From the producer and co-writer of Bon Cop, Bad Cop, the first bilingual film made in Canada and the highest-grossing Canadian movie in domestic box-office history, and also of The Trotsky, comes a brand-new bilingual comedy, FRENCH IMMERSION.

Watch our newly minted FRENCH IMMERSION teaser and “Like” our Facebook page to receive ongoing news about the film.

Story

FRENCH IMMERSION is the story of four anglos from different parts of Canada and one New Yorker who come to St-Isidore-du-Cœur-de-Jésus, a remote town in northern Quebec, in order to learn French.

The recently opened Institut Linguistique de St-Isidore-du-Cœur-de-Jésus is run by the family of a slightly dodgy senator, and includes a Director of Discipline with an iron fist and one rule: NO ENGLISH! Which actually comes out of his mouth as “EN FRANÇAIS!”

Think of it as a very strict summer camp — for adults. For two weeks, the students live with French families, take classes in French, do everything in French — from singing karaoke to go-karting to socializing. Students who sneak off to speak a little English quickly find out that everyone in the town is a spy flashing yellow cards that scream, “EN FRANÇAIS!”

By the time the two weeks are up, neither the students nor the town will ever be the same.

Starring

Among others, Olunike Adeliyi (Flashpoint), Martha Burns (Love & Savagery), Pascale Bussières (The Blue Butterfly), Gavin Crawford (This Hour Has 22 Minutes), Fred Ewanuick (Corner Gas, Dan for Mayor), Colm Feore (Bon Cop, Bad Cop), Yves Jacques (The Barbarian Invasions), Jacob Tierney (The Trotsky), Karine Vanasse (Polytechnique), Emmanuelle Vaugier (Two and a Half Men), and the legendary Robert Charlebois

Keeping in Touch

We want to hear from you after you’ve watched the teaser. Ask us your questions about the film, discuss with fellow FRENCH IMMERSION enthusiasts by adding us on Facebook, or just sing “Oh Canada” simultaneously in both languages.

We would love to hear about your favourite immersion nightmares/stories/errors/adventures/ WHATEVER.

Who knows — maybe you will find long-lost friends on our forum, dating back from your own French-camp experiences! Or win a trip to St-Isidore-du-Cœur-de-Jésus… we would just need to find it first.

And remember our motto: Nous, on aime ça, EN FRANÇAIS!

February 16^th, 2011 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

4880 Van Horne, Centre Sportif Côte-des-Neiges

www.cje-ndg.com

TORONTO, November 20, 2009 — The Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), is pleased to announce the launch of new Web sites for its official-languages programs: Explore, Destination Clic, and Odyssey.

Interactive and dynamic, these Web sites celebrate the cultural diversity of Canada, encouraging visitors to discover another part of the country to learn and share Canada’s official languages.

“Over 250,000 young Canadians have taken part in the official-languages programs since their inception in the 1970s,” said the Chair of CMEC, Diane McGifford, Minister of Advanced Education and Literacy and Minister responsible for International Education for Manitoba. “Using the new Web sites, Canadians can get concise information about these programs and learn how they can immerse themselves in the language and culture of another province or territory. Promoting official languages and cultural learning is one of the key priority areas of our joint ministerial declaration, Learn Canada 2020.”

Explore fosters the study of French or English as a second language, while Destination Clic fosters the study of French as a first language for francophone students who live outside of Quebec. Odyssey gives Canadians the opportunity to work as language assistants, sharing their language and culture with students while helping teachers at the elementary, secondary, or postsecondary level.

To visit our Web sites, go to:

• Explore: www.myexplore.ca
• Destination Clic: www.destinationclic.ca
• Odyssey: www.myodyssey.ca

CMEC is an intergovernmental body composed of the ministers responsible for elementary-secondary and advanced education from the provinces and territories. Through CMEC, ministers share information and undertake projects in areas of mutual interest and concern.

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Information

Jean-Gilles Pelletier
Director, Official Languages
Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC)
Tel.: 416-962-8100, ext. 272
E-mail: j.g.pelletier@cmec.ca

Interactive and dynamic, these Web sites celebrate the cultural diversity of Canada, encouraging visitors to discover another part of the country to learn and share Canada’s official languages.

“Over 250,000 young Canadians have taken part in the official-languages programs since their inception in the 1970s,” said the Chair of CMEC, Diane McGifford, Minister of Advanced Education and Literacy and Minister responsible for International Education for Manitoba. “Using the new Web sites, Canadians can get concise information about these programs and learn how they can immerse themselves in the language and culture of another province or territory. Promoting official languages and cultural learning is one of the key priority areas of our joint ministerial declaration, Learn Canada 2020.”

Explore fosters the study of French or English as a second language, while Destination Clic fosters the study of French as a first language for francophone students who live outside of Quebec. Odyssey gives Canadians the opportunity to work as language assistants, sharing their language and culture with students while helping teachers at the elementary, secondary, or postsecondary level.

To visit our Web sites, go to:

• Explore: www.myexplore.ca
• Destination Clic: www.destinationclic.ca
• Odyssey: www.myodyssey.ca

CMEC is an intergovernmental body composed of the ministers responsible for elementary-secondary and advanced education from the provinces and territories. Through CMEC, ministers share information and undertake projects in areas of mutual interest and concern.

- 30 -

Information

Jean-Gilles Pelletier
Director, Official Languages
Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC)
Tel.: 416-962-8100, ext. 272
E-mail: j.g.pelletier@cmec.ca

In my previous article ("Pas un mot d'anglais," Dalnews, May 8), I discussed how recent experiences at Dal made me realize—despite having fulfilled my language credit with a year of mind-expanding, brain-bending Chinese—that my French skills were seriously lacking. Casting around for a quick fix, I stumbled upon Explore, an immersion program run by Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) to help even the most certified of anglophones (read: me) delve into a second language.

Explore is offered at a number of Canadian universities and, while travel costs are the student’s responsibility, books, tuition, meals and residence are paid for. A sweet deal? Bien sur. My application was accepted, I was admitted to the École de Langues at the University of Laval. With considerable trepidation (and far too many socks), I road-tripped to Laval, where I would stay for five weeks of immersive French classes and cultural activities.

As a life-long Maritimer, my first few days in Quebec were an extended case of culture shock. How did I find friends? Once friends were found, how did we order pizza? How did I ask for a change room at the mall? How did I seek out classes in the labyrinthine Laval campus? (Also, the squirrels in Quebec are huge. This is the one thing I never got over. They’re dark grey, half the size of cats, and have a nasty glint in their eye.) But each new linguistic roadblock began to represent a challenge: an opportunity to utilise the French skills I spent three hours cramming in every morning. Soon, I was chatting en francais without a second thought.

Not that it was an easy journey. Despite nine years of compulsory French in public school, I had retained virtually nothing of the language: at Laval, I was placed in the ‘enriched elementary’ class. There, I joined a group of about 30 other students—not only from across Canada, but also the United States and even Europe and South America—to study the more neglected of our two national languages. The instruction was fast-paced, intense and extremely useful; not merely standard classes in grammar, but also in oral expression and phonetics, ensuring that students could not only speak French but also be understood. Classes were generally over by lunch, and in the afternoons, cultural activities were arranged—you could head to Old Quebec for a gelato, visit a museum or art gallery, or join in a round of basketball or ultimate Frisbee. In the evenings, a French movie might be screened (best of the bunch: Bon Cop, Bad Cop), or you could catch up with new friends at the university pub.

My last day of Explore consisted of two exams, a closing ceremony, and many tearful hugs with new friends. Next year, I’m planning to reapply; the applications of first-time students are favoured, but it’s possible to attend the program twice or more. In the meantime, I’ve been recommending the program to basically everyone I know. If you want to see the wonders of Quebec, meet people from around the world, and pick up a second language into the bargain, this is the program for you. Bonne chance!