Language learning at Stirling: ‘I would choose Stirling over and over again’

This is the last of our daily posts for this year’s Languages Week Scotland and we’re rounding off the week with an article written by one of our current final year students about her experiences at Stirling. It has been a busy blog week and I suspect the pace of the posts will be a lot calmer over the coming weeks but I’d like to thank all the colleagues and students who have taken the time to write for us this week. We’ve had around 160 visitors to the blog since Monday and I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing about all things French at Stirling. For this final Languages Week post, then, time for thoughts from a final semester student:

“Bonjour à tod@s! My name is Valentina, and I am in my final semester studying for a BA Hons International Management with European Languages and Society. In short, I am studying Spanish, French and Marketing and I love it (even during a pandemic).

I chose this course, because it enabled me to take both languages to degree level, as well as having a business and marketing side which I felt would increase my employability. In terms of my languages, I am an Italian native, I speak English and, at Stirling, I started from the Beginners’ stream in French and in the Advanced classes in Spanish. The Spanish course is taught in Castellano, which sounds difficult at the beginning, however, I feel it is effective in building confidence in speaking the language. French, on the other hand, is taught more in English to an extent. Both courses are excellent as they will inspire you to explore languages in your spare time too.

At first, as a foreign mature student, which meant I had to work, I was petrified that I was going to fail, because the class would have gone at a pace that I could not sustain or use jargon that I would struggle to get. Once I started, though, I realised that most of the lectures are recorded, and notes of each session can be accessed anytime on Canvas, our Virtual Learning Environment. It took me a bit to find the right working/ studying balance, but there is a good deal of financial and mental support to help in your studies all the way through.

I would choose Stirling over and over again, for many reasons, but the main one is that I haven’t felt that I was just a paying student number. The language department lecturers had a very positive impact on my learning experience, as I found them easy to talk to and they have made my language learning experience super interesting. They all have been very supportive, in my good and bad days. At my lowest this has meant a lot to me! Overall, I found that this “people person” culture within the university makes students feel much more appreciated, valued and supported and, therefore, more likely to be successful in their studies.’

Many, many thanks to Valentina for having found the time to write this great post and we wish you all the very best for this final semester at Stirling, and for life beyond graduation. Once again, thanks to all the contributors to the blog from this week and Happy Languages Week Scotland!

Thoughts of a future teacher: “Le français, l’éducation et moi”

Following on from Emma’s tales of life as an English Language Assistant in Rouen yesterday, we’re really pleased to be able to post more language teaching-related thoughts, this time from Michael who is in Year 3 of a degree in Primary Education and Modern Languages at Stirling:

“With my fourth and final year drawing ever closer, I’m grateful for this unexpected opportunity to reflect on my time at the University of Stirling and the time I have spent on my French studies.

As per the demands of my particular degree combination (Primary Education with a specialism in French as a modern language), I have already completed my last French module and will no longer be actively studying Francophone topics at the university. Yet it would not be an overstatement to say that, over the course of three years, I have learned an awful lot more than I had maybe expected in 2018!

From the very early days of the first République française and the values that went on to shape modern French society… to France’s position in the turbulent Twentieth Century and its global influence on people and politics… and on to discussions of memory and remembering in the present day – especially regarding the ongoing impact of European colonialism. And not to mention learning how to speak and write in fluent French!

(Sometimes I still get tied up in knots when it comes to grammar.)

In this extended exploration of French language and culture, a few events have been particularly memorable. In 2019, during my second year, I attended a languages evening held by the French and Spanish departments, where I had the pleasure of being introduced to the then-Senegalese Ambassador to the UK, Cheikh Ahmadou Dieng and his wife, Nabou. The Ambassador spoke of his time in the UK and abroad, and the importance of language in his official capacity and to him, personally. While we all had the opportunity to speak a bit ourselves, they were most definitely the guests of honour!

I was also part of a group of Stirling’s Language Ambassadors who visited third years at Williamwood High School in Glasgow to talk about studying languages at Stirling and the pathways languages graduates can follow. This stands out in my memory given its continuing relevance to me as a student teacher.

In 2020, despite the obstacles posed by the coronavirus, I had the amazing opportunity to spend six months working as a language assistant in a primary school in a town called Saint Quentin in the Picardy region of northern France. Due to the wave of new cases at the time, there were unfortunately strict limitations on how much I could do and how far I could travel – I only left the town four times in the whole six months! On the other hand, I was able to get a real taste of the culture and heritage of the town and its environs. It was a uniquely unforgettable experience and, looking back, I think I grew up a lot. I also gained six months of invaluable classroom experience and my French came on by leaps and bounds as well!

As a 21^st-Century teacher in an increasingly globalised world, I have to foster a love of languages and learning languages in my pupils and encourage them to see the value that knowing multiple languages can have. The Scottish Government’s 1 + 2 Languages policy has now been implemented in all Scottish schools, emulating a similar policy in the EU. Through this scheme, all children have the opportunity to learn a modern language from Primary 1 onwards, and an additional modern language starting from P5, until the end of broad general education in S3. It is thus essential that teachers themselves – especially in primary schools – can confidently teach at least one modern language and motivate children to learn additional languages and to learn about other cultures.

As one such future teacher, I hope that I can draw on my own passion and experiences to inspire a love of French and language-learning in my pupils. Perhaps one day they will be part of the next generation of modern languages students at the University of Stirling!”

Many, many thanks to Michael for this brilliant post and for the fantastic accompanying illustrations! We wish you all the best for the rest of your degree and for your future as a 21st-century teacher promoting the value of languages for everyone, from primary school onwards.

The best last-minute decision of my life…

Continuing our Languages Week Scotland blog series today with a great post from Emma who is currently working as an English Language Assistant in France, taking a year out between Year 3 and her final year here in Stirling. The ELAs remain incredibly popular with our students at a range of stages of their degrees and, at any one time, we usually have 20-30 students who are off teaching English to school pupils (and sometimes University students), mainly in France or Spain, but sometimes much further afield. For the moment, though, it’s over to Emma.:

“Back in 2018, when I decided to study French and Spanish as part of the International Management degree at the University of Stirling, I had a lot of things to look forward to; making new friends, expanding my knowledge of my favourite school subjects, etc. However, the main part of my degree I really couldn’t wait for was to have unforgettable experiences abroad – improving my language skills, learning the culture – I couldn’t wait for it to begin.

I was due to move to Spain in September 2020 to participate in the British Council language assistant programme. However, at this time Covid-19 cases were rapidly rising, so quite suddenly I decided to drop out. It was too dangerous for me to move abroad at this time. I was absolutely gutted but held out hope for the Study Abroad programme the following January, when I was supposed to go to France for six months. But guess what! Covid strikes again!

It was at this point where I was giving up hope for moving abroad. I had reapplied for the British Council programme in Spain the following September, but things were not looking good when I was placed on a waiting list. A few months went by, and in July, during a family holiday, I received an exciting e-mail. I had been offered a place on the programme, in my second-choice country, France. I only had two hours to decide if I would go or not! It’s fair to say, I was rather stressed, and it certainly made the holiday unforgettable. However, I took the plunge, and six months later I am writing this blog from Rouen, the capital city of Normandy, in France!

I can wholeheartedly say that this last-minute decision was the best I have ever made. I had no idea what to expect, my French language skills were not great, I didn’t know anyone. I was terrified! I quickly made some other assistant friends, I moved into an Erasmus student house (with 11 other people!) and I quickly settled into my new life. As I was placed in a city centre, I wasn’t sure if I would have many opportunities to speak French. But to my delight, not a lot of people speak English. If they can speak English, I say I want to practice my French, and they are happy to help!

Rouen itself is a beautiful city. I had never heard of it before, and it truly is a hidden gem, especially the beautiful architecture, and just the general atmosphere of the city. Although it is the capital of Normandy, it’s still fairly small with a population of around 110,000, so for me it is the perfect balance between city and town life. Maybe I would have spoken more French in a rural area, however I think Rouen is perfect for me, as I do definitely have to speak French but I have met a lot of English speaking friends here, which makes it really nice to take a break from all the French!

After a week of getting used to my new city, I began working in two middle schools just outside the city centre. I was rather nervous as I didn’t know what to expect in terms of the pupils’ English level, but I was pleasantly surprised that they could understand me, and only required some French explanations from time to time.

Being here has really helped me see that I absolutely love teaching. From preparing the lessons, to creating fun games and worksheets (10-year-olds love a wordsearch), the whole job is extremely fun and rewarding. I feel a sense of pride when I teach the kids something and they remember, or when they ask me endless questions because they are genuinely fascinated by me. All of the teachers in the school are lovely, they are patient with me with my rusty French speaking skills and encourage me to speak when I am comfortable. I didn’t know if I would have many opportunities to speak a lot of French, since I would be teaching English, however I have tried my best to take advantage of any opportunity to try and improve my language skills. At the beginning it was difficult to gain confidence, but I tell myself – who cares? At least I’m trying!

As I only work 12 hours per week in the schools, I have a lot of free time to explore the city – or even further. I have been able to do a lot of travelling along the northern coast of France, and before Christmas, myself and some other assistants were able to go to Brussels for a long weekend (an amazing city). It is also extremely helpful living only 1 hour and 30 minutes from Paris, and next week I will be travelling to Berlin and Amsterdam during the vacances – the school holidays are a major perk of the job, as it is so easy to travel from France to other places. I’m hopeful that during the April holidays, I will be able to explore the south of France (and escape the rain!). I feel like my time here in Rouen is completely flying by, which is so unfortunate as I am having the best time here, I don’t want to leave! However, I already know that once I have graduated, I will reapply for the programme, but this time in Spain, and hopefully be able to create more unforgettable memories. I don’t know if it is possible to top this year though…”

Many, many thanks to Emma for this brilliant post and we’re delighted things are working out so well. Enjoy the rest of your time in Rouen and do continue to take advantage of all the opportunities for travel! More perspectives on language teaching will follow over the next few days…

Languages Week Scotland: Exchanging ideas through Erasmus mobility

In the Autumn, our colleague Aedín ní Loingsigh spent part of the semester on an Erasmus teaching exchange at our partner institution, the Université de Limoges. Languages Week Scotland seems like an excellent opportunity to post her blog article about the experience:

“This past November, I had the immense honour of spending three weeks as Visiting Lecturer for the University of Limoges Masters programmes in ‘Identité et Transferts culturels’ and ‘Management interculturel’. During my time there, I delivered a series of practical translation classes as well as interactive lectures and seminars on Translation Theory.

Given how brief my visit was, my aim was to design classes in a way that encouraged the students to use our contact time to explore connections between aspects of the content we were translating and the questions raised by certain theoretical approaches. An overarching question of much of our time together was the question of translator ‘neutrality’, including the issue of whether a translator should be visible and whether particular texts and contexts require a ‘suitable’ translator, and, if so, who that might be.

We began by looking at the translation theories and practices of Quebec’s Quiet Revolution feminist communities. At the same time, we translated a text written by Lou Sarabadzic on langage inclusif. It was wonderful to see students respond to the ideas of feminist translation and explore the gendered nature of language — and its playful possibilities. Suffice to say that in one class we had a memorable exchange regarding the ingenious and creative use one small student group made of the American term ‘period’ (full-stop) when discussing translation choices in English for an emphatic use of ‘voilà’ in Lou’s feminist text. We also had constructive fun looking at Google Translate in real time. We saw just how biased Machine Translation can be, why the study of gender in translation matters, and how we might translate in a gender-aware way.

We also spent some time looking at the controversy surrounding the Dutch translation of Amanda Gorman’s poem ‘The Hill we Climb’, which she read at Joe Biden’s inauguration in January 2021. I was impressed with the students’ thoughtful and open-minded engagement with this complex issue and their willingness to look beyond simplistic representations of the debate. (I should say I was also impressed with their patience when technology failed and we had to try and appreciate Gorman’s powerful reading of her poem on my small laptop screen as opposed to the large projector screen.) We discussed whether it is possible to be ‘neutral’ in translating this poem, whether ‘translator invisibility’ is desirable for all translation contexts, and whether there is an ‘ideal’ translator for a text who fully understands the experience and position of the source-text author. Finally, we mentioned the idea of a translation collective where diversity of experience and opinion is maximized.

One of the topics I particularly enjoyed was tourist translation. We didn’t spend a lot of time on this, but I am keen to explore it more in the future, preferably on location! On one of my many delightful walks in Limoges, I took some photographs to discuss with students the linguistic landscape of the city. Not surprisingly, the city’s key sites have lots of examples of translation, not least the amazing Musée national Adrien Dubouché — an unquestionable highlight of my time in Limoges for the sheer breadth and informative layout of its porcelain collections. In class, we looked at some images of the Découvrir Limoges plaques visitors will notice as they explore the city, and we discussed the challenges and choices made in some of the very condensed translations of the source text.

We also looked at monolingual French signs that might be usefully translated for visitors. One of the most memorable things I saw in Limoges was evidence of an effort to highlight visually more of the city’s long history of producing decorative objects, most famously in porcelain. Scattered around the city centre, if you keep your eyes open, are public stairways with an occasional stone balustrade replaced by one in porcelain. Intrigued, I eventually found an explanation on a sign, but with no translation. So, one of our final tasks at the university was to translate this text. I have suggested to the students that they take their excellent collective translation further and suggest to the City of Limoges that they produce *paid* top quality translations for other public information signs, including, yes, the very funny one we also looked at encouraging people to clean up after their dogs — we never did decide what to do with the opening clause: ‘Pour favoriser l’intégration de votre chien….’ To be continued.

My time in Limoges was too short. I know for certain that I learned as much from the students as I hope they did from me. I know I enjoyed the company and the warmest of welcomes from staff more than I think I let them know. I came back to a university system in the UK about to go on strike. I’m not going to romanticise university life in France. But my own experience in Limoges showed me that, for now at least, university life there seems to have held on to the precious time that is needed for a genuine exchange of ideas. I hope to be back. Thank you.”

Many thanks to Aedín for sending this blog post and, more importantly, for having gone to Limoges in the first place. Our Erasmus partnerships remain incredibly important to us (as do our non-Erasmus ones!) and it’s fantastic when colleagues also manage to benefit from them. And thanks to our friends in Limoges for the great welcome! This new semester will also see other teaching exchanges – we’re looking forward to welcoming Ruth Menzies from the Université Aix-Marseille to Stirling in March and, as it happens, Cristina Johnston will be delivering a guest lecture (virtually) to students on the University of Passau‘s BA in International Culture and Business Studies tomorrow morning. More to follow!