NatM.
In her article titled Who’s in and Who’s Out? Language and the Integration of New Immigrant Youth in Quebec, Allen (2006) stresses the word “isolation” when describing the accueil groups in her study. In fact, it is used eight times (along with “alienation”) throughout the text to portray how these groups of students are taught: in isolation from the mainstream students and teachers. Steinbach (2009) used the term “sergregation”. A group of accueil students always remain together, despite their educational background, age or native language, while studying French, math and physical education.
Even as we integrated into the mainstream groups, we had a label stuck to our forehead. After being “sheltered” from the rest of the school for nearly two years, I had too hard a time connecting with the students in the regular classes and was too ashamed to speak French. In fact, I did everything in my power to refrain from participating—even if it meant faking an illness to stay at home.
Like the participants in the Allen (2006) study, I saw the French language as the enemy. A foreign language being shoved down my throat three out of four periods a day.
Je suis, tu es, il est, elle est…
I missed out on the required secondary three biology class which all students in regular classes had to take. Also, the French taught in accueil classes tends to be the “standard” version and spoken at a much slower pace so it was a shock to sit in a regular class and not understand what the teacher was saying or the jokes that everyone was laughing at.
I failed the secondary four history class and had to redo it the following year.
I also barely passed my low-level math class.
All of these things made me seriously consider dropping out of school.
I felt like a failure and an alien.
This is my experience in the accueil program. And outside of it.
I was one of the lucky ones who was young enough when I entered the accueil program; my teacher identified me as strong and I went into regular classes and I obtained my high school diploma two years later. My stepbrothers were not as lucky. They were 17 and 18 when we moved to Montreal from Toronto, and they ended up dropping out and going into the workforce. As did many other students.
As an immigrant student to Toronto, I was sent directly into the regular grade four class alongside other immigrants and locals. There was no segregation and I had extra ESL classes during the week where I was pulled out of class, discreetly. I wonder why, then, Quebec feels the need to instill such a harsh program which perpetuates labels and stigma that go beyond the classroom walls and have a potential debilitating effect on students?
As a grown woman and mother of two, I know that in spite of having a very hard high school experience, I was able to learn the language that I speak quite fluently today. However, I strongly believe that immigrant children should not be segregated from the rest of the school and treated like outsiders, forbidden to speak their language and not given the opportunity to take classes alongside their mainstream peers in an attempt to integrate (or…assimilate?) them.
What do you think?
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.
Steinbach, M. (2010). Quand je sors d’accueil: linguistic integration of immigrant adolescents in Quebec secondary schools. Language Culture and Curriculum, 23(2), 95–108.
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