By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
Cowansville-based adult literacy organization Le Sac à Mots is actively looking for area residents to help teach newcomers French on a volunteer basis after the Centre des services scolaire Val-des-Cerfs and the Eastern Townships School Board were forced to suspend subsidized French classes over a lack of funding.
Caroline Plaat is the coordinator of the long-established nonprofit, which serves the entire MRC of Brome-Missisquoi except for Bedford and Farnham (which are served by a separate organization). Its primary raison d’être is adult literacy – helping francophone adults who never learned to adequately read or write in their first language to improve their skills. However, for at least two decades, the organization has had a twinning program, pairing adult French language learners with fluent speakers who volunteer to either tutor them formally or provide practice opportunities.
Plaat said the program has helped anglophone Townshippers and newcomers improve their French for years. “Since a few years ago, we’ve had a lot of people from Latin America, Spanish speakers, who come here to work in the fields. We’ve had a few Ukrainians. We’ve had a lot of immigration in the last few years, and we’re hoping to be able to offer more ‘twins’ to help these people in light of the disappearance of [subsidized] courses.”
“At Le Sac à Mots, we facilitate the meeting, support the volunteers, help them find a room if they need it, but then people organize themselves. We’d like it to be in person as much as possible, but if it’s winter and people want to do a Zoom meeting so as not to have to drive, that’s fine. If your idea of ‘class’ is to go grocery shopping together so the person can work on their vocabulary, then go for it,” she said.
She emphasized that the volunteer tutoring program does not replace a francisation course. She said many of the remaining francisation courses are not accessible for the most vulnerable immigrants, who may not have a ride to Granby or a stable internet connection. “Whatever happened, the result is the same – whoever’s fault it is, whatever logic they use, the courses aren’t there. We want to continue to put pressure on the government to fund francisation. It’s not coherent to say ‘Vive le français’ and then shovel [the responsibility] into the backyard of community organizations.”
She said the twinning program “won’t fill that gap, but we want to tell people, ‘Hey, if you want to help newcomers, here’s a way to do it.’” The current volunteer roster is “super varied” and there’s no need to be a retired teacher or a native French speaker – just a person with room in their schedule who feels comfortable helping someone learn the language.
A partial solution
The Deux par deux online twinning program, started by the Fondation pour la langue française (FFLF) at the height of the pandemic, is also seeking volunteers to offer more French language learning opportunities. They hope to recruit as many as 3,000 conversation partners across the province, to work with advanced beginner, intermediate and advanced learners – people who are already capable of holding a conversation in French but who might be shy.
Like Plaat, FLF board chair Marie-Anne Alepin said formal courses were “necessary,” especially for beginners, but that conversation opportunities were important for language development.
“We don’t offer courses – what we offer is complementary to a course,” said Alepin, who is also president of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and an established actor and theatre producer. “There’s nothing better than a little chat!”
In November, the Provincial Employment Round Table (PERT) launched a linguistic mentorship program for anglophones looking to improve their French, in partnership with Townshippers, the Regional Development Network and Concordia University. The Circonflexe program pairs English-speaking professionals with French-proficient mentors from a variety of fields in order to help them improve their proficiency in professional French, and ideally in their field, willing to meet in person or online and chat in “la langue de Céline.” PERT is seeking volunteer mentors who are fluent in French and have good leadership and communication skills.
“The objective is to twin people who are in the same industry, in the same sector and in the same region,” said PERT communications director Chad Walcott. Mentors will also have access to an online “toolbox.”
Walcott mentioned that many anglophones have a high level of French but struggle with shyness when using the language, especially in professional situations. He said the organization hoped to “expand French language learning programs with informal, immersive experiences” like language twinning.
For more information on Le Sac à Mots, Deux par Deux or the Circonflexe mentorship program, visit the programs’ respective websites.