to have a look at their work, and to help them if needed.

I was occasionally in charge of teaching classes to the students. In the Collège Lucie et Raymond Aubrac, for example, I taught classes to prepare the students for the DELF exam (Diplôme d’études en langue française, Diploma in French language studies). I used sample papers for this exam, as well as resources present in books dedicated to the preparation of this exam, and, with the teacher, we identified the main challenges for the students of this class, and what would have to be practiced as a priority. I then introduced the students to the methodology of the exam, providing them with tips, such as identifying the symbol present next to the question in order to know if they would have to tick a box, to write numbers or to write words. I told them about the time of the exam and how to manage it, before giving them the mock paper, and letting them do some exercises on their own in a first time, and together in a second time. Then, we split the class in two groups, in function of the level of the students, and we worked separately with each group to prepare other exercises jointly.

In the EREA Alexandre Dumas, on the occasion of the Week of press and media in schools (Semaine de la presse et des médias à l’école), I prepared a lesson to introduce the students to printed media. I brought them free newspapers and we studied the different parts of the frontpage, and we analyzed the different pieces of information, trying to determine how and where they would be treated in the newspaper, based on their position and presentation on the page. Then, we studied the inside of the newspaper, in order for them to understand how it was organized, and how to look for a certain article or information. This activity had several goals: the first one was to make them familiar with written media, as it can prove to be very useful to practice reading. To follow up with this goal, the teacher and I established a routine: every day, a student was in charge of bringing enough free newspapers to class for all the students. The second goal was to work on the classifi-cation of ideas, through the understanding of the organization of sections, columns, and of the titles and kickers of articles. We gave them an exercise to do in which they had to associate an article title with its kicker. The third goal was more sociocultural in that having access to media gave them an additional access to the society surrounding them.

Finally, I participated in many excursions with both classes, and I took part in the classwork surrounding them before and/or after. For example, with Alice Mery’s class, we went twice to the

(11)

11

Cité de la Musique, as part of a project about circus arts. The first time, we visited the Cité, and the students got the chance to try different brass instruments. The second time, we attended a trombone class. With Caroline Burban’s class, we went to visit an exhibition at the Louvre Museum about archeology and comics, and we went to the Paris book fair (Livre Paris), among other excursions.

3. Evaluation of my experience in relationship to my learning goals

Particularity of teaching French as a second language

I found out that teaching French as a second language and teaching French as a foreign language are two very different processes. When French is taught as a foreign language, unless the student has or look for resources to practice the language (such as people to talk with outside of school, movies...), it is possible that the only interactions in the language occur inside of the class-room. My previous teaching experiences (in the United States and in Spain) showed me that, in this case, for many students, French was just another school or college subject, that they learned and studied because they had to, but outside of the classroom and of their schoolbooks, they had close to no exposure to this language. On the other hand, when teaching French as a second lan-guage, the students are heavily exposed to the language outside of class, they learn a big share of the vocabulary on their own, in their daily life, and they have the possibility to practice it immedi-ately. This means that the teaching occurring in class is complementary to what they receive outside of the class, and both processes have to work together. Besides, when French is taught as a second language, the students do not study it like they study another subject, but rather because it is fun-damental for them in order to be able to communicate outside of school, or to study the other subjects. For this reason, they are generally highly motivated to learn the language.

Consideration and use of the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of the students

While the students were generally taught the same lessons and had the same exercises to do, the teaching, or rather the process of learning was very different following the background of the student. As mentioned, many of the students, in both classes, came from Francophone countries (in North, West or Central Africa). As a consequence, French was never a foreign language to them, but rather a second language, as it had always been present in their environment, whether it be in

(12)

12

media, in administrations or at school. And while it was not always the main vernacular language, it was still present in everyday speech, in degrees varying from loanwords to full conversations in French. Thus, in most cases, for these students coming from Francophone countries, the process of “learning French” did not consist in learning the language from scratch, but rather in formalizing what they knew, and learning standard French, and mastering it as the “language of instruction” as mentioned in the circular no. 2012-141. When the students used different words or a different syn-tax in their variants, the teachers made sure to tell them that this was correct in their variant, but not in standard French.

Besides, in both classes, the teachers recognized the linguistic backgrounds of the students, and used them themselves when they could. For example, the students could, if they wanted, com-municate in other languages in order to help each other understand an assignment or a communi-cation. Sometimes, the teachers asked a student to translate an information to another one, in order to make sure that they understood it. This was done specifically between Arabic-speaking students or Manding-language-speaking students. When it was possible, the teachers and I also used our linguistic knowledge of other languages to translate an information (exercise, communication...). In the Collège Lucie et Raymond Aubrac, Alice Mery sometimes spoke in English to a student, for example, and I sometimes used my basic knowledge of Arabic with the Arabic-speaking students, to compare the gender of adjectives in Arabic and in French when they had trouble understanding it, for instance. In the EREA Alexandre Dumas, Caroline Burban also used English to interact with an Afghan student, and make sure he understood some information, and I spoke exclusively in Spanish with the Peruvian student who spoke close to no French. Another example of the use of the students’ linguistic resources is when Alice Mery asked some students to translate a part of a song by Salif Keïta from Maninka to French.

The cultural backgrounds were also acknowledged and mobilized in different ways. On many occasions, following a question asked by a student, or an instruction in an assignment for example, the students started to discuss a cultural point, comparing their practices to the practices of their classmates on the one hand, and to the French (or Parisian) practices on the other hand. This sometimes led to engaging discussions, in which the teacher made sure to recognize every-one’s point of view, as long as they were respectful of others. For instance, when a student made fun of another one because the latter was not planning to fast during the month of Ramadan, the

(13)

13

teacher had to reprimand the former because religious practice (or absence thereof) is an individual choice, which ought to be respected.

Multi-level integration of the students

The teachers made sure to have the UPE2A students integrated within the school and en-gaging with other students. In the Collège Lucie et Raymond Aubrac, the students, along with other students, did a school trip to Normandy, where they had the chance to practice different sports such as land sailing. In the EREA Alexandre Dumas, the students had the possibility to participate in a weekly dance workshop with the students of the aforementioned MAVIP section. They also pre-pared, with the same students, sketches, readings of poems and a dance performance that they presented on the occasion of a dinner prepared by the CAP students. On a wider scale, they were integrated in different national, regional or departmental projects nominally dedicated to all stu-dents. In both classes, they went three times, along with other pupils from their school and pupils from other schools, to the movie theater to see a film projection organized in the framework of the project “Collège au cinéma” or “Lycéens et apprentis au cinéma”. In addition to this, the excursion to Paris Livre, for the EREA Alexandre Dumas’ students, was sponsored by the Île-de-France re-gion, which provided each of them with a “chèque lire” (read voucher) for them to buy books of their choice.

The teaching was completed by many cultural elements regarding Paris, through excursions and visits, and all the coursework done in preparation of said excursions. Alice Mery’s class had gone, at the beginning of the year, to an excursion through the center of Paris and some famous historical monuments and places. I accompanied Caroline Burban’s class to several excursions in Paris. We visited an exhibition about archeology and comics at the Louvre Museum, and we also visited the Pantheon and the Latin Quarter, guided by a tour guide from the Centre des monuments nationaux (National monuments center). All of these excursions were prepared in class, and were the occasion to help the students discover the history of Paris, but also its actual layout and organ-ization (such as the arrangement of the arrondissements in the shape of a snail shell).

Finally, it appears that the students are integrated into the school system to prepare for the continuation of their studies. They are taught different subjects, both in the French classes of the UPE2A and in other classes, such as sports, mathematics, or history and geography. This can prove to be challenging, as, on the one hand, some of the pupils, as mentioned, have barely, if ever, been

(14)

14

schooled before, and several of them first learn how to handle a pen in these units. On the other hand, they are expected, when they join a “regular” class, to keep up with the rhythm of learning, while they are with classmates who have gone to school since they were 3 years old. They are expected, following the circular no. 2012-141, to reach the level corresponding to the end of pri-mary school (3rd cycle) when they leave these units. Some of them take the Certificat de formation

générale (General education certificate), an exam assessing that the student has reached knowledge

expected at the end of the 3rd cycle. Since the students of the EREA Alexandre Dumas were older, they had to be guided towards a school pathway taught in lycées. In this case, the procedures for school guidance are the same as those followed by students of “regular” collège classes, when they reach the last year. Caroline Burban’s class being a UPE2A LP (lycée professionnel) unit, most students were guided there because they had not, following the test they had taken at the Casnav, a school level sufficient enough to be affected in a lycée général. This is one of the reasons why most of the pupils were guided to vocational pathways. Another reason is their will to pursue short and efficient vocational studies, in order to be able to get into the labor market quickly, because of their often precarious situation. Only one student of this class decided to enter a lycée général following the UPE2A.

In all cases, they were helped and oriented through the guidance procedures by Caroline Burban and the other teachers. This assistance consisted in keeping up with the deadlines, helping them fill the different forms and papers, and helping them write their applications, or proofreading them, when needed. Besides, Caroline Burban gave them the benefit of her experience with the different schools where they could be admitted, and helped them find short internships, or open days in schools and trainings they were interested in.

4. Reflection on this placement

Efficiency of these units

This internship confirmed my idea that those sections are salutary for the students involved. They appeared to succeed in helping pupils be proficient in French in a very short time, get familiar with standard French as a teaching language, and get acquainted with the French school system, and with school in general. It does so while providing them with basic knowledge in order for them to start catching up with pupils their age who have been schooled since they were 3. This can be a

(15)

15

real challenge, since, as mentioned, some of the pupils do not know how to handle a pen when they arrive, and many of them do not know, when given an assignment sheet, that they must write the answer below the question, for example.

Besides, the conditions of learning enable them to improve at their own pace, without being in competition with others. Group work and collaboration are promoted, and the students are usu-ally keen and eager to help each other. This, in addition to their culture and background being valued and respected, creates a generally positive study environment, in which the students feel safe, as much as many of them wanted to stay in the class longer.

Recruitment of the teachers

However, it also confirmed my idea that teaching French as a second language is a subject in itself, and not just an “additional” occupation for voluntary teachers of other subjects. While there is a specific competitive exam to teach all other subjects (such as history and geography, English, jewelry), there is only an additional certification to teach French as a second language, and this certification is opened to teachers who have passed this competitive exam in another sub-ject. In my opinion, since the standard way of recruitment for teachers is through these competitive exams, there should be one specifically dedicated to the teaching of French as a second language.

Reinforcement of a stigma affecting vocational courses

In addition to this, the affectation process of the pupils in the different lycée UPE2A (UPE2A LGT, UPE2A LP and UPE2A ENSA) is questionable. It can be argued that since one needs more school knowledge to study in the general or technical school pathway, due to it being more theoretical than the professional pathway, it is normal for the students who perform better at the test to be guided to these pathways. Nevertheless, in my opinion, this shows a certain disdain existing towards the professional pathway, reinforcing a hierarchization and a discrimination be-tween the general pathway supposed to have the better students and the professional one who gets the worse ones. A consequence of this is that, at the end of collège, the guidance is often done on the basis of the school level of the pupil, and not of their will to enter a general, a technical or a vocational course.

(16)

16

Recognition of the different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and the question of standardization

Another remark is that, despite the fact that the teachers of both classes had a positive atti-tude towards the different linguistic backgrounds, it must not be forgotten that these units are de-signed as a transition towards a mainstreaming system, as described by Baker (2011), in which the knowledge of other languages is not always valorized. This valorization may depend on the lin-guistic background of the student. We can assume that the student will have the opportunity to take advantage of it if they speak a widely taught language, such as English, Spanish or German: in this case, they will be able to study this language in foreign language classes, and, despite it not neces-sarily reflecting their own situation, they will be able to keep studying it scholastically, and to have it acknowledged through exams. In certain cases, they will be able to study it in bilingual sections, or even to take a binational baccalauréat (secondary school diploma), acknowledged in two coun-tries (such as the Bachibac acknowledged in Spain and France or the Abibac acknowledged in Germany and France). If they speak a less (or barely) taught language, such as Vietnamese, Bam-bara, Arabic or Turkish, they might have the possibility, in a limited number of schools, to take classes of said language (often as an option), and to have it acknowledged at national exams. It is important to note that some of these languages are only taught in a handful of schools in the whole country. Finally, if they speak a non-taught language, such as Lingala or Wolof, they will not get any chance to have it acknowledged nor valued at school. This shows that, following the language, the mainstreaming school system might turn their multilingualism into a positive one, or into a negative one.

This question of the recognition or lack thereof of certain languages raises the question of the language of teaching in many countries. Many students, as said, come from Francophone West Africa, where the language of teaching is often exclusively French. For this reason, in many cases, people are exclusively made literate in French, leading to the national languages being mostly spo-ken, and perceived as unfit, or even illegitimate to be scholastically taught. Following different studies which have shown the positive effect of additional bilingual teaching in Francophone Africa (Maurer 2010), the program Élan-Afrique (École et langues nationales en Afrique, School and national languages in Africa), led by the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), the French Development Agency (AFD), the Francophonie University Agency (AUF), the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, supports twelve different Francophone African countries in the implementation of bilingual schools and classes.

(17)

17

The recognition of the cultural background of the students also implies a recognition of the variant of French that they speak. As I mentioned earlier, when the students used a word or a syntax used in their variant of French but not in “standard” French, the teachers would let them know that although it was correct in their variant, it was not used in “standard” French, and should not be used in official exams. An example of this is the date: while “lundi le 18 février” or is correct in Mali, this is not in France (and by extension in “standard” French) where “lundi 18 février” must be used. Another example is the numeration: “91” is said “quatre-vingt-onze” in France,

“nonante-et-un” in Belgium, Switzerland, and some Central African countries, and “quatre-vingt-et-onze” in

most of Francophone Africa. While it can be seen as legitimate to teach the variant from France in France, this raises the question of language assessment and testing. As shown by Elana Shohamy and Kate Menken (2015), an effect of “testing pertains to standardizing and homogenizing lan-guages, and perpetuating narrow notions of correctness” (Shohamy & Menken 2015, p. 256). Many students had indeed to change their way of speaking French, and to use the “standard French”, which is based on the Parisian way of speaking (see Cloris’ 2018 article about the discrimination based on non-Parisian regional accents). In addition to privileging a standardized language, these tests generally evaluate a written academic language (Shohamy & Menken 2015). As a conse-quence of this, a person who speaks French as their native language, and who uses it daily, but who has not been familiarized with the written academic standard, could score low on said tests. Like-wise, since it entails a listening, a reading, a writing and a speaking part, the DELF exam is not adapted for people who can speak the language fluently but who are illiterate, nor for deaf people, for example. As a consequence of all that, several students of both UPE2A classes were fluent in everyday French, but had to work hard in order to pass the DELF A1 or A2 exam. In comparison, most of the students I had when I taught in Spain were much less fluent, when it comes to com-municating in everyday life, but passed the DELF B2, since they were familiar with the standards of written academic languages, and with the themes associated.

Conclusion

This experience has been a very positive experience, in which I got to discover and famil-iarize myself with a way of teaching that I had not practiced before. I realized how different it is from the teaching of French as a foreign language, due to its particular situation, where the learning

(18)

18

occurs conjointly in the classroom and outside. It also provided me with the opportunity to reflect on different theories I had studied in Dr. Joana Duarte’s class “The Multilingual School”, and to see them applied in real life. In this sense, it was a further proof of the efficiency of recognition and acceptation of the students’ linguistic and cultural backgrounds in the process, not only of language learning, but also of complex integration into a new context (another school system, an-other country, anan-other culture...).

I spent a really good time in both classes, and I am very thankful for the guidance and appreciation provided by both teachers I worked with, Alice Mery and Caroline Burban. I am also very thankful for the students, who were always motivated, committed and interested by the classes and the excursions. I truly enjoyed the joyful atmosphere in both classes, and their safety, thanks to the positive dynamic created by the teachers and the students.

Although I initially planned to teach French abroad as a foreign language, this internship made me reconsider this choice, and, although I still intend to teach French abroad in a first time, I would appreciate to teach it as a second language in such classes when I come back. However, the recruitment procedure might turn to be an obstacle. Indeed, as mentioned, the teachers are re-cruited through a competitive exam, and eventually an additional certification, but it appears that more and more teachers are hired as temporary contract workers, a rather precarious position, in comparison to the one of those hired through the traditional competitive exams.

References

Baker, C. (2011). Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Toronto, Canada: Multi-lingual Matters.

Cloris, J. (2018, October 19). « Glottophobie » : quand les accents excluent, Le Parisien. Retrieved from: http://www.leparisien.fr/societe/glottophobie-quand-les-accents-excluent-19-10-2018-7923459.php.

Maurer, B. (2010). Les langues de scolarisation en Afrique francophone. Enjeux et repères pour

l’action. Paris, France: Édition des archives contemporaines.

Shohamy, E., & Menken, K. (2015). Language Assessment. Past to Present Misuses and Future Possibilities. In W. E. Wright, S. Boun, & O. García (Eds.), The Handbook of Bilingual and

(19)

19

Spolsky, B. (2018). Language policy in French colonies and after independence. Current Issues in

Referenties

GERELATEERDE DOCUMENTEN

By introducing sensemaking as a process of unraveling context-specific meaning, this research aims to provide the first steps into the exploration of the meaning risk management

A dummy variable indicating pre/post crisis and an interaction variable between this dummy variable and the idiosyncratic risk variable are added to a Fama-Macbeth regression

the framework of Lintner (1956) firms can only distribute dividend based on unrealized income is the fair value adjustments are persistent.. The results of table

Doty, the engagement partner`s disclosure may also help the investing public identify and judge quality, leading to better auditing (“PCAOB Reproposes

Inspired from crickets and using MEMS techniques, single artificial flow sensors and hair sensor arrays have been implemented successfully in different groups [1][2].. This paper

I am first introduced to Afua Dapaa (p.n. Afua is forty years old. Afua has more children, but they have all grown up and stay in Kumasi. Afua herself was also staying there,

De concept conclusie van ZIN is dat lokaal ivermectine in vergelijking met lokaal metronidazol en lokaal azelaïnezuur een therapeutisch gelijke waarde heeft voor de behandeling

Twee onderwerpen uit de top 4 van onderwerpen voor verdieping zijn niet geselecteerd?. Het betreft het niet herkennen van licht verstandelijke beperking (LVB) en algemene