Before the experience, what did you think would happen?Before the trip I was so excited! Whenever my family is about to leave for vacation I get so excited and I just can't wait to get to our new destination. I knew that I was going to have a chance to use my love of the French language and I might even be able to speak to someone in French other than my teacher or classmates. That was so exciting to me!
|
What did you expect to gain from an educational stand-point?The biggest thing that I expected to gain from an educational standpoint was knowledge of another culture. This trip was only my second time leaving the United States so I was prepared to learn a lot about the Canadian culture. Also, since we weren't really staying in a big glamourous town, I expected to see the culture in a very realistic and natural way. Something else that I expected to gain educationally was real life practice of using the French language that I had studied for so long in school. I was very excited at the idea of being able to actually understand what signs in French were saying and maybe even communicate with someone who speaks French as their native language.
|
What new knowledge did you hope to gain from this experience?By traveling to Canada, I hoped to learn a lot about the environment of Canada because I had previous knowledge that Canada is a very eco-friendly country. I also hoped to learn about Canadian culture and what it is like to live in a small town in Ontario.
|
What new relationships did you gain from this experience?
On this trip I was able to meet many people. My family stopped for lunch in a Parks Canada park and we had the opportunity to talk with a park ranger and she provided us a lot of information about the things that Canada is doing to be more aware of the environment. I also got to meet some small shop owners in the town because of course us tourists did a lot of shopping. It was very interesting to hear their take on what it is like to be a tourist town in Canada. We met so many kind people on this trip and they all provided me with a lot of knowledge about the area.
How did you think you would benefit from your involvement?
I think traveling is very important because it exposes us to cultures around the world. I wanted to use this trip to help me become a more well rounded individual by being more aware of cultures other than the ones in the United States. I thought that I would benefit from my past experience with the French language and continue to grow in my reading, listening, and speaking experience.