Canada Day on the Hill - memories of traveling across Canada

This year, I walked down memory lane - when my friend and I went to Ottawa - Parliament Hill for Canada. The last time I was in Ottawa was I think 13 years ago. The last time I was at Parliament Hill for the countries birthday was 18 years ago when my family and I drove across Canada.

I can't exactly remember the timeline - at that age, time was measured in school time and holiday time. I remember it was the holidays, but we must have left the interior of BC the day after school got out in order to make it to Ottawa for July 1st. I can remember stopping overnight in Calgary, Wood Buffalo National Park, some insect infested place around Winnipeg, Sudbury Ontario, and then Ottawa. Of course, I am likely missing a few nights in different places, but these are the ones that stand out. We camped most of the way, which made the stops more memorable; where is Wood Buffalo? Why are we camping in insect infested areas - and I can remember my little sister refusing to pee in the outside at a place I think called Wolf River.

Ottawa was new for all of us - although my parents, my oldest sister and I had made the same trip about 10 years before this trip above, so it was not foreign, but not familiar.

In Ottawa, we met up with some of my mom's cousins and their children and it was our first introduction to a cross cultural experience. (I'm sure I'll find more firsts further back, but this one has stuck in my head since Canada Day!) We toured around Ottawa a bit and spent the evening on the hill for a BTO Concert - the headliner that year for Canada Day. I wasn't so excited to hear them, as I really didn't have an interest in concert's but was able to slightly identify as "Takin' Care of Business" had been (and still is) the theme song for the local hockey club as long as I can remember. That's about all I remember of the show until the end of the night when my parents were clinging onto all 6 kids on the trip, making sure we missed stepping in puke and didn't get lost in the crowd! (Things haven't change their much. The stage is the same and there are still puke puddles to avoid).

We stayed with my mom's cousin and his family. The best that I can remember is ordering pizza for dinner one night and getting really funny looks when we started to eat with our hands. My sister's (and cousin from Calgary) and I learned that in Ontario, pizza is not finger food and should be eaten on a plate with a fork and knife. I was in shock! This may have been my first experience with - not everyone does things the same way.

The rest of the trip across Canada is a bit of a blur... I f I have a chance to revisit the other places, more memories may come back to me. I do remember visiting John A. McDonald's house in Kingston Ontario. As well as eating in a restaurant in Trois Riviere's, Quebec and I think a Burger King in Montreal. The Burger King wasn't so bad. I can remember my Dad trying to order in French and we were all probably in shock and as small children are, slightly embarrassed by the ordeal. Speaking with my Dad recently it sounds like our laughter has scared him as he continues to have a desire to speak French, but doesn't know what to do with the laughter. Go for it Dad! If there is any laughter from me, it is pure admiration and memories of what was (or my own experiences). The Trois Riviere's experience, I can remember being less friendly. We were in a family style restaurant - at sunset - so maybe around 9 (or it was earlier and the sky was dark due to thunder storms in the area. The restaurant staff didn't seem to know what to do about us. My parents didn't speak French - or what was said seemed to be misunderstood. Us kids, although having studied French for some time in school were completely useless.

I do believe that things happen for a reason. Could it be that we had the good and bad experiences on our trip across the country so that I would be interested in intercultural communication - or at least interested in learning French?

I still don't speak well, but I am now a translator for my friend from Japan and the four year old downstairs. I will take this as a complement. She's a pretty bright young girl and finds creative ways to teach me French. Pointing to objects is one of her favorite things - while she says the words very slowly and clearly. I learned four leaf clover this way - which I can't remember at the moment, but I am sure I will when I hear it again!

Tagged with "T"

I've been tagged with the letter "T". I will post soon!

Learning a language - living a culture

I had a bit of a revelation today when I heard the phrase "Ou est la savon de la main?" I thought - that's easy!?! I understand! There is no reason that I would understand that phrase so easily other than from reading it over and over again on savon de la main bottles. I don't think I ever heard that phrase said in my French classes, nor would it have been a question that I would have asked people in my past. At that time, the French was much more focused on food and discussions of politics, but I won't digress.

This got me to thinking once again about how do we learn languages? I am working with 8 students who are trying to learn English without sitting in a classroom. They are trying to learn by doing and I am totally becoming more and more convinced that this is how we learn.

When I was in Germany, I had a chance to live in German before actually reading or speaking German. Although I had many frustrations and expectations, I left after one year, speaking German - more than a little, reading German and beginning to write German. I can remember at one time explaining to my host sister that I was beginning to be okay with the learning process because it's like starting from a child again. She gave me some children's books for my birthday! It was great!

Since then, I've studied more French and learned Spanish and attempted Russian. Without much effort academic effort, I've kept up my German and some Spanish and am rediscovering French. The Russian has fallen by the wayside. After 10 weeks, I could write the cycrilic alphabet and say the letters, but I couldn't say much else. In retrospect, I think that I didn't retain anything because I didn't hear it. I didn't have the same process as starting from a child and hearing people speak before I needed to learn to write. If you can hear the rhythm, I believe that it is possible to write the rhythm. If I write in German, I have to hear the language before I can write. I think this is also important for the students that I am working with - so just how to convey that message. .. I wish that all French classes in Canada used this way of learning, rather than pursuing French as an academic endeavors. I may not be so surprised the next time I hear and understand a phrase in or out of context...

ramble

Ah, human relationships are challenging aren't they? Working across languages is a challenge and working across cultures is a challenge for me, whether the culture is age, gender, language, education, employment - pretty much the gamet.

In some ways, my current job is to bridge the cutlures and recently I feel like I am not doing a very good job. Whether it is lecturing a colleague of mine about how she's not doing her job (I tried not to lecture and to give indirect feedback, but did poorly at it as I could never find a positive comment), or confusing a student with conflicting information - yes! no! which one is it? Well, taking a positive look at this, the program I am working on has the goal of preparing participants for work in the real world. I think uncertainty is a huge part of this - every one has different acceptable levels of uncertainty. Taking it to the edge and back is the challenge.

Okay, I am just rambling about work and what is inside my own head - so I'll stop now, so as not to bore you. One day, I may try to organize these thoughts a little better.

Cheers!

me the French rap artist ;-)

I did it! With thinking I was going to be in the background this morning, I joined a music video shoot. I think we sort of ended up being more in the shoot than out of the shoot which is too funny! I don't own any rap music, but I will buy the CD and try to get the copy of the video to share with anyone who's interested.

The video should ne on Musique Plus this summer!!!! Should be fun ;-)

Do as I say, not as I do?

Ever have one of those days where things are going so well and then your emotions get the best of you? If you can imagine, I work with recent University graduates who are learning a second language. One of the challenges is to get them to understand that "course guidelines" while leaving the ownership and responsibility of the program with them. In other words I am not a teacher, sort of a guide.

Anyway, I had a meeting with some colleagues today and rather than use what I try with students and let them take what they want from the meeting, I feel like I sort of forced it down their throats with my emotions! I think they got the point and are taking from it what they want and will interpret it as they want, but I feel a little hypocritical... hmm...how to handle emotions in meetings - still learning this one.

Music video appearance anyone???

My neighbour downstairs is a French rapper. I'm not quite sure what that means, but he's an artist and has produced a few albums so far. He is debuting his latest album at a small club in town at the end of this month, so perhaps I can find out more about the music then.

He and his family are very kind and have been helping me along with my French (although they generally switch to English - fair enough). And today I was told that I was going to be in a video! Not really asked, but I may have agreed to it some time ago without actually being aware of it. I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing - I think shopping in a store...They are planning to do most of the filming Friday afternoon, which I can't make, but it still sounds like there is a chance for me to join in on the fun Saturday morning...

Something to look forward too... I'll fill you in on how it goes.