French Camp for Young Learners - Languages, Literatures and International Studies

Day one is for “Discovering Ourselves and Our Friends”—greeting, leave-taking, presenting ourselves to each other, and associated cultural gestures; “Our Body and j’ai mal”. 

Day two is for “Objects Around Us and Likes and Dislikes, J’aime and Je déteste”—the classroom, at home, leisure and sports; and arithmetic—numbers and equations 1-12, +/-/=. 

Day three is for “French Cuisine”—using basic cooking vocabulary, measurements, counting off amounts of items (eggs, croissants, cups of flour, sugar, milk, etc.), likes and dislikes, hot and cold (segue into climate), and learning important foods, meals, and customs associated with French culture. Here the elementary student will have to improvise a rudimentary conversation in French, recombining the expressions learned, to receive what they desire in the café.

Day four is for “Fine Arts,”—using basic art vocabulary of shapes and colors, familiarity with some important art aesthetics (Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Naturalism, Cubism, Surrealism), familiarity with major artists (Millet, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Van Gogh, Braque, Magritte), and familiarity with Paris museums and other Parisian monuments. 

A virtual tour, including geography and visual art, concludes the French Camp, as a whole class activity. The tour takes students from their elementary school, expanding from their city to their state, to the North American continent, flying across the ocean to the European and African continents, viewing the surrounding countries and Francophone areas, then zeroing in on France, then Paris. Once in Paris, we take time to view the map, and the location of the well-known monuments, which we view one at a time, as we progress along the designated route. We arrive to our final destination, the Musée d’Orsay, and examine selected paintings of studied artists therein. Pausing on each painting, a pair of Intermediate student leading the tour identify the name of the artist, the title of the painting, and encourage elementary students to identify the colors, shapes, and objects they have learned in French. Here the elementary students eagerly shout out the words they have learned.

The challenge is to create a curriculum that would have the right combination of rigor and accessibility for elementary learners.  We have to generate a list of vocabulary for children who may have never heard a foreign language before and may even be resistant to learning one.  This means that we have to accomplish two items.  First, select the right kind of vocabulary with some cognates. Second, generate the right amount of vocabulary so as to provide a complete lesson to allow students to communicate with each other in French, but not too extensive as to overwhelm them.  Also, the factor of “fun” was essential in order to spark enthusiasm at the very beginning, and also maintain that enthusiasm for four days of camp.  Likewise, it is hard work for students to take the role of teachers who have to show patience, compassion, and persistence in leading the young learners to feel success in the end of the camp.

Students of French at NMU have the opportunity to review and improve their French in a cross-disciplinary approach, combining cultural learning with different fields of study, such as math, cuisine, fine arts, and geography, and to plan a way to teach it to small children.  NMU Students benefit by reviewing their linguistic skills and cultural knowledge and sharing some of their skills with young learners. This opportunity provided NMU students with a rewarding experience of helping others learn and in turn provides meaning to their own learning. In the course of the French Camp, elementary students express authentic enthusiasm in discovering that they are learning, and can actually express themselves in French. With its early exposure, in a fun and engaging way, this project gives elementary students a leg up in some vocabulary and cultural knowledge of French, creating interest, and virtually eliminating the anxiety and fear sometimes associated with the study of foreign language in the United States. Studying French early also sparks enthusiasm in young children for learning about other cultures and languages. When the elementary students are much older and face the possibility of taking a foreign language, we hope that they will remember this moment in their past, and will consider the possibility with enthusiasm rather than trepidation. The French Camp for Elementary Schoolchildren is, therefore, a small step toward the strides elementary students will have to make to be productive citizens in the modern world that is becoming more and more internationalized.