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Inquiry Project

When we were given the inquiry project assignment and told to research one issue

that we felt was important in schools and for us as new teachers, what immediately came to

mind for me as an aspiring French immersion teacher was the low grammatical skills in

French immersion students in Canada. As a student, I often struggled with grammar from

as early as grade two or three. As I continued through school, the problem only grew when

I had teachers that were also uninterested in grammar or not confident enough in their

own French skills. It was not until I went to university and later spent time in Quebec City

at Université Laval that I had teachers who loved grammar, loved teaching it and were very

confident in their skills – mostly because they were native French speakers, not second

language learners like myself. Unfortunately, my struggles with grammar are not over, and

it is something that I continually work on throughout my practicums and will continue in

my future teaching career.

I chose the topic of low grammatical skills in French immersion students because I

believe it is extremely important for students to get as strong a foundation in the language

as possible, so that they can not only be successful but as close to fluent as possible. One of

the goals of French immersion is to develop bilingualism. We want students to become as

fluent as native French speakers their age. This, however, is not happening in Canada due

to low grammatical abilities and lack of qualified French immersion teachers. (Hutchins,

2015) As a future teacher, I want my students to have a strong base and understanding of

the language so they can do whatever they choose, whether that is working abroad,
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teaching, government, business or otherwise. My inquiry question is: How can I integrate

language and content into my French immersion lessons to help my students develop a

stronger grammatical foundation? I think that elementary students need to be practicing

grammar, both oral and written on a regular basis in the classroom, so that they have the

skills they will need to continue with French until graduation and be successful after high

school using the language – especially with French only speakers. I think we should be

encouraging students to be interested in studying grammar and working hard to learn

more and build that strong foundation. I also believe that we should be working hard to

educate teachers how to effectively teach grammar so that it is interesting and attainable

for students. I also believe it is extremely important to hire qualified French teachers who

are able to teach those fundamental grammatical structures and vocabulary. (Fitzpatrick,

2017) I am interested in how I can receive the training to be confident teaching French

grammar and vocabulary and how I can teach it in a way that is integrated with content and

so that it is conductive to student learning. I think a strong grammatical education is

fundamental to all French immersion students’ learning and opportunities later in life,

whether or not they plan to continue using the language on a daily basis.

My interest in this topic began after attending two professional development

sessions with French immersion Guru Roy Lyster. From these sessions, it was clear that

some critiques and frustrations from other local French immersion teachers were lack of

resources, lack of time to teach the curricular content and language simultaneously, and

that despite teachers’ best efforts, students were still struggling, still reluctant to speak

French, still had a very limited vocabulary, and still widely misunderstood by native French

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speakers who do not know or understand the structures and conventions of English. For

my inquiry I chose to focus on the issue of how to integrate the curricular content with

language. To investigate this issue I read Roy Lyster’s book “Vers une approche intégrée en

immersion,” (or “Towards an integrated approach in immersion” in English,) which was the

focus of our pro-d sessions. Additionally, I watched a 50-minute YouTube video of him

giving a very similar presentation, and I also read and analyzed several other sources that

discussed the issue and outlined both the struggles and successes of French immersion

programs in Canada.

The video I watched was “Integrated Language Learning Across the immersion

Curriculum” posted on YouTube by the Center for Advanced Research on Language

Acquisition at the University of Minnesota. In the video, Roy Lyster outlined the importance

of making L1 and L2 connections and encouraging students to develop literacy and fluency

skills drawing on their already strong skills from their primary language. He wants

teachers to focus on bilateral language proficiency and by reinforcing those connections

students will be stronger in both their first and second languages. Lyster emphasizes how

important it is for teachers to provide many opportunities for exposure to the target

language and opportunities for students to use the target language, to make mistakes, and

to learn from them. In the video, and more explicitly in his book “Vers une approche

intégrée en immersion,” Lyster explains how integrating content objectives with language

objectives, much the same we would do if teaching an ESL student, that our French

immersion students are more likely to understand the concept. We need our students to

make connections, to learn new vocabulary, and for language practice to be genuine and

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relevant use of the target language. Additionally, one of the articles I read was “Integrating

Language and Content Instruction in the Immersion Classroom” by Elizabeth Graser. She

also outlines the challenge of integrating language and content into instruction. She argues,

“an immersion teacher is constantly incorporating the work of two teachers into an

average day.” (Graser, 1998) To address this challenge, French immersion teachers must

“engage in fundamental planning” so that each lesson meets both the language

compression and content comprehension requirements necessary for students to learn.

(Graser, 1998) Lyster and Graser both state the same thing: the challenge is not only

teaching both language and content, but integrating it so that it is meaningful and relevant

to student learning.

So how are teachers supposed to integrate content and language? According to

researchers, the answer lies in the planning of French immersion lessons. Graser, with

information from other educators, argues that teachers need to incorporate as many

meaningful situations and uses of language as possible for their students. The lessons and

use of language needs to be authentic for students to not only learn, but to be able to

manipulate and replicate the grammatical structures whenever required. When planning

units and lessons, teachers must remember to include both a content objective but also a

language objective. Some examples of ways to do this could be to include descriptive

adjectives within a Life Cycles science unit, to include prepositions in math or social

studies, and reflexive verbs when talking about morning routines. (Graser, 1998) This

method of planning and teaching is sometimes referred to as reflective teaching, but more

recently the term CLIL is used. CLIL (content and language learning) is “a form of dual-

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focused learning where emphasis is on both content and on language. Teachers plan their

lessons with two sets of objectives, one regarding content and one regarding language.”

(Ruiz, 2017) This method has proven to be successful for teaching language as students are

constantly using their critical thinking, active memory and problem solving to actively

learn and participate in the French environment.

As a teacher who is not a native French speaker, I will have to work extremely hard

to ensure that my students feel comfortable with grammar, and that they are using it

correctly. It will be my responsibility to make lesson plans and come up with appropriate

ways to effectively teach the curriculum and the important grammatical structures and

necessary vocabulary. I don’t expect it to be easy, and I imagine that a lot of my students

will struggle with the different concepts. I know that for myself personally, this will be

something that I have to work on consciously integrating into each lesson. However I think

that with some planning, creativity and perseverance on my part, I will be able to help

develop that strong foundation. I also hope that I will be able to make a difference for my

students so that they are able to continue on to be successful in whatever their endeavors –

whether that be with French or not.

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Resources

Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA), University of Minnesota.

(March 18, 2014). “Integrated Language Learning Across the Immersion
Curriculum.” YouTube. Retrieved from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7qU8HNi6bA&t=211s

Fitzpatrick, M. (November 30, 2017). “’We’re doing the best we can’: French immersion
teacher shortage in Canada a chronic and stressful problem.” CBC News Canada.
Retrieved from: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-french-immersion-
teacher-shortage-1.4423050

Graser, E. (February, 1998). “Integrating Language and Content Instruction in the

Immersion Classroom.” ACIE Newsletter Volume 1 Number 2. Retrieved from:
http://carla.umn.edu/immersion/acie/vol1/Feb1998.pdf

Hutchins, A. (March 22, 2015). “Just say ‘non’: The problem with French immersion.”
Maclean’s. Retrieved from: http://www.macleans.ca/education/just-say-non-the-
problem-with-french-immersion/

Lyster, R. (2016). Vers une approche intégrée en immersion. Montréal : Les Éditions CEC.

Ruiz, T. (2017). “Integrating Content and Language.” Language Magazine. Retrieved from:
https://www.languagemagazine.com/integrating-content-and-language/