Another Happy Visit to Ecole Secondaire de la Seigneurie

Today’s blog entry comes to you from the ViaRail train. I’m heading home from Beauport, just outside of Quebec City, where I was working with Sec. 3 students at Ecole Secondaire de la Seigneurie. Some of the students there are reading my YA novel What World Is Left, based on my mother’s childhood experience in a Nazi concentration camp. Others are learning about the kind of work that goes into writing a book.

I started my day with Mr. Lord’s Enriched ESL class. Mr. Lord, who is teaching my book to his students, warned me that first period might require me to “tire les vers du nez!” Which, if you need help with your French, means I’d have to pull worms out of noses!! Indeed the students were a quiet group, but I managed to pull some worms from their noses!

A student named Alexandre (I started calling him Alexandre the First after I met another Alexandre in the same class) told me his dream is to become a lawyer, which as I pointed out, is a career that requires a lot of writing and reading – proving my point that everyone can benefit from improving those skills.

Alexandre the Second had prepared several questions in advance of my visit. My favourite was, “Where do your ideas come from?” My answer was EVERYWHERE! I explained how I keep an ideas file on my laptop, and that I often write about conversations I overhear, and also about issues or subjects I can’t get out of my mind.

Alexandre the Second also gave me a moment of hope when, after he told me he’s never enjoyed writing or reading and I said, “Maybe that will change now that you’ve met me” –  he replied: “YOU NEVER KNOW!” You will agree that “You never know” is way better than a straight “Never!”

Second period I had a special opportunity to work with four foreign-language students who have recently come to the school. That’s when I met Cheikh who cracked me up when I told the group I write three pages every morning and he called out, “M’am, you have too much time!”

With this group, I covered a few basic writing tips and then I read them Le Trésor d’Oma, the French translation of my picture book, The Brass Charm, illustrated by Marie Lafrance. Anyway, the students listened so attentively, and I translated into English as I went along, and well… it felt magical to share this story with them. Like What World Is Left, The Brass Charm was also inspired by my mother’s wartime experience, and though the story is sad, I think it manages to be hopeful too. Some of the students who were with me have also lived through great challenges, which I think made them extra-sensitive to the story of a child’s suffering.

I finished my day with Ms. Salomon’s Enriched ESL group. This was a lively group. One thing I like to do during school visits is collect interesting names for my future characters. I found two cool names in this class: Nessy and Esteban. Hey, in case you’re wondering what’s going on in today’s pic – that’s Esteban inspecting my boxing skills. When I told the students how I took up boxing as part of my research for the book Straight Punch, Esteban offered to come to the front of the room to show me his boxing moves -- and check out mine! Let’s just say there was a lot of laughter in the classroom!

Another highlight for me was when a student named Maxime told us, “I play basketball three or four times a week. I play at school and everywhere.” His comment helped me explain that writers, like basketball players, need to practise a lot. And when Maxime said he plays “everywhere,” I understood exactly how much he loves his sport – because it’s how I feel about writing. Even though I continue to find writing hard, I can’t seem to stop. I do it everywhere – even on the train!

Like me, a student named Alyssane enjoys asking “What if?” And when I told the class that I wrote three or four manuscripts before I sold my first book, a student named William had a great question: “Why was your fifth manuscript chosen?” You know, William, I had never stopped to ask myself this question before. I’m not even positive about the answer – except that I hope that as I continue to write, my writing improves -- that I keep learning as I go along.

That’s what I wish for my new friends at Ecole Secondaire de la Seigneurie – that you keep growing and that you find the things you love to do, like Maxime’s passion for basketball and mine for writing.

Special thanks to Mr. Lord for arranging today’s visit, and to Ms. Salomon for sharing her class with me. And to the Culture in the Schools programs for bringing authors into classrooms across the province.