Hello everyone,
I completed a B.Ed. in TESL at McGill University. Even though McGill is an English-language university, French was always present in the classroom. Even anglophone teachers tended to incorporate terms like "stage" (internship), "commission scolaire" (school board) and l'heure de la récréation" (recess).
Of course, as TESL teachers, we complete most of our four internships in francophone schools where the ability to speak French is essential.
Moreover, some of our classes at McGill took place in both French and English (in one class). I recall a class on Multiculturalism we had to take with over a hundred students. The teacher switched back and forth between French and English and students asked questions and commented in both languages.
I moved to the National Capital Region from Montreal about a year ago. There, I often saw advertisements for our university in the bus shelters, métro, malls, etc. These ads were always in French.
I suppose I was expecting more of this bilingual element at uOttawa. Yes, I hear French on the campus and in the hallways, but rarely in the classroom or from the professors. In a way, it seems that because there are separate English and French tracks here, there exists a very rigid barrier to the mixing of the two languages in the classroom. Am I correct?
As I mentioned, I've only been studying here for a year, so I don't know the university very well. Perhaps your experiences have been different?
Que pensez-vous de la situation linguistique à l'Université d'Ottawa?
Richard
1 comment:
Very true
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