The Society for Educational Visits and Exchanges (SEVEC) sent a group of Jasperites on a Francophone adventure this week.
The 19 French students from the Jasper Junior/Senior High School are in the middle of a weeklong trip to Quebec, where they have each been paired with a Quebecois host who is giving them a taste of life in that province.
SEVEC is a not-for-profit organization, supported by the Department of Canadian Heritage, that facilitates educational exchanges within Canada. According to its website, the organization aims to “build bridges between young Canadians, and provide them with the opportunity to learn about their country by seeing and experiencing its history, geography, and cultural diversity.”
The organization covers most of the cost of the trip, and the students only have to cough up a few hundred dollars to take part.
According to Lauren Kennedy, a French immersion teacher at the high school and one of the chaperones going with the students on the trip, SEVEC is a valuable cultural and educational experience.
The students will be at the whim of their hosts, who have planned a week chocked full of activities that should be both fun and educational.
On the agenda from Feb. 10–17 is a trip to the Plains of Abraham, the Valcartier Vacation Village, an authentic cabane à sucre, a trampoline room and dogsled rides, among other things.
The trip will also force the students to practice speaking French.
On Feb. 4, many of the students were in their French immersion classroom for a day of class, and a few were trepidatious about being dropped into an authentic French environment.
“I’m not the best at speaking French, and if I don’t know a word and I don’t understand then I won’t be able to communicate,” explained Andrea Leitch.
“We’re staying with people who are always speaking French and I’m not that good, so it just makes me feel like I don’t know what’s one plus one.”
Sophie Koleman agreed, saying that she worries she won’t be able to communicate all of her thoughts quickly enough in French.
“I’m kind of scared because [Mme. Kennedy] keeps on saying just find the nouns and stuff—but I’m kind of scared because if I do that I’ll be answering their questions like five minutes late.”
Jenna Sillence was confident she could get by, but was preparing to learn some new vocabulary. She said she expects the main difference in Quebec will be the way their exchange partners speak the language.
“When we talk French to each other we don’t know the slang and everything like we do in English. I think it will definitely be a lot different. They will say things and we will just kind of be like ‘what?’”
But despite those fears, most students said they weren’t planning to study French any harder before taking off on their trip. Instead, they have been chatting to their partners in Quebec through text messages, and eagerly anticipating the slew of novel activities they will experience.
They’ve heard stories from older siblings who have taken the trip before them about the trampoline room, or the ski-hill-style tobogganing at Valcartier, and they want to experience it for themselves.
They’ve also heard stories of lifelong friendships forged during the brief two-week span and hope the same might happen for them.
In March, the 19 Quebecois students who are hosting the group from Jasper will make the trek into the mountains, and Jasper’s students will open their homes to their former hosts—showing them what life in Jasper is all about.
Kennedy said the itinerary that month will include two days at the Palisades, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, skiing at Marmot Basin and a visit from Yellowhead County MP Jim Eglinski.
Trevor Nichols
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