Loading....
x
It’s tough to get a leg up in this city without knowing both official languages.
Most English-only speakers know how frustrating it is to see “bilingual” among the top requirements on a job posting.
Fortunately, there are dozens of places offering group and private courses to people wanting to improve their French competency at any level.
At Alliance Francaise, they separate group classes in three different blocks — beginner, intermediate and advanced. Each of those blocks has four or five different levels.
Someone taking classes in the upper level of the intermediate block can expect to comfortably converse in French.
Students could sign up for two-week intensive courses, six-week semi-intensive courses, or regular term classes.
The six-hour per day intensive courses cover one level per week, so a highly motivated student could potentially go from zero to reasonably bilingual in around 10 weeks.
The Conseil Des Ecoles Catholiques du Centre-Est offers a variety of blended French language training courses that are conducted half in-class and half online.
“We have all the levels from a real beginner up to those who want to take a more advanced business course,” said Carole Lapointe, co-ordinator of the French as a second language program. “It will prepare people to be functional, that is, to carry on a conversation, while at the same time, it will prepare them to undergo a test for a job that requires bilingualism.”
La Cite Collegiale has French language programs geared specifically for people already in or trying to get in to the federal government.
These courses are also offered at the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. A language proficiency test is used to determine what level a student would be at.
The 11- to 13-week courses each comprise around 65 hours of in-class time at each level.
The University of Ottawa’s Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute also offers a three-week intensive course in French over the summer for people at the intermediate level.
The course focuses on listening, speaking, reading and writing with emphasis on vocabulary development and improved grammar skills.
The 21 hours of in-class time each week includes work in language laboratories for oral practice. Optional socio-cultural activities are also offered.
Most English-only speakers know how frustrating it is to see “bilingual” among the top requirements on a job posting.
Fortunately, there are dozens of places offering group and private courses to people wanting to improve their French competency at any level.
At Alliance Francaise, they separate group classes in three different blocks — beginner, intermediate and advanced. Each of those blocks has four or five different levels.
Someone taking classes in the upper level of the intermediate block can expect to comfortably converse in French.
Students could sign up for two-week intensive courses, six-week semi-intensive courses, or regular term classes.
The six-hour per day intensive courses cover one level per week, so a highly motivated student could potentially go from zero to reasonably bilingual in around 10 weeks.
The Conseil Des Ecoles Catholiques du Centre-Est offers a variety of blended French language training courses that are conducted half in-class and half online.
“We have all the levels from a real beginner up to those who want to take a more advanced business course,” said Carole Lapointe, co-ordinator of the French as a second language program. “It will prepare people to be functional, that is, to carry on a conversation, while at the same time, it will prepare them to undergo a test for a job that requires bilingualism.”
La Cite Collegiale has French language programs geared specifically for people already in or trying to get in to the federal government.
These courses are also offered at the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. A language proficiency test is used to determine what level a student would be at.
The 11- to 13-week courses each comprise around 65 hours of in-class time at each level.
The University of Ottawa’s Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute also offers a three-week intensive course in French over the summer for people at the intermediate level.
The course focuses on listening, speaking, reading and writing with emphasis on vocabulary development and improved grammar skills.
The 21 hours of in-class time each week includes work in language laboratories for oral practice. Optional socio-cultural activities are also offered.
|
User Comments & Ratings | Comment as guest | |
| Title: |
| Comment: |
more learn stories
Mom, daughter, 14, killed in E. Ontario; 18-year-old faces murder charge
BELLEVILLE, Ont. - A teenager faced first-degree murder charges in the deaths of a mother and her daughter at their family home in the small eastern Ontario community of Mountain View, police said Friday.
Police confirm two dead, one injured in Edmonton car dealership shooting
EDMONTON - Employees and customers of an Edmonton car dealership were struggling to deal with a shooting Friday morning in which two men were killed and a third man sent to hospital.
Ontario Const. Vu Pham remembered at his funeral as modern-day hero
WINGHAM, Ont. - A provincial police officer who died after a gun battle on a rural southwestern Ontario road was remembered as a "modern-day hero" and a great father at his funeral on Friday.
N.L. premier calls offshore chopper crash sad day in province's history
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Premier Danny Williams said Friday was a sad day in the history of Newfoundland and Labrador as people mark the first anniversary of a fatal helicopter crash.
No sympathy for Guergis 'hissy fits': Tory matriarch Deborah Grey
OTTAWA - If beleaguered Conservative minister Helena Guergis was hoping for sympathy from her political sisters, former party matriarch Deborah Grey was fresh out.
editor's picks
Mississippi school sued after it calls off senior prom rather than let lesbian couple attend
JACKSON, Miss. - An 18-year-old lesbian student who wanted to take her girlfriend to her senior prom is asking a federal judge to force her Mississippi school district reinstate the dance it cancelled rather than let the couple attend.
11 rare Siberian tigers die at cash-strapped Chinese zoo, raising questions of overbreeding
BEIJING - Eleven rare Siberian tigers have died at a wildlife park in a startling case that activists say hints at unsavoury practices among some zoos and animal farms in China: They are overbreeding endangered animals in the hopes of making illicit profit on their carcasses.
Conan brings 'Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour' to Canada
NEW YORK - Without a TV show to do every night, Conan O'Brien is taking his act on the road. And he's coming to Canada.
Author assumes guise of child in letters punking the famous and infamous
WASHINGTON - Over the years, "Little Billy" learned much from the country's top minds.
Vatican slams Rome school's plan for condom-vending machines
ROME - The decision by a Rome high school to install condom vending machines has set off a storm in Italy, with the Catholic Church charging the move will encourage young people to have sex and Rome's mayor saying it sends the wrong message.
Copyright 2001-2010, Free Daily News Group Inc.