A little cheque.
Evidence of meeting #79 for Official Languages in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was teachers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #79 for Official Languages in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was teachers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers
A little cheque.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
5:05 p.m.
President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
People do not always have the motivation, particularly young people. We are talking about tools you can use on your own. You also have to understand that learning a language is very complex. There is the conjugation of verbs, particularly if you are going from English to French. There are no genders in English; there is no "le" or "la". My children did part of their education in English, and their French teacher told them "la garage". That was a core French course.
5:05 p.m.
President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
So you have to make sure you do not just use virtual tools to learn the language.
I would say the government uses excellent automated or virtual tools for language training. Yes, that is good, but it is not enough. I absolutely agree that you should add them to promote language learning, that they should be additional tools, but you should not use them alone. As a linguist, I must admit I am not sure we will get the desired results if we tell people to go and learn virtually without using other supports.
5:05 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers
I am promoting my idea, but that is why the common frame of reference for languages enhances self-learning.
When children start kindergarten or grade 1 and learn to learn on their own, if they finish high school and have acquired that habit, their chances of continuing are good. However, we currently do not have that in the school system and that is what we would like to try to introduce.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
I am convinced that habit will also help them in other subjects.
5:10 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers
Yes, it is a helpful addition.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
All right, thank you.
Since there are no other questions or comments from committee members, we will stop here.
Mr. Leclair and Ms. Kenny, thank you for your testimony.
Without further ado, this meeting is adjourned.
