La joie de ralentir et d’apprendre à vivre poétiquement pendant un séjour sabbatique

L’épanouissement à travers la marche, les langues et les histoires

Abstract

During the Language and Literacy Researchers of Canada (LLRC) pre-conference in Montreal in 2024, I shared my joyful and transformative experiences visiting in Europe, during a sabbatical year 2022-2023, and how these have contributed to fulfilment and joy in my teaching (and life) as a professor of Minority Language Education (French) in Saskatchewan. During my sabbatical year, I focused on slowing down to live each day open to possibilities. Walking and slowness offered me the chance to learn, reflect and to live in the present moment, thus facilitating a stronger connection to the earth, to myself, and to all my relations, human and more than human (Donald, 2023; Judson, 2019; Springgay & Truman, 2018. I was immersed in diverse “linguistic landscapes” (Araújo e Sá, Carinhos & Melo-Pfeifer, 2022) and communities where I found a sense of community and belonging. While spending a year walking, travelling and reflecting in various locations throughout France and Belgium, and many neighbouring countries, I took time to appreciate beauty in nature and in life and how everything is interconnected on this planet, enabling me to feel a stronger connection to the earth which has inspired me to share these experiences with my students. Through walking and many enriching encounters, taking the time to reflect allowed me to gain a greater appreciation of creative approaches to pedagogy which value the richness of linguistic and cultural diversity. By sharing my experience, I hope to shed light on the value of slowness, and the importance of having an open mind in order to “live poetically” (Leggo, 2005) and fully appreciate the beauty and diversity of this world.