Bonjour mes amis! It is now the month of May and I am up north implementing an intensive French program for the students at Rosseau Lake College!
While I’m here, John is holding down the fort back at our LPP headquarters in Hamilton. Since I’m still getting settled, I asked John if he could write a bit more about what inspired him to start our new French Book Club which run online twice a month. Read on below to see what he shared with me!
Sharing in the Love Of Reading
Reaching back into the long ago past of our school days, I remember having reading buddies at school. It was a special time when another student (just a bit older than you) sat with you, listened to you read, and devoted all of their attention to you for that moment in time. For me, this experience was mirrored at home – I can’t even tell you how many bookshelves we had at my parent’s house! I can honestly say that I’ve never stopped reading and like to keep a book tucked in my satchel for whenever I have a good handful of minutes of waiting to do.
Fast forward another twenty some-odd years later after university where a friend and I were feeling sad that we weren’t reading as many different books as we did in university. So we thought, why not start a book club?! It started off with reading “the classics” but that didn’t quite capture what we loved about reading and after our group grew to a couple more members, we shifted to sharing books that we ourselves loved and choosing books together that sound interesting to us. Laughing about the silliest things we read, conspiring in what frustrates us, and sharing the new things we learned are all what reminds us that we read because we love to and how it brings us together.
Now, I don’t think that this experience should be limited to adults. Reading opens us up to wonder, growing, learning about ourselves, wrestling with complex ideas – a bouquet of enriching effects! Children deserve all these opportunities and more – so that’s what inspired me to start the Les Petites Pommes Book Club! With an extra twist of French (because reading and communication are all about language) we can bring together the passion of literature with the joys of community.
Twice per month students are invited to join us Saturday morning/afternoon via Zoom to share a book that they’ve been reading or even an old favourite. Our community gathering is guided by one of our esteemed teachers, supporting students’ use of French through encouragement and structured practices (and sharing their own reading!), so that students can tell us and one another about what really matters to them. Teachers will also support students by highlighting elements of literature such as plot, character, figures of speech, symbolism, information about the world (non-fiction is important too!) and more to help deepen students’ appreciation of reading. To support a variety of readers, those at a grade 3-5 level are encouraged to join the 11am-12pm group and those at a grade 6-8 level are encouraged to join the 12pm-1pm group. For a simple $50 monthly charge, students will be able to join the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month. I hope you can join us! Our next gathering is happening next Saturday, May 18th. Hope to see you there!