A solution in order to bring together the two solitudes

Photo Martin Alarie
Bradley Dubeau, Jessica Rouleau and Andrew Boersen participate in a club farm in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue. They say they don’t experience the same problems with the francophones and the anglophones living in the Montréal metropolitan area.

Dominique Scali

Saturday, 17 February, 2018 01:00

UPDATE
Saturday, 17 February, 2018 01:00

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Some English-speaking enter cegep without ever having rubbed shoulders with French-speaking and vice-versa, notice of teachers who create links of friendship between young people of the two solitudes.

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Anthony Williams grew up in a neighborhood English-speaking, Montreal-West. He admits to having known little of francophones in his youth.

“I had the impression that the francos were all the same, they were all very nationalistic, for example. “It is then by learning to know that these prejudices have fallen.

Philippe Gagné was largely observed this phenomenon, being a teacher of French as a second language at collège Vanier in Montreal.

“Often, they even tend to under-estimate to what extent the province of Quebec is francophone. “This is especially the case for those who are a little out of the metropolis.

Philippe Gagné explains that for many young people, French is seen as a language imposed. However, when they begin to have French-speaking friends, their stress towards the French decreases and their motivation to learn increases.

A click

It is to create this trigger that Mr. Gagné has teamed up with an English teacher, cégep de Victoriaville, where English speakers are rare. For a third year, they paired their students depending of their interests and passions.

Through virtual exchanges, young people learn to know themselves and can help to improve the language of the other.

In the first year, students have been asked to travel to Victoriaville to meet their francophone counterparts in person.

“I even have a 10 % of students who have kept in contact “, welcomes Martine Thibodeau of the cégep de Victoriaville.

The role of the ministry

Mr. Gagné believes that this kind of twinning is expected to occur earlier in the lives of young people so that relations between anglos and francos get better.

“We have neighborhoods where the schools are neighbors, and we will not benefit. “

“You can’t blame young people who leave high school having had no contact with francophones. The ministry of Education has its role to play there, ” says Mr. Gagné.

♦ The ministry of Education indicates that such a twinning programme between schools exists, and that 13 pairings have taken place since the beginning of the year 2017-2018.