Yoshikane Miyashige
High school French teacher Isabelle Picalause was born in Belgium, where she grew up speaking the French language at home, school and in the streets of her hometown. Picalause always knew she wanted to teach French as her career, and she studied that subject for her undergraduate degree. From Morocco to China, and now in Los Angeles, California, Picalause has had the opportunity to work with students from various backgrounds and influences, which correspond to their comprehension of French.
Compared to teaching in a country like Morocco, where French is a natural second language to many citizens, Picalause found that her American students did not have as much background in the subject. It has been rare for Picalause to have a student with previous knowledge of French, and because of that, she is cognizant of the limited amount of instruction she and her fellow teachers can provide. Picalause believes it is important for her to remember that while she is a native speaker, her students aren’t, but even in a short amount of time, they can achieve great strides in their French knowledge.
“If you start [learning a language] in seventh grade or ninth grade, you have very little time to learn,” Picalause said. “When you learn a language, time is an essential factor. Sometimes, students are a little bit disappointed about their level of proficiency, but if they put in all their effort, with the help of the teacher, the proficiency that they reach is impressive for such a short period of [instruction].”
Like Picalause, Mila M. ‘28 has spoken French since she was born. While she grew up in Los Angeles, Mila comes from French heritage and learned the language at the same time she started speaking English. When it came time for Mila to start high school, she elected to continue her studies of the French language to improve her reading and writing skills, as she is only accustomed to communicating verbally in French. By learning French in the classroom, Mila has observed great differences in what she is taught during class and how she and her family speak at home.
“[The French] speak a lot faster than we do in class,” Mila said. “For example, the word ‘like’ in English is similar to the filler words [we use] in French, where there’s a more natural way of speaking. Our [teachers prepare us well] for this, especially Madame Tagliere, because she pushes us to always speak French in class, which is very important. It’s even good to try to figure out how to explain words you don’t know in French with other ones you do know.”
Real-life language experiences can manifest in a variety of forms. Last summer, Sage K. ‘25 went on the ten-day STEM Japan trip. Sage is a Japanese four honors student, and this trip gave him the opportunity to use his Japanese language skills to talk with convenience store employees and read street signs. Sage was pleasantly surprised by his language abilities.
“When we visited museums, I was surprised by how much I could understand,” Sage said. “It was [also] really helpful to [visit Japan] knowing how to ask about prices.”
On the trip, Sage also found himself picking up phrases and grammar structure that he had not previously learned in his high school Japanese classes. He feels that two weeks of constant Japanese-language exposure taught him new and dynamic vocabulary. The most important source of learning for him was often casual conversations. Ultimately, Sage believes that speaking conversational Japanese in a real-life setting was valuable, even though it may have initially been difficult.
“To become a fluent speaker, I would probably have to spend time in Japan,” Sage said. “I don’t think there’s any way a class could get you [to fluency] in terms of [conversational speech]. Being [in the country] is helpful to get a sense of conversation conventions and other things which we might not pick up in class. It’s important to converse with the people [in the language you are learning], even if you are not confident in your skills, because that’s the best way to actually grow confidence in that skill.”
According to the editors of The Cardinal, a newsletter of the Ohio Foreign Language Association in a July 2017 article, native speakers of a language have better pronunciation and skill compared to those with mastery in the subject because of their lack of casual socialization. Picalause’s teaching style aims to cover oral communication, as she remains dedicated to implementing human conversation as an integral part of her French classes.
“The emphasis [in language classes] should be on the oral communication,” Picalause said. “I’m not saying that students should not learn how to write, but it is not the main focus. The main goal for a language teacher [should be] to teach the students how to converse in a real-life situation. And it’s not always just about ordering food, but just being with someone your age.”