Blog 2.0

1) What was the process like in coming up with your HMW question? Where did you land? Share your first attempt so we can see where your action plan is headed.

 

The process of coming up with my HMW quesiton has been a bit of a rollercoaster; I was stuck in a cycle of asking myself “Is this an interesting enough question?” followed by “Is this something that I am actually interested in?” In the end, I believe that I have landed on something that is of interest to me and will benefit my students. I’d like to further explore the ways in which we teach gendered langauges in a time when we need to be creating learning spaces that accomodate all gender identities.

 

Multiple times this year, I have encountered situations where a student will ask for a gender neutral option when addressing something or someone in French. The current option being put forth by French language speakers is the “iel” pronoun (this was recently accepted into the Robert dictionary in France, causing much controversy) though this pronoun is not ideal for everyone as it appears to be a mixture of “il” and “elle”. This doesn’t help to combat the notion of non-binary simply being a mixture of male and female; in many ways, the English equivelant of “iel” could be seen as “he-she” which is certainly not an acceptable way to describe the non-binary indentification.

 

Beyond gender pronouns, students have also begun to question why certain nouns are feminine and others masculine. A grade one student inquired as to why pants were masculine but dresses and skirts are feminine. This is not something I ever questioned growing up with the French language, so it left me feeling quite stumped.

 

There is so much to unpack when it comes to gendered languages in the 2020’s and I hope that I can at the very least begin to answer some of these questions alongside my students.

 

 

2) Who should you talk to next to help guide your inquiry? In order to answer your HWM question, what voices and perspectives need to be consulted? What did you learn when you talked to them?

 

I would be interested to speak with other French – and other gendered language – educators to hear about their experiences with gender-related discussions in the classroom. This is something that I have discussed with the Modern Languages department at my school, but it’s a conversation that I am keen to continue.

 

I would also like to know more about the experiences of non-binary and gender fluid French speakers. I have begun to search for blogs, news articles, personal essays, etc… on this topic, but am always ready to receive recommendations from others! I don’t expect that everyone I speak to/read about will have the same opinions on this – there does seem to be some debate over what the best terminology is or how it should be used – but they are all important nonetheless.

 

 

3)  Why are you engaging in this line of action and inquiry? What important unmet need sits central to your question?

 

I want to have some knowledge on this so that I am not compeltely stumped when the question arises in the classroom. I want students and staff alike to feel that they are being heard and considered when they come to school, and covering this topic would help to build that inclusive environment.