MI2: Learning French in Quebec in 6 months – where does the policy highway lead?

Sam Lyn

In my previous blog entry, I offered some details about the process of enrolment into Quebec’s government-sponsored francisation programs. In this sequel entry, I’ll talk a bit more about the actual study process and the types of “opportunities” that open up for the majority of immigrants who enrol into these programs in terms of their career choices. I shall keep the location of my phenomenological study anonymous in order to maintain the privacy of the people and organizations involved (a recommendation for unspecific autoethnographies, cf. Ellis et al. 2011). The school I attended would be referred to as Centre X.

Centre X

Centre X is a MIFI partner school within a 20 min. commute from where I live. The classes start at 8:15 and last until 12:45, the lunch break. Part-time students finish their day at that time. Full-timers like me continue after lunch for two more hours 13:25-15:30.

My first observation was that there are many more students in lower levels than there are at the upper levels. The school has 8 levels, but most students are allocated to Level 1, 2, and 3. After Level 3 there are smaller and smaller classes. One of the teachers intimated the reason for such a disparity saying that most students find work after several months of study and therefore they quit. I took this idea seriously and did some research. The billboards around the school are filled with job offers from factories, cafes, and similar forms of manual labor-intensive types of work. To be honest, even with 900$ a month for taking full-time courses you are way below the poverty line if this is your only income. Full-time courses are intensive and tiring. Five hours of deliberate practice a day seems to be the psychological upper limit for an individual in any domain of study (Ericsson et al. 1993). Not surprisingly, I often find myself falling asleep in the later periods. But to return to the main point, after the full day at school I barely have any energy to conduct my daily chores, even an idea of a part-time job seems much less plausible. Therefore, most people quit after several months of schooling – not because they feel competent enough about their French, but because 3-4 months of learning the language is enough for the types of jobs that are readily available for people with that level of French – the types found on the school’s billboards. I even think that this supports the inequality and the status quo in Quebec vis-à-vis its immigrants. The province needs new people. Its population is growing old. Especially, there is a need for people who would do the types of jobs young Quebecois do not want for themselves: factory work, garbage collecting, cleaning and maintenance jobs. Some government job programs even partner up with the language schools to offer the students a chance to continue francisation up to level 5 (the level required by Immigration Quebec for permanent residence eligibility) in addition to a professional training program. The one that was advertised the most recently in my class was a program for elderly home maintenance staff. This way the government keeps people employed while bringing their language to a minimum needed for day-to-day communication (Level 5).

In terms of the program itself, all the four basic language skills are taught at all the levels: reading, writing, speaking and listening. S and L are mostly emphasized at Levels 1-4, while Level 5 has all four skills in equal proportion. From Level 6 on, more and more emphasis is put on reading and writing, but as I mentioned above, very few people continue at the higher levels. To be fair, the school billboards also have information on CEGEP programs, but those are virtually inaccessible for students below Levels 7 and 8 (up to 2 years of full-time study). The classes are taught using the traditional methods of grammar drilling and vocabulary memorization accompanied by more communicative-oriented practice sessions in the afternoons.

As I have already mentioned, however, it is both mentally as well as physically difficult to keep one’s concentration for such long hours of often monotonous study.

In light of the above observations, it becomes clear what kind of an effect Bill 96 implementation would have on new immigrants: 3-4 months of French studies at best followed by an array of blue-collar job openings Quebecois themselves do not want to do, is what the province currently has to offer to its newcomers.  This is the “best” scenario an immigrant without the knowledge of French would “hope” for under the newest language policy.

For more voices from Montreal about Bill 96, check the following video:

References

Allen, D. (2006). Who’s in and who’s out? Language and the integration of new immigrant youth in Quebec. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 10(2-3), 251–263.
https://mcgill.on.worldcat.org/oclc/425548504

Ellis, C., Adams, T. E., & Bochner, A. P. (2011). Autoethnography: An overview. Forum: Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 12(1). http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1101108

Ericsson, K, Krampe, R. & Tesch-Romer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100, pp393-394.

Marchand, L. (2022, May 21). What’s in Quebec’s new law to protect the French Language. CBC
News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/bill-96-explained-1.6460764