Celebrating a French-Full Classroom

Let’s talk about the ligne magique. This is the magic line which makes learners believe they already speak French. When I want to get serious about French-full moments in the classroom, I bring out the ligne magique.

Sometimes the words can come out mixed up; even when they think they are speaking French, English words are sometimes mixed in to their sentence. This is translanguaging. I celebrate it.

When I first introduce it, I dig into a key point which can be problematic for kindergarten learners: French and English are different languages. It makes sense that this is hard to understand. Kids are already used to the idea that things can have multiple names (e.g. it’s a flower, but it’s also a daffodil; it’s a book, but it’s also a story). Language separation therefore becomes very challenging, because the kids are actually learning this new language at the same time as they are learning the community language (English) and possibly also additional home languages. Sometimes the words can come out mixed up; even when they think they are speaking French, English words are sometimes mixed in to their sentence. This is translanguaging. I celebrate it.

It wasn’t easy for me to come to a stance about language separation. Initially, I introduce the connections between French and English – here is where we uncover that English and French both have a name for something! English: dog! Français: chien! English: happy! French: content! Of course, I make a strong effort to scaffold and support the speaking of French at all times in the classroom. The ligne magique comes out when I want learners to try speaking in French to one another, not just to and with me. It’s a big ask. I think of it in the same way you want to teach values to your children: if you want a young child to believe they are kind, you tell them they are kind all the time. You notice every singe time they are kind so you can lift that behaviour up. If I want the children to try to speak in French, I name the behaviour all the time.

Ritchhart describes learning as thinking and active sense making. This is really what we are asking our kids to do all the time in the language classroom.