A group of 38 men and women from Quebec are immersing themselves in the English language and experiencing southern Alberta culture from a home base at Lethbridge College.
The participants are living and learning in Lethbridge for five weeks as part of the Explore bursary program that encourages them to build language skills and discover another part of Canada.
Lethbridge College English Language Centre manager Michelle Derbich says the Quebec students are among nearly 300 students participating in the English program on campus this summer. Other short-term learners are attending from Japan and longer-term students include newcomers to Canada, Canadian citizens and international students who are learning English as a second language.
“They bring an amazing energy, fun and sense of community to the English Language Centre,” Derbich says. “We see so much fun being had; we see true language immersion and cultural immersion in southern Alberta, too.”
The Explorers spend about three hours each weekday morning in English class with college instructors, Donna McLaughlin and Mark McIntosh. Derbich says instead of a purely academic approach to language learning, the instructors focus on vocabulary likely to arise from their excursions into the community. Each Wednesday afternoon is devoted to cultural experiences in close proximity to the college — a visit to a Hutterite colony, a tour of historic markers downtown, Fort Whoop-Up and Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden. Day trips are reserved for Saturdays, with visits to Writing-on Stone Provincial Park, Waterton Lakes National Park and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. A new feature this year was a visit with Ryan Heavy Head, Lethbridge’s rattle snake expert, who shared valuable information in advance of the day trip to Writing-on-Stone.
“The lovely thing about these students is they come from all age ranges, but primarily we’re looking at young people so there’s a lot of individual growth,” Derbich says. “For many of our Explore students, they’ve never left home for an extended period. They get to meet new people and immerse themselves in English language learning.”
For Anas Bourhim, 19, this was a first visit to Alberta but a third experience with the Explore program after having earlier explored Halifax and Fredericton.
“It is really nice scenery you don’t see in the East,” he says, noting the presence of deer and rabbits right in Lethbridge. “(My English) is improving day by day. The more I use it the more it becomes natural. I think in English. I dream in English.
“I learned how to cook. . . I have never cooked. I started with pasta. OK, it’s easy you buy the pasta, you buy the sauce and you have spaghetti. Then I started to do more things like shepherd’s pie, lasagna and learning more how to cook.”
Heng Ng, a chef and instructor in the college’s culinary programs, and Tanya Smith, who recently graduated from the college’s General Studies program, serve as Explorer activity monitors. They accompany students on their outings, and have organized other activities. Ng helped students plan and cook a barbecue shared with international students. Smith offered workshops on combatting homesickness, and organized scavenger hunts to help students get comfortable navigating Lethbridge.
Staff in the Be Fit for Life Centre also offer sessions two afternoons a week on wellness, fitness and physical activity.
The students come from a range of backgrounds and have varying commands of English. Their English skills are formally assessed on the first day of their stay and again at the end. Derbich says those test scores don’t do the students justice.
“We see lots of individual growth, lots of confidence, lots more ability to use their own initiative and problem solve,” she says. “We also see their confidence in their use of English and their mastery of the language grow. It’s a real privilege to be part of that journey.”
Pascale Lariviere, 21, lives in Rivière-du-Loup, about a two-hour drive northeast of Quebec City. She admits she and her Explore friends speak French when by themselves, in large part, because thinking and speaking another language is mentally exhausting. But she feels her English has grown greatly in her time in Lethbridge.
As a bonus, she has been living with a homestay family, which made the sense of immersion into Lethbridge life feel all the deeper. They included her in family life, including the opportunity to join her “Lethbridge mom’s” dragon boat team.
“I have my mom and my brothers here,” she says. “They have been wonderful.”
This group of Explorers will have a farewell celebration at the college June 29. A second group of about the same size arrives in early July for another five-week stay.
The Explore program is administered by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), in co-operation with the provinces and territories, as part of its mandate to promote the study of Canada’s official languages.
