On Tuesday I spent a fabulous day giving workshops in a large English language high school south of Montreal. The kids were 13 to 15, sometimes rowdy but in general open to my workshop which was about where stories come from. I read one of my stories, talked about what inicidents in my life prompted the reflection that led to the story, and then they had to start a story about things from their lives. A few of the boys did nothing at all, which I understand is par for them, but others created some very nice things in the 20 minutes they had to write.
They wrote in English because it was an English class in an English high school in an English school board, but at least half of them spoke to each other in French before,during and after class.
This leaves me with one big question: How did these Francophone kids receive permission to go to school in English? Obviously there are a lot of Francophone parents who want their kids to learn English well, even though there are rather strict requirements for eligibility for English instruction.
Should be no surprise, therefore, that the PQ has just removed the idea of giving English kids first dibs on places in English cegeps to Anglophones for their new language bill. There'd be a mutiny in the ranks....
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