Magic words

by Scott Stevenson, Sherbrooke, Quebec

Tara Natter wasn’t immersed in French as a child, but as a young adult studying in Alberta she certainly made the plunge. Now she works, writes and lives mostly in French.

The French second-language teacher published her first book, Sabita et les mots magiques mêlés, earlier this year. This family project, involving her French-speaking husband and children, is an important new milestone on the path Tara chose back in university.

A long and winding road
After one year studying in English, with a few French courses here and there, at the University of Calgary, “I accepted my friend Barb Luft’s invitation to be her roommate at the Faculté Saint-Jean in Edmonton. Having made much progress in French since high school, I was still far from fluent,” she said.

Tara Natter’s book cover

“I will always remember having to go to the language lab to perfect my accent,” she recalled. My big task was to try to hear the difference between u and ou—two sounds which do not exist in English. Whenever I got the wrong answer, the computer would say to me, in English for some reason, ‘You dork!’”

“Another tip from pronunciation class was to practise reading with a pen across my mouth held in my teeth. I needed to strengthen the French muscles in my mouth—and would do it religiously. I also remember Michel Corbeil patiently having me repeat dessus and dessous, putting his hands above and below the kitchen table at residence and Nhan laughing out loud at me for calling a green pepper un poivre vert and not a poivron vert. Nhan was definitely a tough cookie as a teacher, but also my best French supporter,” Tara recounted.

“Jumping into French with both feet is a decision I will never regret. It has really paved the way for me. Although not a product of French immersion, I learned French thanks to being truly immersed with great Francophone friends.”

Tara completed the remainder of her teaching degree in French at what is now the Campus Saint-Jean of the University of Alberta in Bonnie Doon (in French only), a French-speaking district of Edmonton. She also took a year to perfect her French and learn more about French culture by working as a nanny in Dijon, France.

But that’s not where she met her French husband, William. “Many people assume that I met my husband in France, but I actually found him in Canada. We met at a Halloween dance at the French cultural centre near the Faculté Saint-Jean in October 1997. He was dressed up as a ghost and I was a gypsy. My husband was on an exchange with the University of Alberta with his engineering school.”

The couple were wed in the south of France in 2000, and now have two children, Laura, 4, and Nicolas, 6. Since Tara and William speak French at home to the kids, French is their children’s first language.

“They speak just as well as any other kids in France their age,” she said, adding that her children’s knowledge of both English and French is the same, thanks to school and friendships that are mostly in English where they now live in the Ottawa area.

“We have French immersion in Canada, but we don’t have enough resources,” she said. “I wrote this book mainly as a second-language tool.”

Learning made fun
The focus of the book is on having fun. “If you explain sounds and letters through magic, kids love that kind of thing. It’s hard to find educational books that are fun.”

The process of publishing the book was a family affair, including participation from a cousin in Vancouver. Husband William is the narrator on the CD version, and son Nicolas plays the sounds of the mythical one-eyed copisson creatures.

“In the schools, the kids love it and teachers want it. I go into the schools in medieval dress, teach the song in the book, and answer questions about writing and publishing,” she said. “I love that, getting out and meeting the kids, inspiring them. I’m trying to get people excited about French.”

Tara’s first language is a source of fascination for her audiences. “The kids ask me all the time: ‘Were you born French?’ I explain how I became bilingual, and that now I live with my husband in French.”

She describes learning a second language as a matter of motivation, something she had plenty of when she first jumped in with both feet. “I wanted to get into French because I knew there was a need for French teachers. I enjoy it. I love the sound of it. I love the culture. And I like having both, speaking in both languages with friends. I like sharing it.”

Tara Natter’s book is available in bookstores and at www.liriton.com, her publishing company’s Web site.