Tag Archives: French

Vive la Francophonie!

, , , ,
French flag

Every March, we celebrate Francophonie Month. Here in Canada, 22% of the population speaks French as their first official language, over 10 million Canadians speak enough French to carry on a conversation, and we all learn at least some French at school (well, we have French classes in school, how much we learn in those classes is a different question). Even so, French is a minority language in most of Canada, and the modernized Official Languages Act (2023) includes commitments for the Government of Canada to protect and promote the French language, including in Quebec.[1]

For our part, Vaughan Public Libraries reaffirms the place of French language collections and services as essential and core library services. French is one of Canada’s official languages and Ontario is the home of the largest number of francophones outside Québec in the country. Within its borders, the City of Vaughan has over a dozen French Immersion schools, three French language schools, and two francophone school boards.  

Continue reading →

Bilingual Family Adventures: Money Matters

, , , , ,

It’s a Family Adventure!

Please join us Sunday, March 1 at Civic Centre Resource Library for this special, Bilingual Family Adventure!  Practice your budgeting skills, investigate ancient forms of currency, and earn Ollie Bucks to “spend” on special treats!

Image of a coin going into a piggy bank, with more coins scattered around.

The Fair is a great time to come check out the Money in 10 Questions: Kids’ Edition exhibit from the Bank of Canada Museum.

To create the exhibit, the Museum asked kids across the country to send in their questions about money. They received over 800 questions from kids and classrooms.  

Advertisement for the Bank of Canada Museum's Exhibit: Money in 10 Questions: Kids' Edition.

10 of these questions were chosen to feature in the exhibition. These are actual questions from kids, in their original wording.  The questions chosen were those that the Museum felt were most helpful for children’s understanding of money, the economy, the financial system and how to manage their own money.[1] 

The exhibit is fully bilingual and interactive: a great way to explore Canada’s money as a family: how it works, and why we use it!

Continue reading →

New Year New Language?

, , , , ,

Have you ever made it your New Year’s Resolution to learn a new language? I speak 3 languages: 2 fluently (English and French) and one considerably less fluently (German). During the pandemic, I started work on a fourth language, but it was Klingon, and once the world started up again, it fell by the wayside.

Illustration of a Klingon bat'leth (weapon from Star Trek).

(For now: I have EVERY INTENTION of picking it back up again in the future. Is it useful? No. Is it suuuuuper fun to be able to say, “I’m learning Klingon?” HIja′!) Learning a language is hard. Learning a language as an adult is very hard.

Kids and grown ups learn in very different ways. Kids’ brains are like information sponges. Adult brains are more rigid: always trying to save energy by reusing what they already know. If we grew up here in Canada (which I didn’t but that’s beside the point for the moment), we probably learned French as a second (or third) language in school.  That’s important: we learned French as kids, and we probably stopped using it just as soon as we weren’t being forced to take it anymore.

Continue reading →