Bonne journée à tout! This week’s SFU Profile is about my bilingual friend, Brie Wish! She is currently studying the second most popular language in the world, French. After many years of taking French Immersion courses, as well as taking French courses here at SFU, Brie decided to partake in the Explore Program.
Unsure what this program is? Interested in improving your french language skills? Luckily for everyone I was able to sit down and ask her many questions about the program. Read our interview chat below to see if this program is right for you!
The basics
Name: Brie Wish
Hometown: Coquitlam
Currently studying: Psychology, French and Education
Year: 4th
What we would like to know
What is the French Explore Program?
This is a university program that is sponsored by the Canadian government. The government helps pay for students to spend five weeks in a French Immersion environment, where you must speak french at all times. They pay for your food and courses, but not transportation. You are provided with a list of all the schools you can go to, so you do not need to go to Québec. There are options here in British Columbia, although grant funding for home provinces is much lower.
During the five weeks abroad, you take courses at your chosen university. You can get transfer credits to be applied at SFU as well. You are put into an immersive environment and must learn to communicate in French with the locals.
Why did you decide to participate in this program?
The main reason is because I wanted to improve my French language skills. This program is not the same as sitting in a class at SFU due to its immersive environment. It was the perfect opportunity to explore, as the name of the program suggests. I have heard that people in Montreal (the largest city in Québec) tend to speak English to Anglophones. Thus, I decided to stay in a small town where most people only spoke French.
How were you able to improve your French language skills by participating in this program?
I was forced to speak French during this program because I had two francophone roommates who spoke in French, and only one English-speaking roommate. Thus, I was able to learn more French by talking and listening to them. Listening was quite difficult because native French speakers talk very quickly!
I also forced myself out of my comfort zone by interacting with people in the community. Since I was somewhere where I didn’t know anyone, I had to talk to a lot of people I didn’t know. For example, when I went to the grocery store, I would talk to people and make comments in French. This included small conversations with cashiers and other shoppers. I also went to a bar by myself and asked a couple if I could sit with them so that I could speak more French, and they said yes. These small interactions helped improve my French immensely.
Lastly, and most obviously, I learned during my time in the classroom. You are ranked for your French language skills when you arrive, and are put into a class with students who have similar rankings. Since I had previous French experience, I was placed in the highest level, so our group did not do a lot of grammar. The teacher assumed we already knew the basics. I really appreciated that he taught us grammar particularities only as the concepts we needed help with became obvious in class. If there was something we didn’t know, he would stop and go over it. His approach encouraged conversation, and I appreciated this as well because anyone can learn grammar anywhere, but you can’t learn to speak French by reading or writing. We also played a lot of French games, which was a lot of fun (i.e. Taboo, Improve, etc). The games and discussions really helped our class become a tight-knit group.
I think that everyone wanting to learn French should be willing to push themselves out of their comfort zone. I could have easily talked to my Anglophone roommate, or even not talked to anyone, but I knew that I really wanted to improve my French. By pushing myself out of my comfort zone, I was able to take advantage of this opportunity and in the end, I got what I wanted from this experience.
Would you say that you are now a fluent french speaker?
I would say yes, from what others have told me during my stay at Québec. Another way that this program helped me was with my confidence in speaking French. I was already able to speak French, but I am now less shy and hesitant when I do. I had no problems speaking to people, ordering food at restaurants, or calling a taxi. Usually the people in Montreal speak English to Anglophones, although when I visited Montreal after the Explore program they did speak French to me! My Francophone roommates also commented that my French is very good.
Where did this program take place?
I chose to go to Chicoutimi, Québec, but you can go almost anywhere. I went to UQAC (l’Université du Québec à Chicoutimi.) I found it difficult to be away from home and live in the residences, where I stayed with three other students in a small apartment.
How was the food in Chicoutimi compared to Vancouver?
My food was mainly food that I eat here in Vancouver because I bought my own groceries. You get a grocery gift card if you choose to stay in residences, so my meals were either from the school’s cafeteria, or I cooked them myself. I only went out once because I was trying to save money. The cafeteria food was not very good, which is why I mainly used my grocery money and ate in my residence.
The food environment is different. For example, they sell wine in grocery stores, and the steakhouse restaurant I went to was “Bring Your Own Wine,” so I had extra money to buy dessert. I also went to a pub, but I didn’t understand everything on the menu. They definitely had certain items that we don’t have here in Vancouver, which have special names. Generally, it was not very different; they had burgers, steak, fries, etc. They did have A LOT of different types of poutine though. You can even buy an entrée poutine. They really love poutine, fries, pâté chinois (like shepherd’s pie), tourtière (meat pie), and tarte au sucre (sugar pie) there.
Who would you recommend this program to?
I would recommend this program to anyone who wants to improve their french. You are ranked when put into your class, so you get to learn with other students who are at your same level. However, I think the program is more beneficial for students in the higher levels because I think the biggest benefit of the program is the opportunity to converse exclusively in French, and this can be difficult and intimidating when you’re just starting out. Also, there is very little help once you get there. If you can’t speak French, it can be scary and you won’t understand everything (or even most of what) people are saying. For instance, I heard that some students in my program had difficulty calling a cab from the airport to get to the university. But for me, this is part of the experience. You need to enlist the help of the locals and of your fellow travellers, be it with miming, two-word sentences, pointing, etc. It can be difficult to get your message across, but that’s all part of the fun.
I think this is a good experience for a lot of people, but make sure that you are ready to travel alone. It was a cool experience meeting new people, so even if you don’t learn French, you’ll still make new friends.
Do you have any advice for students who are interested in pursuing french as an additional language?
Do the Explore Program! I think it was great, and I honestly learned a lot. It’s very different from learning in a classroom or online environment. You actually need to speak French. They even make you sign a contract that says you will not speak any English, and if you are caught speaking English three times, you are sent back home.
If you don’t speak any French, I would recommend starting with a French class at SFU. Or use media to get to know the language better. For example, french music and movies. I know Sarah and I both love Stromae.
It’s hard for me to give advice because I was in French Immersion since kindergarden. I once tried to learn German from a book, but I found my German class at SFU a lot more helpful. It’s worth your while to take at least one class to see if you like it before committing to go on exchange or the Explore Program.
Thanks for chatting, Brie!
If you have any questions for Brie, please email her at bwish@sfu.ca.