Goals
My goals were to improve my English and also to
learn to communicate in an English environment which was not the environment I was
used to. I have to say that I achieved pretty well those goals. I think that
what helped me is the fact that I was less shy to communicate in English and
also that I didn’t mind to make mistakes which is normal. Also, I was always
trying to speak and to practise with the people with who I was working because
they were Anglophones and even if they were talking to me in French because they knew I was Francophone, I was still speaking to them in English.
Strategies
The one I used the most was
the one about doing gestures. I’m already someone who’s doing a lot of gestures,
even when I’m speaking in French. So, I think it helped me a lot to be
understood when I was using this strategy. I also used the one about ‘’ don’t
mind making mistakes ’’. Now I don’t mind making mistake because it was one of
the reasons why I was shy to speak in English before. I realized with the time
that it was normal to make some and that nobody was perfect.
Language
I think my language evolved a lot concerning the understanding part.
Now, it is easier for me to understand when someone speaks in English. I still
have some difficulties to speak because I think like a Francophone so I’m always
trying to translate it from French but it never works. I think that I should
now put my brain on the ‘’English’s button’’ so like this it will probably be
easier for me to communicate without making mistakes.
Growth
I learn
a lot about myself through this internship. Firstly, I learn to never
under-estimated myself, because if you really want to achieve something; you
will, no matter how hard it will be. I learn to never give up and to always
keep hope because I know that my perseverance will bring me to my goal.
The internship
I think
I gain a lot of confidence since the beginning of the internship, I feel more
comfortable to speak in English now. The only thing I would do differently is I
would ask the women with who I did the internship to talk to me more in English
instead to talk to me in French. I think it would have made a difference
because I would have been more in an English environment. But I still learn a
lot through this experience and it also confirms my choice to be a teacher in the futur!
Gratitude
I didn’t
really thank my host because I didn’t really talk to her through my internship
and she was never there when I was there. I rather thank the people with who I
spent my hole internship which were the two women. They also thanked me to have helped them during these few last weeks. I am very pround of myself.
The placement
I definitely recommend this internship
placement, mainly for those who would like to do a career related to children
or simply for those who like to be with children. All the people working there
were very gentle and dynamic, it is a handsome team. It was a real pleasure for
me to do my internship there, I felt in my environment! I received and e-mail
there is a few days ago from my host, and she wrote me that she would like me to come for the March break to help them for their camp week. For sure I
would like to come to help them, but unfortunately we do not have any break in
March. So maybe it will be a good idea to do a few days there during the
summer, I will feel like I will do something good for my community!
¸
One of the dialogues that I
had in my internship was when I was explaining an activity. The woman with who
I was didn’t know how to explain it in French for those who didn’t speak
English and the kids had difficulties to understand it. So I explained it once
in French and then in English to be sure that all children understood the game.
(English’s explanations that I gave to the kids.)
Me: The game’s name is Pac man.
Kids: What is that, what is that?
Me: You have to stay quiet, and then I will explain it to you.
Kids: (No sounds)
Me: Perfect so as I said, we’ll play to Pac man. It looks a lots like playing
to ‘'The Tag’’.
Kids: We know this game, it is a cool one.
Me: Yes, I know that you all know this game, but there are a few different
rules.
Kids: What are they?
Me: The first one is: You can only walk on the lines in the gymnasium and the
goal is to not being touched by the ‘’Pac man’’ which is the person who will
run after the people. Is it clear?
Kids: Yes!
Me: Are you ready to play?
Kids: Yes!
Me: Ok, Let’s start!
Through this experience, I learnt that it was normal to have difficulties to
speak in a language. As I said, the girl didn’t know how to explain the rules
in French, but she was lucky that I was there. So it is an example that we
learn a lot from other people. I also learn that it is ok to ask for help if
you do not know how to say something because you will learn it for the next time.
I’m pretty sure I did a few mistakes when I explained it in English, but what
matter is that the kid did understand what I meant to say.
My last day of internship at the Boys and Girls Club was pretty
different from all the other days that I had before there. The reason was
simple; I was with another group for the camp day. Children in this group were
older compared to the group that I was used to be with. They were between 8 to
10 years old which is a big difference compared to the group I was before,
where they were between 3 to 5 years old.
Another difference is that, half of the group were Francophone and the group of
little friends were completely Anglophones. I knew at this moment that I will
be useful because the two supervisors, Kimberley and Adam were Anglophones. As
I thought, I was extremely useful because I did a few translations simply because
they didn’t know how to explain or to say something in French. I felt very
smart. We did an activity where the children had to mime what was written on a
little piece of paper. Unfortunately, all the words were written in English so
those who didn’t understand French had difficulties to know what to mime. The
good thing in that is that I was there to help those who spoke French only, so
I was translating the word in French and I was explaining them what to mime,
etc. While I was doing that, I learnt a word. It may sound weird but the word
was ‘’Juggling’’, I ask Kimberley what’s that meant and she did a gesture of
someone who was juggling (‘’quelqu’un qui jonglait’’).
It was really nice to see all the
children playing together. As they were playing, they were also learning
because they were associated words to gestures so they were learning words in
the language they were not speaking.
I think I’m now more fluent in English when it is time for me to speak with
children because there is always something to talk with them and also, they are
not using an enriched vocabulary so it’s easier for me to communicate with them
and to understand what they are saying. Moreover, the adults were not talking
to me a lot, even less in English, so I learn more to communicate with children
then to communicate with adults.
I still have difficult to pronounce a few words in English. For example, when
it is time for me to say ‘’I ate’’, I pronounce ‘’I hate’’ so sometimes it
brings to a few misunderstandings. I also have difficulties to pronounce my ‘’Ed's’’
at the end of the verbs, same things with my ‘’s’’ at the end of plural words.
That’s a thing I will need to work on.
