Marina Koutsis
When my grandparents migrated to Québec from Greece more than 50 years ago, they made a promise to one another that they would not lose their culture and would pass it on to their children. Maintaining one’s culture when migrating to another country is very important as it is a way to stay connected to the home country, especially if one cannot easily travel back. And it is not always easy to pass down the culture to future generations when parents work a lot and children are sent to schools where only the host country’s language is taught. This was a reality for many communities, such as Greek immigrants, that came in large numbers to Montréal after the Second World War.
In 1909 in Montreal, the first Greek school was founded though it only counted 25 students, but by 1971, however, the school, named Socrates, was moved to a larger building with 11 classrooms. This gave access to Greek education and culture to even more students of Greek origin (https://www.socdem.org/). What is interesting with this school is that it is a good reflection of the multicultural aspect of Montréal. In fact, 66% of the lessons at Socrates are taught in French, 24% in Greek, and 10% are taught in English (École Socrates-Démosthène, 2022). Though I thought that 10% was little, the school does count more hours of English per year than regular public schools. And surprisingly, Socrates students read and analyse classic English novels such as Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies, which I had never read until I reached Cégep despite having done all my education in anglophone schools.
Other than through language, Socrates allows students to connect with their Hellenic heritage through traditional dance lessons. There are so many types of dances in Greece that vary depending on the region and they are all very much part of Greece’s culture and religious celebrations. Such a Hellenic school offers choice to parents seeking this approach, but unfortunately these remain private and are not affordable to all. This approach to instruction demonstrates that it is possible to study more than one language at once successfully. Québec has experienced various power dynamics associated with language, especially in relation to French vs English. It is understandable that French should be prioritised in educational institutions within the province, but second language education should not be ignored. Other languages should still be encouraged in schools, especially as multiliteracy and plurilingual education has been proven to be beneficial for student learning (Galante, 2020). Even though I did not personally attend Socrates, it is still important that people have the opportunity to connect to their heritage.
References
“Αccueil.” École Socrates-Démosthène, 20 Oct. 2022, https://www.socdem.org/.
Galente, A., Okubo, K., Cole, C., Elkader, N. A., Carozza, N., Wilkinson, C., Wotton, C., & Vasic, J. (2020). “English-only is not the way to go”: Teachers’ perceptions of plurilingual instruction in an English program at a Canadian university, Tesol Quarterly, 54(4), 980- 1009. 10.1002/tesq.584
