The conventional wisdom used to be that if you allowed children to speak French at home, they would become confused. It would impede their progress academically and it would ensure that they had a hard time mastering the English language.
Misguided but presumably well-meaning teachers tried to convince generations of French-speaking parents that they did their children a disservice by continuing the French tradition at home. Fortunately, not all of them were convinced. But enough were.
By the 1960s, so many had abandoned the language of their parents and grandparents that it was deemed necessary to form a new organization dedicated to preserving the French language in Louisiana. That organization was the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana.
Better known as CODOFIL, that organization has done much to promote the French language and to reach out to other Francophone areas of the world.
One of CODOFIL's most significant contributions to French education has been the French Immersion programs. Immersion programs have taught children to speak French fluently, rather than to merely conjugate verbs and memorize grammar rules.
But the benefits have gone beyond even that. Today, standardized test scores are showing that bilingual kids are doing better in school than their fellow students who speak only one language. And that's across the board - even in English, which teachers once believed would be adversely affected by also speaking French. But it just makes sense.
There are many words in English that come from Latin. And French is one of the languages that evolved from Latin.
It stands to reason the two languages would share cognates — words that sound the same and roughly mean the same.
If you know the French word, you may well be able to guess the meaning of an unfamiliar English word just by the way it sounds. Yes, that can be tricky, but it seems to work more often that it doesn't. It's also easier to learn another language entirely, especially Latin-based languages like Spanish or Italian, if you speak French.
Another benefit has been that kids in immersion programs are exposed to the cultures of their teachers, who come from around the world. This is good. But it's also true that students need to be exposed to and help preserve the French language of Louisiana.
There are precious few native Cajun and Creole French speakers who enter the French Immersion program as teachers.
CODOFIL now has announced a plan to recruit education majors to get their degrees in France with the purpose of coming back and teaching in French Immersion programs.
This would be good news, if the plan comes to fruition. But it is to be hoped that part of the plan is to preserve the French of Louisiana, rather than to replace it with standard French.
There are so many words and phrases that give Louisiana French, in all its varied forms, its color and its vibrancy.
It is the verbal expression of a culture and a consciousness.
It would be a shame to lose it.
Source:
dailyworld.com
Misguided but presumably well-meaning teachers tried to convince generations of French-speaking parents that they did their children a disservice by continuing the French tradition at home. Fortunately, not all of them were convinced. But enough were.
By the 1960s, so many had abandoned the language of their parents and grandparents that it was deemed necessary to form a new organization dedicated to preserving the French language in Louisiana. That organization was the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana.
Better known as CODOFIL, that organization has done much to promote the French language and to reach out to other Francophone areas of the world.
One of CODOFIL's most significant contributions to French education has been the French Immersion programs. Immersion programs have taught children to speak French fluently, rather than to merely conjugate verbs and memorize grammar rules.
But the benefits have gone beyond even that. Today, standardized test scores are showing that bilingual kids are doing better in school than their fellow students who speak only one language. And that's across the board - even in English, which teachers once believed would be adversely affected by also speaking French. But it just makes sense.
There are many words in English that come from Latin. And French is one of the languages that evolved from Latin.
It stands to reason the two languages would share cognates — words that sound the same and roughly mean the same.
If you know the French word, you may well be able to guess the meaning of an unfamiliar English word just by the way it sounds. Yes, that can be tricky, but it seems to work more often that it doesn't. It's also easier to learn another language entirely, especially Latin-based languages like Spanish or Italian, if you speak French.
Another benefit has been that kids in immersion programs are exposed to the cultures of their teachers, who come from around the world. This is good. But it's also true that students need to be exposed to and help preserve the French language of Louisiana.
There are precious few native Cajun and Creole French speakers who enter the French Immersion program as teachers.
CODOFIL now has announced a plan to recruit education majors to get their degrees in France with the purpose of coming back and teaching in French Immersion programs.
This would be good news, if the plan comes to fruition. But it is to be hoped that part of the plan is to preserve the French of Louisiana, rather than to replace it with standard French.
There are so many words and phrases that give Louisiana French, in all its varied forms, its color and its vibrancy.
It is the verbal expression of a culture and a consciousness.
It would be a shame to lose it.
Source:
dailyworld.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment