Are French Immersion students part of the bilingual Canadian society?

1. Are French Immersion students part of the bilingual Canadian society? A Presentation by Dr Sylvie Roy University of Calgary, Faculty of Education syroy@ucalgary.ca

2. Questions and goal of the presentation • Who is part of the bilingual Canadian society ? What does it mean to be bilingual and to learn French? • In this presentation, I explore student identities as learners of French as a second language in three French Immersion Junior High schools in Alberta.

3. Interview with a parent (2006) • I: Do you think your daughter is bilingual? • A: Hm…..I don’t hear the same kind of fluidity in her speaking. And even though I think her accent is reasonable, I’m sure if I knew French fluent myself, it wouldn’t be up to par. I’m sure that you could hear that she wasn’t….she was a native French speaker. And I’m sure there are certain word that would be used in certain areas that she wouldn’t know about and those kinds of things – some slang she wouldn’t know about. The teachers aren’t going to teach the slang stuff. I’m sure it would be noticeable but I think she would blend in as well. • I: do you consider her bilingual? • A: Oh…..can you be bilingual after eight years? • I: I don’t know. • A: I don’t know. I would think that….I would guess that more time would be needed, more exposure would be needed. I think she could become fluent.

4. Mondana and Gajo (2001) • “Depending on one's standpoint and one's points of reference, learners are either individual bilinguals who command considerable prestige or disadvantaged groups of minorities” (p. 242). • Mondana, L. and L. Gajo. (2001). Classroom Interaction and the Bilingual Resources of Migrant Students in Switzerland, In M. Heller and M. Martin-Jones. (2001). Voices of Authority. Education and Linguistic Difference. Westport, Connecticut, London: Ablex Publishing. pp. 235-267.

5. Focus group interview (2005) • S : ça fait plusieurs fois que je viens vous observer vous parlez anglais entre vous pendant les classes, pourquoi vous parlez en anglais? • Élève 1 Eh c’est notre langue maternelle • Elève 2 Nous était petit on a juste développé cette langue et on le parle à la maison et dehors de l’école beaucoup plus que dans l’école

6. Interview with a teacher (2005) • D : ok les continues se sentent bien là dedans ok eh est-ce que tu penses que les élèves se considèrent des unilingues bilingues multilingues • T bonne question. Les continues je crois que ils se considèrent comme bilingues, tardives non • D ils sont encore à l’apprentissage plus • T oui oui • D mais t’as l’impression que les continues ont • T oui s’ils continuent, ça s’en vient

7. Group interview, 2005 • Interviewer : Comment tu te considères face aux francophones de ton âge? • Claude : je pense qu`ils sont beaucoup plus mieux que moi, mais je peux quand même parler; je sais les verbes, toute la grammaire, ces choses là, mais ils sont plus (…) • Interviewer: (bon?) • Claude : probablement le même. Ça dépend de qui est là. Est-ce qu`il parle beaucoup de français ou est-ce qu`il parle beaucoup de l`anglais, quelle langue il parle plus, alors s`il parle le français, c`est probablement mieux, mais s`il parle l`anglais, c`est probablement juste comme… • Michelle : je pense que ça serait comme une grande opportunité de pratiquer le français et parler à eux en français.

8. Blommaert, 2005 • “Globalization processes probably only intensify processes that are general in nature: the fact that, as one moves around though various social and spatial environments, group and categorical identities change and become less clear cut or less well understood by those involved in acts of categorisation.” (p. 206) Blommaert, J. (2005). Discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.