French language students were able to improve their spoken French in a unique way this year, while international students from French-speaking countries were able to make friends and discover Edmonton’s Francophone community. This was thanks to a French language course’s Community Service-Learning (CSL) component called “Franco-Friends.”
During the fall 2012 semester, four students from French 298, a senior-level French language class, were paired up with international students attending UAlberta whose first language is French.
The idea behind the program was to allow students to practice their French while welcoming international students in a new and unique way, said Modern Languages & Cultural Studies instructor Mathieu Martin-LeBlanc, who taught the course last fall.
“The project was ideal for my students because the goal of the CSL program is to encourage students to use the language outside of class,” Martin-LeBlanc said.
“It also gives students the opportunity to show international students around campus, show them the city, make new friends, and to do all this through the French community here in Edmonton,” he said.
“It allows international students to get to know the French community in Edmonton, and it’s also an opportunity for my students to get to know that community as well.”
Carissa Brilz, a fourth year Arts student majoring in Art & Design and minoring in French, loved the program. “I got to know somebody from France, and he was very helpful, he was friendly, and I was able to help him learn English as well, so it was really rewarding,” she said. She has kept in touch with her Franco-Friend, who she now just calls her friend, since he returned to France at the end of last semester.
Third year Art & Design major and planning minor Chantelle Lupieri was paired up with a student from Burundi. They attended events put on by the Francophone community in Edmonton together, and remain friends now. “I’m from B.C., so it helped kind of give an extra layer to Edmonton. It made me like the city more, finding that little community,” she said.
“Next to actually going to a Francophone country, this is the best way to learn French. I learned more this year than in all my other years combined,” Lupieri said.
Brilz said she and her Franco-Friend would just do things that normal friends would do.
“At first I thought it might be awkward, because it’s kind of like a blind friendship-date,” she said. “But I can’t stress enough how great it was. It was like I got credit to go out for beer with a friend.”
The idea for this CSL project was originally conceived at Campus Saint-Jean’s International Student Services office.
Mina Elmadi, an undergraduate student at Campus Saint-Jean, works part time as the International Students Assistant there. She was the community partner for this CSL project, pairing UAlberta students with their Franco-Friends and making sure everything went well for the participants. She said that overall, it was a good experience and she received good feedback from the students.
“In the future I’d like to make the Franco-Friends project bigger,” Elmadi said. “I am sure there is great potential in this project that could serve both Main Campus and Campus Saint-Jean. Hopefully, that project can bring both the campuses closer as well.”
By Lana Cuthbertson (March 13, 2013)