Far from the political clamor of language debates, thousands of immigrants tackle the task of learning French every day in Quebec. The duty invites himself into a French class throughout the session. Today, first week of classes and the sentences are already getting longer.
On the board, there is red for spoken French and black for written French. The students take turns introducing themselves: “My country is next to Malawi. » “I speak six languages and I study French. » “Chu arriving alone in January 2022.”
From the large windows of the classroom, in this UQAM building on rue Sainte-Catherine, in Montreal, we can see at a glance several emblematic institutions of La Belle Province: Hydro-Québec, Desjardins, the CHUM , the Mount Royal cross and Air Transat.
The last student to speak turns to his classmate for the next step of the lesson: “Which city do you live in?” »
Michel Usereau, the teacher at the front, mimes with great emphasis, repeats, asks and encourages. Incredible that he is not out of breath, from gesticulating French so much: “Fini, that means finished,” he says, ostensibly uncrossing his arms downwards. He is the guide, the one who allows you to stagger over words and perhaps finally be able to spell your name on the phone or place your order at the pharmacy.
“The goal is to succeed in living. When the student comes to see me again and says “I managed to speak with the daycare and I wasn’t afraid”, my mission is accomplished. French has improved and simplified their lives,” relates Mr. Usereau. Or rather “Professor Michel”, as a student will call him, he is often the first Quebecer with whom these immigrants will spend so much time.
Taking full-time language courses is demanding to say the least: 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 11 weeks.
For the moment, three days after the start of course 1 in Frenchization, the students are immediately, in the present tense, the first question to a stranger: “What is your name? » they throw like a bullet from one to the other.
They will hardly often need the past to talk about their profession, the one that most of them left behind in their country of origin.
A certain complicity has already been established. Michel turns to a student: she has become the woman with “the”, the one who repeats to her classmates this article too often forgotten by new learners.
There is also the look of someone who has already mastered the contraction of “il y a”: “i’a”, which is obviously written in red on the board. Not because it is an error, but to indicate the French spoken.
A dynamic vision
Michel Usereau teaches French that is anything but “academic and disembodied”. “I am not a linguistic correction organization that aims to perfect I don’t know what,” he told the journalist seated at the back of his class.
Very far, therefore, from speeches on the “purity” of the language, his vision could be summed up as: “We breathe through the nose in relation to the tongue,” he laughs.
The Montrealer obviously has a more elaborate conception of it, having completed higher studies in linguistics. He also worked for several years within the Ministry of Immigration itself, notably to develop the framework program for teaching French to adults in Quebec.
“The people you’re going to talk to aren’t going to say ‘ah, you learned French from a book and it’s dusty’. No, they will see that you live part of your life in French and that you learn it by being around the world. It is a language of socialization. »
French students work “for a concrete result, for life”, rather than for the grade. It does not only teach the language, but a key to open the door to Quebec society. This is particularly what he likes about his work, explains this polyglot who has been teaching since 2000, with the exception of a seven-year detour in the ministry.
Language is not “an ideological question” within the four walls of its course: “Language, it is not up to me to judge it, it is up to me to describe it, to teach things that the people will say in different contexts. »
We might as well say that it embraces language as it is: alive, changing, agile, functional and complex at the same time.
The courage of the students
And he also takes his students where they are. Many of them experience a loss of social status, combining full-time courses with a job, a family and the torments of exile, whether chosen or imposed by circumstances.
Sometimes upon arrival, sometimes a few years later, students in full-time French courses have all chosen to sit back at school for several months. All people to whom “we offer to settle down in an often hectic period of their life”, says Michel, who considers himself happy to be able to experience these moments with them.
Learning a language as an adult often requires making yourself vulnerable and making mistakes in front of the whole class. Language is a skill “that must be activated,” says Michel, for whom repeating is part of everyday life.
“Sorry, Michel, do countries use large letters? » asks a student. The teacher has already understood that she is talking about capital letters, a new word that she writes one after the other in her notebook.
There’s a lot to love about the quirks, incongruities, and some of the inconsistencies of Tremblay’s language. Letter combinations: the soft “g” of giraffe, which becomes hard in front of the “o” and the a to mean “garage”, for example. Silent letters not to be pronounced, as in the word “course”. The non-existent letters, which only appear orally to make connections, as in “exams”; the “d” in “when” which becomes a “t” in “when does class end?” “.
“Today” too, which we won’t have enough of today to master the spelling.
They come from major cities around the world; left their position as director of human resources for 15 countries; had to interrupt their studies because of the war; or wanted to practice their profession in Quebec where they are sought after.
On the third day of their emerging French, they already understand the journalist who invites herself to visit them frequently during their Frenchization course. But it is only through patience, courage and repetition that they will be able to tell you their story.