Espera de pacientes

V

In order to consider the roles of the teacher and the learners in the BFC, I examine first some interview excerpts where the learners describe how they work during a BFC lesson. During the interview conducted on January 2000, the learners said the following:

I; If you think about this activity we did this morning, writing these really simple sentences in the simple past in French. I think most of you found that quite simple, didn't you? Well, I know that you worked it out together with Sandrine.

J: And Dorothee.

I: And Dorothee. ... Did you find that difficult or easy to do these sentences? J; A bit of both.

I: A bit of both. Why 'a bit of both'?

J; Well, I just found it 'a bit of both', because most of them were alright and some of them you had to think about.

The learners describe here how they worked together in order to complete a content- based gap-filling exercise in French. Jeanne describes how she worked with Sandrine and Dorothee in order to complete the exercise. Jeanne describes the activity as 'a bit of both', i.e. both difficult and easy. The reason for finding this activity 'a bit of both' is that writing these sentences was easy 'because most of them were alright' and difficult because 'some of them you had to think about.'

Jeanne describes here how the learners support each other through pair and group work in content-based activities. In another interview on 2"'' February 2000, the learners also describe working with each other:

I; Yeah? And then how can you show that you are working with her? ... Right, OK. ... Anything else happening there? Is there anything else happening? Think about the lesson today. What happened in the first lesson? What did you do?

C: India.

I; Yes. How did you work there? Did you work with others? Did you work on your own? Did you work with Miss Delville? [Miss Delville was the trainee teacher who took my class for three lessons per week during her teaching practice.]

C: I worked with Carine. ... and ... just Carine. I; Right. Did you work as a whole class? C; In some bits, yeah.

I: Right, OK. ... Think about these things, so if you said something you would be talking to Carine. Who else might you be talking to? People behind you? Or just to Miss Delville? Or just to me? What were we doing in the second lesson? Were you working in pairs? Or were you working on your own?

M; We were kind of working in pairs and kind of working on our own.

I; So, yes, OK. Who was in the centre? Or if you are in the classroom where do you see yourself? Do you see yourself in the middle of it or on the edges?

C; Anywhere. I: Yeah? No?

C: Could I put like a line for the teacher in that lot? I: Yes, of course.

C: Teacher explaining things.

M; People like talk, just like to each other.

C; Some people send letters to each other, don't they?

1; Well, if you think this is important, put this in there as well. OK? C; Not really.

I; Well, do you think this is important? If it disturbs the lesson, it could be important. C: Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.

I; So, think about what you put in there. [...]

As a means to start off the interview, I had given the learners a drawing of how I viewed teacher and learner roles at the time in my BFC classroom (see Appendix

C). I asked the learners to adapt this drawing to their understanding of interaction and roles in the BFC classroom. The drawing activity itself was not particularly successful as I asked the interviewees to draw a very complex process of interaction in the BFC classroom. The learners developed my understanding of roles in the BFC classroom further by discussing their drawings with me and the other interviewees. The learners describe classroom interaction as taking place between:

The teacher and all the learners, The teacher and pairs of

The teacher and groups of learners, The teacher and an individual More than two learners (group One learner and another learner (pair One learner only (individual work).

One of the interviewees mentions that 'people talk to each other' and 'send letters.' The interviewees describe these disruptions in more detail in the following excerpt from the same interview:

M: Some people shout out.

1; Some people shout out, some people ... Carole? C: Some people might not understand it much. 1; Right, some people might not understand it.

C; So, you ask the next door neighbour or behind them. They help one another.

1; So, basically, it's not only the teacher who is asking questions, but also smdents who don't understand.

It is not entirely clear why 'some people shout out.' However, this might be related to tiie next statement where Carole adds that 'some people might not understand it much.' Relating both statements to each other suggests a lack of support for those learners who 'don't understand it much.' The effects of the learners not getting sufficient support for understanding lead potentially to learners becoming disruptive. At the same time, Carole mentions that the learners support each other by asking 'the next door neighbour or [the person] behind them.' Again, it is clear how crucial

support in the BFC is for the learners. Describing support in terms of roles taken by the teacher and the learners, the learners go on to describe this issue in the same interview:

1; Right, Carole, just talk me through your drawing.

C; Well, the teacher asks the questions. I haven't put in the questions yet. And, some students are helping each other, like this. And like the teacher is being asked from different students.

I: Right. OK. So, ...

C: It's sort of like a helping picmre. 1; Mmmh. So, ...

M; It's more or less like mine. [...]

I: Not really, Carole. [...] What's missing in this picmre? C: The questions.

Carole and Marie describe here teacher and learner roles. Both the teacher and the learners ask questions. Asking questions is crucial for learning in the BFC. These questions can be both related to foreign language understanding and to content understanding. the BFC, this distinction is not really valid as content is to a large extent taught through the foreign language. Therefore, asking questions implies both a content and linguistic element. Asking questions also hints at the issue of power in the classroom. The person who asks questions is in power: in the BFC both the learners and the teacher seem to have different forms of power over teaching and learning. The 'helping picture' discussion also includes possible disruptions in the BFC. These disruptions may be due to the behaviour of individual learners. Marie has mentioned before that 'some people shout out.' She and Carole describe this further:

M; Right, what it's like when ... you can't really draw it like what it's like. Cause people are chatting and jumping about and being silly and laughing and throwing things.

C; Making funny noises.

I: Funny noises, passing things around, laughing, shouting out, ... M: Yeah.

C; Saying rude words.

I: Saying rude errmm, can you say more about that? Do you like that or do you not like that?

C: not very nice. I: It's not very nice. M;No.

M: Sometimes you get confused and you can't understand. [...]

Marie and Carole give numerous examples of disruptive behaviour, 'people are chatting and jumping about and being silly and laughing and throwing things.' They go on explaining that some learners are 'saying rude words'. They then sum up the effect of this behaviour on their work with 'It's not very nice' because 'sometimes [...] we are trying to get on with our work, and there's too much noise' and 'sometimes you get confused and you can't understand.' It is not entirely clear if the confusion stems from other learners' disruptive behaviour or from a general lack of support in the BFC. However, some learners' disruptive behaviour hints at a lack of support for these disruptive learners. This has a dramatic effect for the learners who are highly motivated in the BFC because 'there's too much noise.' The disruptions may be due to classroom management problems or learning content through a foreign language being difficult and challenging for the learners without the appropriate support. The learners describe the difficulties that they encounter with learning in French in the same interview:

I; Right, so, do you find this ... is this normal now or do you find this difficult?

M: A bit of both. Sometimes I find it quite hard when you have to use like long words and then long words sometimes mean short words [in English]. And it gets a bit

I: Right, OK. Do you find ... are you afraid of speaking French? For instance when 1 was questioning you at the end of the lesson in French.

C; Sometimes, because if you get something wrong, you get all really embarrassed if you said it wrong.

I; Well, do you think it is really that bad if you say wrong? C: No.

M: No, cause you ... at least you're having a try.

Looking at this interview excerpt in terms of the support and challenges discussed earlier, the importance for the learners to feel supported in their learning in the BFC becomes obvious: The learners need support in order to overcome the challenges of learning through French. In order to examine teacher and learner roles for interaction further, I examine a diary entry from tiie beginning of my second year of teaching. On September I wrote:

28.9.99

In the last morning lesson, the smdents went into the room. Most students enjoy working on Keybites They all get on with their work quite independently and work well together. However, some smdents were nagging each other, picking on each other, winding each other up - this must be avoided at all times to keep a good classroom atmosphere which enables us to work together. I need to be careful to keep up a positive classroom atmosphere!

What about the smdents' learning? The smdents can only start to learn when the conditions for learning are right - both things belong together.

I wrote this entry after an ICT lesson that I was not particularly happy about. Although there was no major disruption, 1 mention that 'some students were nagging each other.' During the lesson, I did not intervene. However, in my diary entry, I remind myself about the importance of avoiding these situations occurring during a lesson in order 'to keep a good classroom atmosphere which enables us to work together.' In terms of roles, this entry - general as it may be - is important as it points out the most basic conditions for learning to take place in any classroom: the learners must feel safe in the classroom environment. If this most basic support does not exist, learning cannot happen. 1 reflect on this most basic form of support writing that 'the students can only start to learn when the conditions for learning are right - both things belong together.' I also understand this diary entry as a reminder to myself about my roles as a teacher, i.e. to create the right conditions for learning to take place. At the same time, it is important to remember that the teacher and the learners interact with each other. Therefore, teacher and learner roles need to be described together.

I have explored teacher and learner roles in the BFC further through metaphors. The use of metaphors opened up the descriptions and allowed for the learners to view the classroom in terms of something else. The following excerpt is from the interview (conducted on March 2000, see Appendix C) where the learners were initially asked to finish the two following sentences:

• 'Learning French is like ...'

• 'Learning in the French Foundation Course is like ...'

• 'Finish the sentences.' • 'Work with a partner.' • 'Be creative and have fun.'

In the interview on March 2000, the learners said the following:

A; Learning in French Foundation Course is like sometimes being in a jungle where [everyone] is learning and trying to talk French and it sounds like a bunch of animals, but it can be fun.

I: What do you think about this, you two? [to Carole and Marie] Is it like being in a jungle?

M; Yeah, it is a bit cause like ... like, there's so many things hanging around and, you have to like when you put a sentence together or you translate things you have to, it's like 'do you have to put that in or do you have to take that out or ...?'

A: Yeah, when everybody's talking, like French all the time, hhhhhhh, everybody talking French, ...

I; Is being, again, being in a jungle is it good or is it scary? A; It's both.

J: It's like all over. One time you gonna be scared and another time you can be excited. M; It's like walking across the door, ain't it? It isn't really safe.

Abilene mentions the jungle-metaphor for the first time. By saying 'it sounds like a bunch of animals' she evokes the use of the foreign language that is not yet mastered by the learners. At the same time, she stresses that 'it can be fun,' i.e. the experience of learning French in the Bilingual Foundation Course can be a pleasant one.

As interviewer I then question the jungle-metaphor by asking the other interview participants about their opinions. Marie is struggling with the metaphor which could indicate that she is having difficulty with adopting Abilene's metaphor. However, she is able to complement Abilene's description by adding that 'there's so many things hanging around.' It is not entirely clear what she means by this. She could either be referring to the actual BFC classroom whose walls were covered with French and English classroom phrases as well as topic-specific vocabulary and learners' work. Or she could be imagining by 'things hanging around' the amount of choice that the learners have in using the French language. This could also indicate a certain level of language awareness: Marie is vaguely aware of the complexities of

using a foreign language. This points to the initial confusion that the use of the foreign language can lead to. The argument is taken up by Abilene. is important at this point to remember that Abilene came up with the jungle metaphor initially. She accepts Marie's description by conveying a sense of the complexity (and maybe even panic) when asked to use the French language in certain circumstances. As interviewer 1 then pick up on this sense of unease and relate this to the interviewees' perceptions of learning in the CLIL classroom by asking if they perceive their learning as 'good or scary.' Abilene and Jeanne convey in their answers an awareness of the complexity of learning in their CLIL classroom: 'It's both.' These interviewees seem to be very much aware of the challenges that learning a foreign language involves - especially in a CLIL context. These challenges can have both possibly negative ('scared') or positive ('excited') consequences. This description by the interviewees equally offers a hint at the proximity of potentially positive and negative perceptions of CLIL learning. Finally, related to tiie proximity of potentially positive or negative experiences of learning in the BFC, Jeanne refers back to one of the metaphors that she used in one of the first interviews

November 1999) where she described learning in the BFC as 'a room where you have never been before'.

Starting from a previous interview statement that learning about tropical storms in French is 'more fun because you don't know the language' (17* November 1999) Jeanne further explains this by using various metaphors. Learning about tropical storms in French is more fun because 'it's like going on an adventure inside your head.' Going on an adventure inside your head is 'like opening a door. It's a whole new thing. It's like a room where you have never been before.'

After some prompting by myself as interviewer, Jeanne describes her role further by saying that 'you're exploring someone else's room.' this room, the interviewee finds 'French things, but you don't know what they are, so you want to know - because it's interesting.'

So far, the interviewees have done two things - they have started to describe themselves and their learning environment, their classroom, in metaphorical terms. They perceive their classroom as a 'jungle' and as a 'French person's room.' Their role is that of an explorer who wants to know because it is interesting.

In the interview conducted on March 2000, the interviewees also come up with various metaphors that allow to make sense of teacher and learner roles. Carole describes herself in the BFC classroom 'like trying to walk when you're a baby.' Jeanne and Abilene complement Carole's baby metaphor by developing a cycling metaphor:

I: Now, think about that. Now, if you applied this 'learning to ride a bike' - if you applied tills to the French Foundation Course - is it similar?

J; Well, yeah, cause if you don't get it right, you remember and you just get back onto the bike again.

A: You get back onto your bike.

I; Who's the one who's holding the bike? And who lets go? A: The teacher.

I: The teacher.

C; And it's just like letting go, like speaking.

I: Right, but is the teacher still there to pick you up again? A: Yeah.

By developing the cycling metaphor, the interviewees do not only fiirther develop their understanding of their own roles ('a baby', a learner cyclist), but also include the teacher as the person providing both support ('holding the bike') and challenges ('letting go'). The interviewees also describe the roles of the teacher 'like an alien coming from outer space.' Using the alien metaphor allows to develop the room metaphor applied before further:

J; Learning in the French Foundation [Course] is like an alien, coming from outer space, and speaking its language as

I; Oh, learning in the French Foundation Course is like meeting an alien coming from outer space and speaking its language as well. So, who's the alien then? [smdents giggling] Is it me? [more giggling] Don't call me ET, OK? Errm, do you want to say or add anything to what Jearme has said? Abilene? No? Right, Abilene, go on then.

A: Learning French is like going into a strange and weird world where everyone is speaking gibberish, but once you get the hang of it, you feel that you've known it all the time.

I: How come that you feel that you've known it all the time? A; Because you can't forget it.

I; You can't forget it. A; Once you've ...

C: ... it sticks in your mind and you just remember it.

Abilene identifies the 'alien' as the teacher 'speaking its language as well.' She describes the learners' efforts to communicate with the teacher (the 'alien') with entering 'a strange and weird world.' At the same time, she stresses that 'speaking