The Final Countdown

I finished my last session at my placement a few weeks ago, and I feel like overall this experience has given me an entirely different perspective compared to my other pre practicum placements. In my P1 at Baker Elementary, each week I was there our class had their Spanish class, but other than that, I have not really been exposed to foreign language class teachings. I have been a student in a foreign language class for many years, but observing these types of classes as a student teacher is completely different. As a student, you do not notice the complexities of teaching.  There are so many different strategies to teaching children a second language, which I have learned about in a number of classes I have had a BC; but, having the opportunity to see this first hand, and in another country where English in the foreign language to students, instead of Spanish or French, was an incredibly experience.

I feel as though I have learned many skills in my placement this semester, and in the beginning I was not extremely hopeful about my placement, since I was not exactly in a French school. Even though my experience was different, I still was able to observe students learning a new language and the challenges they faced during different phases of language development. I also learned a few things myself from the students. At first they had an incredibly hard time understanding me because they were not used to my American accent (in English and in French), but as the weeks went by and they would correct my French accent, I too began to improve in my second language. I hope that I will be able to bring what I have learned in Aix this semester back with me to Boston College and apply it to my last pre practicum and my full practicum next year.