Far from the political clamor of language debates, thousands of immigrants tackle the task of learning French every day in Quebec. The duty was invited to a French class throughout the session. Today, fourth foray, dance invites itself into a universal language.
The call of feet beating time seems irresistible. The guide of the compact crowd is surprised for a moment: “It’s a problem we rarely have, too many people dancing! »
Violinist Elisabeth Moquin, from the group La Chasse-Balcon, continues to describe jig figures to francization students from the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) gathered in the agora. “Walk. Single rubbed, doubled. » The host of the party is dressed as a Christmas tree and multiplies the new vocabulary, at least for beginners. “I’m going to stop talking nonsense. If you don’t know this word, ask your teacher,” she says.
The students in Michel Usereau’s class abandoned their notebooks after two months of intensive French lessons. The 15 people from ten different countries barely knew some words at the beginning of November and can now talk about their daily lives more and more easily. They navigate between the sacrifices of time that such learning requires, the complexity of their own immigrant journeybut also between the attraction of a new language and its inconsistencies.
This time, all the classes in the UQAM francization program came together to celebrate before a well-deserved vacation, almost 200 people. “Culture in Quebec is very linked to language. And we want to show that French is a very living language here,” says Claudio Caceres, responsible for animation activities.
In addition to classes, the daily francization schedule includes a two-hour period of entertainment each day with occasional cultural activities. “The outings allow them to be exposed to other accents, to people other than teaching professionals with learning strategies to make themselves understood,” he explains. A guide at the museum will, for example, bring another tone, another vocabulary; a good way to integrate acquired knowledge.
UQAM is favored by its location in the heart of the Quartier des spectacles and Mr. Caceres’ team has been able to forge links with various partners. Students will notably attend screenings of films or documentaries and have the opportunity to meet certain cinema artisans. “They have very positive reactions to being in contact with artists who share their know-how and make the experience so lively,” he says.
Shane, Twana, Zeinab, Mehrnoush, Carla, Gaïssa, Melisa, Aaron, Mahdu, Jade: like those who have already spoken in our pages, more than 10,000 people were taking full-time French courses at the end of November across Quebec. Between 1er April and November 30, 2023, a total of 17,052 distinct people took a full-time French course, the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI) told us.
A colossal undertaking for what is important in the eyes of an entire society: “Francization is a great example where we collectively do what we say we want to do, where our values agree with what we we actually do,” says teacher Michel Usereau.
A bittersweet time
On stage, the violin struggles harder alongside the foot tapper and the guitarist of the traditional music group. Arm in arm, the rounds continue, while the music starts up again. We swap partners and things swing.
One of the students in Michel’s group breaks away to return to his seat. Ibrahim Shaheen is keen to film the dance to show his family, who reside in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Of Egyptian origin, he works six days a week at the L’Académie Laval restaurant while waiting to start a master’s degree in microbiology at McGill University. He loves electronic devices, from his tablet for taking notes to his smart watch.
He will therefore spend the holidays not only working, but also far from his family. “I have friends at the restaurant,” he explains, rather jovially. This is the case for most of the newcomers in this group. “Tickets are much too expensive during Christmas time,” also says Carla Melo, who arrived from Brazil in June. She still wants the snow to return during the celebrations, “that’s what really makes the weather different,” says the young woman.
Another student especially foresees the long hours as a cashier in a downtown Dollarama: the business is very busy.
The rhythm runs out of steam a little in the music. It’s time for songs to answer. Students in intermediate courses have an easier time following, even if the vocabulary is less usual: “the vigils” and “the floor that broke” were perhaps not among the words to remember until then.
But Ibrahim still tries to mime the words: he received the lyrics in advance by email. The strings of the instruments warm up and he keeps smiling.
It just goes to show that it’s through repeating that we become part of the group.