The Quebec government has given $70,000 to Concordia University for a program to teach anglophones French, according to the program’s director.
“Oui can Help!” is an initiative run by the university, and is made up of a bursary program, French conversation groups, and career workshops.
The new funding will be used for bursaries to 150 international students who wish to take French courses, said Chanel Bourdon, the program’s co-ordinator.
Bourdon said the program will receive more money from the government in November, which will be used to give grants to out-of-province students.
“Learning French can really help you find a place in the workforce in Quebec. It’s a great thing to have on your resume,” she said.
Before the program started last November, Concordia students had other opportunities to learn French, including courses offered by the French program along with conversation groups and workshops.
“They weren’t as formal as the ones we have now,” Bourdon said.
In 2011, the university launched “Oui can Help!” as a pilot program, which Bourdon said was successful, considering all the bursaries were used up and all the conversation groups were fully booked.
The Quebec Office of French Language approached the university, and gave the grant to Concordia as part of a program to promote French in business, Bourdon said.
There are also programs like Explore, an initiative run by the Council of Ministers of Education, which allowed any Canadian student to do a five-week immersion course in either English or French, often on a bursary.
George Karkour, a recent graduate from Concordia, said he was very active in the francophone community on campus.
“Being a francophone in Montreal has its perks and it would be foolish to say otherwise, but being exclusively anglophone does not hinder professional or academic progress in any way,” he said via email.
Rogan Ferguson is an anglophone computer science student at the University of Ottawa. He said he probably would not apply for the program if one like it existed at his school.
Ferguson said he could understand the appeal for someone looking for a career in the government or another institution that requires bilingualism, but it wasn’t necessary for all jobs.
“Software engineering is predominantly dominated by English-speaking people. All the programming syntax is done in English,” Ferguson said.
As well as giving out more grants, this year’s program will team up with the Concordia Student Union to plan events, notably the Franco Fête, a province-wide festival held in March that promotes french through conferences, theatre and music, Bourdon said.
