English Education in Quebec, Canada?
In Quebec, the language laws state that kids can go to English school if at least one of their parents received schooling in English anywhere in Canada. For new immigrants from outside Canada, that usually means their children will have to go to school in French if attending public school. What I have found is that in English schools, a French course is mandatory starting in Grade 2, and is often taught even as early as Kindergarten. The reverse is not true however, as French students start taking mandatory English courses only in Grade 6. Even that is only a trial basis last I heard. To qualify for teaching English in Quebec, I believe you would have had to achieve a certain level of fluency in the language, but teaching English in a French school means that you would ultimately need to know your French better, dealing with students that have trouble speaking a new language. So my guess is that the majority of the teachers are Francophones that got a degree in teaching English. But I don't believe there was a study or survey done on that. As for who speaks it better, I don't believe that there is a way to measure that. I know many French Quebecers who speak English very well, just as I know many English Quebecers who are extremely fluent in French. Outside of Quebec and the French areas of New Brunswick and eastern Ontario, I would suspect that a Francophone Canadian probably speaks English better than the Anglophone Canadians do. Why? More practice. There is just not a high demand to speak French in places like Calgary, Halifax, Toronto, or Vancouver. Heck, in Vancouver there is probably more benefit to learning Mandarin than French.
Do English-speaking Canadians pronounce "Quebec" the same way as French-speaking Canadians?
English-speaking Quebeckers pronounce it "keh-BEK," "kah-BEK" or "kuh-BEK." English speakers from elsewhere often pronounce it "KWA-bek," "KWEE-bek," or "KWI-bek." In French, it's pronounced "kay-BEK."
If Canada is bilingual, why is our French education outside of Quebec so poor?
I was raised in Vancouver, taught “French” in public high school and got an A, but learnt French when I left and moved to the French part of Switzerland.I agree with you that in B.C French classes are atrocious.It is the second theory of yours that is correct.The reason why I leant real French in Switzerland was because I was taught by someone who went home and spoke French every day until he came to work where he taught French in English. A native speaker of any language will always be better than someone who is not a native speaker. Someone who speaks French everyday outside of work, will be better than someone who only speaks it at work.In B.C we have a very tiny population of native French speakers and of that tiny population even less are teachers. The federal government requires all provinces to teach French to its students, at least for their elementary years and for a few years in high school. This means that the B.C ministry has to scramble to find French teachers. They usual find ok French speakers to teach. These are teacher who usual only had a few French courses with their education degree in university.These teachers then go on to teach their mediocre or bad French to students. They are not native French speakers, they do not go home and speak the language, they only speak it when they teach.When I first arrived in Switzerland and tried to use my French that I had gotten an A in, I was met with blank stares and people speaking back in English. After a while I asked my new friends why they wouldn’t speak French to me as I was pretty good at it in high school. They said that I was speaking a butchered up version of French. I said well maybe it’s because its Canadian French, they said it was my pronunciation not the words themselves. Plus, lots of French people vacation in Quebec and can speak fine to the Quebec people.Lesson learned and I went and learnt French from a native French speaker, not someone who took a few courses in university!-Madison Mussio
Do people from Quebec have to learn English in School?
I'm from the USA. My professor is Canadian and she mentioned that all Canadians have to learn French in school, and they learn even more now than when she was growing up. I've passed by Quebec with my mother a few times and we always run into trouble because we don't speak French. We never stay there, we just pass by because of my mothers job. I know there's the stereotype that Canadians are super nice and polite and from what I've seen that is true for every part of Canada I've been to except for Quebec. They are always so rude to us..honestly some of the rudest people I've ever met in my life and I've met people from many countries....I absolute hate passing though there. Anyway, I was wondering that if all the English speaking parts of Canada is forced to learn French, why aren't people from Quebec forced to learn English? That doesn't seem fair. At least it doesn't seem like they are forced to learn English because no one seems to understand a word of English when we try to speak to them. Unless they're just screwing around with us.. Do people from Quebec have to learn English in School?
Where in Quebec speaks english as their 1st language?
I've been here for more than 5 years now mainly to work because I already finished university and have some units of masters of education. It's kinda hard here if you don't speak French, most French that I met are harsh on people who don't speak their language and they force you to talk to them in French. If they can't express what they want to say they'll just tell you, Je ne sais pas. Parlez vous anglais? Any ways, if you have to come here to study, then, it'll be easier for you to speak faster because you learn French in school. and yeah, West Island is the perfect place for english people.
Do they teach in English or in French in Canadian schools?
That entirely depends on the school system you are in.In Québec, there exist an entire English school system from kindergarten to university. Primary and secondary education in English is however quite restricted for francophones and immigrants, it’s meant for the ancestral English community. Technically, an USAmerican is not allowed to send his or her children there, but a Canadian from the ROC can because the former is an immigant. The French system in Québec is used at welcoming people that have zero knowledge of French, so it’s not much of a problem.In the ROC, there are schools in French, but there are few universities in French; all of them are in Acadia. In NS, there is the Université Sainte-Anne in Pointe-de-l’Église. In Moncton, there is the Université de Moncton. In Ontario there are no French universities, but the Université laurentienne and the uOttawa are “bilingual” (which means mostly English). So it’s possible to get at least basic education in French, but it’s not mainstream. It’s constitutionnal since 1867. It’s called “dissident schools” in the constitution, but originally it was a religious separation, not a linguistic one. Non-ancestral francophones can access those schools but their presence may be a logistic challenge since they do not start off with the same level as native francophones.I know a guy that started his education in Québec in French, and then that continued his elementary in a catholic school in Ontario, and had university in the Université laurentienne, and then came back to Québec in an university.What may be tricky is that the school system in Québec is dramatically different. It’s not the same nomenclature, it’s not the same grades, nor the same institutions. The French systems outside of Québec are in tune with the local anglo system.In any of those French systems, English would be a mandatory subject no matter what, so it’s impossible to not at least be acquainted with it. For French, it’s mandatory in the English school system in Québec (before university), but I am not sure for the ROC. It may vary from province to province, I’m not sure.