Samantha Osaduke
Staff Writer
According to the Glendon Faculty Council, the reformed French program at Glendon, which Excalibur reported will reduce class hours while expanding the number of students in per class, didn’t come without good reason.
The Glendon Language Centre for Studies in French—which was approved by the Glendon Faculty Council in a 24-7 vote and endorsed by most tenure-stream faculty—was designed to offer a more diverse and effective learning experience for Glendon students who are studying French as a second language.
The Council says that the new program will allow students to learn in larger lecture groups, smaller tutorial groups, and through individual coaching and peer-to-peer contact.
Françoise Mougeon, associate professor in the Department of French Studies at Glendon, is leading the proposal implementation and recognizes that not all faculty members support the changes.
“This is understandable,” he says. “We are entering a transition period and [transitions] are rarely comfortable.”
Despite this, he says, change is necessary.
“Glendon cannot claim to be a bilingual institution if half its non-Francophone students refuse to take courses in French, and graduate with minimal ability to talk about their major in French,” he says, advocating for proactive French learning. “Recent research has shown that the more personal commitment students engage in, the faster and better learners they become.”
Part of the plan is to expose students to intensive 12-month French language courses without interruption. However, these changes will be made in stages to ease the transition.
“The final goal of the Glendon program is to prepare students to take courses in French in their major,” he says. “But right now, [students] hesitate to do so for fear of lower marks because of their French.”
Mougeon has seen first-hand how students express their frustrations with the existing French program, and thinks the program was due for a positive change.
“I’ve received a significant number of email and oral communications from students on what they first expected at Glendon, and on their disappointment and frustration after being penalized for an agreement error instead of being encouraged to use their French,” he says. “They want to be trained to read in French for their courses and to take part in bilingual conversations.”
