A McGill teaching student is sounding the alarm about a language issue in her program.
Wishing to remain anonymous, the international student said she’s struggling to complete her Masters in Teaching English as a Second Language at McGill University because she doesn’t speak French well.
“My assumption was, ‘Okay, this is a bilingual city, so I know a little bit of French. I think that everything is fine,'” she said. “I do have some French knowledge, like basic French; I can understand … but actually what they require is working proficiency.”
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The McGill ESL program requires students to complete two internships at a French school, but this student says her French is not good enough to communicate with staff, parents and students.
“The director or the co-ordinator of the internship office, she wrote to me in the email saying, ‘You have to do this. There’s nothing we can do about it,'” she said. “If your French isn’t good, take the fall semester to study French really hard.”
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But the student insists the French course didn’t fit her schedule.
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To make matters worse, the student claims, last year she failed an internship.
She said, according to her evaluation, she didn’t communicate enough with staff and students.
The student said McGill’s policy requires students to wait a full year to begin another internship, and she says the delay is costing her.
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Farid Azar is a former graduate of the McGill teaching program.
He moved to Montreal from Iran in 2014 and also struggles with French.
He believes McGill needs to do more to help international students.
“It could be done, or could still be done in this program, that there are some French courses to prep students to face the reality of the school,” said Azar.
McGill declined our request for an on-camera interview, but in a statement to Global News, McGill said prospective students are advised on the McGill website that they should have a functional level of French.
McGill adds that students are advised that their field work will be done at French schools.
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