By Rohaani Singh, with Bobbie Smith
In Grade 6, right before entering, Grade 7, Rohaani lost her French Immersion seat post-COVID. Now, she tutors with CPF Ontario Branch, runs her own version of Reading Circle, one of CPF ON’s Virtual French Programs, and has won a Canada-wide CPF video competition, Dites-le en Français, run by CPF Alberta, in her category. Thanks to her mom Riya’s commitment, and Canadian Parents for French, Ontario’s Virtual French Programs, 13-year-old Rohaani has gone beyond everyone’s expectations. You can look Rohaani’s Timeline – Infographic for the visual picture of her journey. In the meantime, here is her story: 
As Told to Bobbie Smith, In First Person Narrative
Hi, my name is Rohaani, and I am a 13-year-old tutor at Canadian Parents for French.
Let me tell you about my French journey and how I got this far.
I started French Immersion in grade one. Learning French made going to school so much fun! Suddenly, when I was in grade four, we were hit with a pandemic and all students were forced to go online. When Covid ended and everyone started to go back in-person, I wanted to stay online. I liked learning from the comfort of my own home.
There was even a school for kids who preferred to learn online: Peel Elementary Virtual School. It was a dream come true until I found out that I would lose my French Immersion seat if I stayed online permanently.
My family and I decided that it would be best if I stayed online, even if it meant losing my French Immersion seat. We found other creative ways to continue learning French. I spent 30 minutes a day reading in French, watching TV in French and speaking French. My mom spent a lot of time trying to find publicly funded French programs and that’s when we finally found Canadian Parents for French, Ontario Branch!
I attended several sessions at CPF, including the Reading Circle and Franco-Fun. I loved Reading Circle. It was really fun and I would definitely do it again. Plus, it gave me more chances to interact with others and practice speaking French, especially since I was no longer in French Immersion.
Let me tell you what happens in the Reading Circle: A student reads a page and then when that person is done reading, they pick the next person to read and so on. We talk about the book in French as much as we can and learn so much. It was something I really looked forward to. My mom and I told everyone about it.
After several sessions, I really wanted to start teaching with CPF, however I was under their required age to teach. But thanks to CPF, I was inspired to start my own French Conversation Circle! I spread the word to my friends, posted it on social media, and even printed posters to hang at the library. I wanted to keep the groups small, so everyone would get a chance to speak. That’s really important. Even if you are in French Immersion, with so many kids in class, you don’t always get a chance to speak every time.
I would work on preparing material for my French Conversation Club every day after school. It sounds like a lot for a 13-year-old, but it definitely improved my confidence and leadership skills. Sometimes I even had to wing it, but I feel like I have a natural ability to teach. The main thing was: We were constantly speaking French!
In my weekly sessions, I focus on French conversation first, then we read, and sometimes we write a story in French. Everyone takes a turn writing the next line – we come up with funny and strange stories sometimes! I like to ask my students for feedback and how they think our sessions are going. This helps me to stay on track. We go through my prepared slideshow, and we just talk and chat like we’re friends. If someone struggles, I help them with pronunciation and French phrases. Sometimes the students are shy or give one word answers, but I ask follow-up questions to get them to share more. I ask fun questions about various topics, such as :
- What do you prefer and why?
- Would you rather / this or that?
- News / Current Events
All of my friends and students love our weekly Student French Club sessions.
At first, I was a bit nervous, but after that I just embraced it. Once you start, you’re not scared anymore.
Once I had experience with my club, I wanted to do something more. I reached out to CPF again to ask if I could become a tutor with them, and this time they said Yes! I was asked to attend an interview – it was so exciting! I was myself and trusted my French abilities that I had worked so hard to gain. I passed the interview and am now a proud tutor of Canadian Parents for French, Ontario Branch!
And that’s not all. In the Fall, CPF hosted a Canada-wide French-speaking competition where we were asked to give a 2-3 minute speech. I only found out about it two days before the deadline and decided to enter. Give it a shot, right? I spent my entire weekend preparing a video recounting the exact same story I’m telling you now. And my effort paid off since I won in my Grade 8 category!
Dites-le en video | Video Presentation by: Rohaani Singh, Grade 8 | 
“Dites-le en vidéo” is a new contest that the CPF BC-Yukon Branch launched for students across Canada to showcase their French-speaking and video-making skills! For more info, visit: https://bc-yk.cpf.ca/en/dites-le/
I have my mom to thank for all my success. She motivated me every step of the way.
And Canadian Parents for French is where you want to go if you want to be immersed in French in a fun and creative way.
French will always be a part of my life, and if I have learned anything from my journey, it is that when one door closes, another opens.
Never let your age get in the way of accomplishing great things.
Have a story like mine? Want to join my free Student French Club? Email me at: studentfrenchclub@gmail.com I would love to hear from you! ~ Rohaani Singh
Also, if you have a story you, you should share it with Bobbie Smith, CPF Ontario Communications Manager at: communications@on.cpf.ca.
We are really enjoying telling stories about our parents, their children and educators, too! ~ Bobbie Smith