A course or seminar in which teaching and discussion take place alternately and equally in the two official languages, whether it’s one week out of two (option A) or during a same class (option B). Depending on the discipline and the learning experience, documentary resources (reading lists, audiovisual material, etc.) reflect the two official languages as much as possible.
What are the advantages of a bilingual course?
A bilingual course allows you to:
- benefit from a dual cultural and scholarly perspective;
- develop dual literacy;
- become more at ease in the second official language.
What are the minimum second language skills required to participate in a bilingual course?
Depending on the course:
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Understanding
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Understanding, reading and speaking In addition to comprehension and reading skills:
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Understanding and reading In addition to comprehension skills:
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Understanding, reading, speaking and writing In addition to comprehension, reading and oral expression skills:
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What second language skills should I expect to develop at the end of a bilingual course?
Understanding
Understanding most of the information shared in class;- Understanding ideas and in-class discussions in-depth, including technical discussions relating to your discipline;
- Sufficiently understanding what is said in class to summarize the main points in your own words.
In addition to comprehension skills:
- Understanding most information in readings, including technical concepts related to your discipline.
In addition to comprehension and reading skills:
- Expressing yourself spontaneously and fluently without searching for your words;
- Expressing complex ideas orally, in a clear and structured fashion;
- Adapting your way of expressing yourself to the situation and intended audience;
- Easily switching from one language to another to facilitate communication in a bi/multilingual setting.
In addition to comprehension, reading and oral expression skills:
- Conveying information in writing in a clear, structured fashion;
- Expressing complex ideas and arguments in writing related to a particular area of your discipline;
- Adopting an appropriate style for the context and the person addressed.
What other second language skills can I develop at the end of a bilingual course?
- Adapting to a varied cultural environment and better understanding others;
- Developing a deeper appreciation and understanding of perspectives on your discipline that differ by language of study;
- Developing mediation skills;
- Developing intercultural skills;
- Developing multilingualism skills.
- Recruitment statement designed to reach the intended audience;
- Student experience;
- Presentation of pedagogical approaches and assessment methods to enable students to get a good idea of how they might perform in the course.
- Program coherence;
- Intended learning outcomes;
Added-value of bilingualism with regards to disciplinary and/or language learning;- Indication of the required language competency level at the start of the term.
- Pedagogical accommodations to allow students to experience bilingualism fully.
What are the components of a description for a bilingual course?
- Recruitment statement designed to reach the intended audience;
- Student experience;
- Presentation of pedagogical approaches and assessment methods to enable students to get a good idea of how they might perform in the course.
- Program coherence;
- Intended learning outcomes;
- Added value of bilingualism with regards to disciplinary and/or language learning;
- Indication of the required language competency level at the start of the term.
- Pedagogical accommodations to allow students to experience bilingualism fully.
Example of a bilingual course description
FRA 2961 Les personnages féminins du roman contemporain français et anglais
An exploration of a series of female literary characters through typologies typical of the modern French and English novel. This seminar is taught alternating between the two languages. Readings, group discussions and student presentations will be in both languages and will aim to convey the major physical, psychological, sociological and political characteristics of the novel’s female characters. The seminar is designed for you to develop a deeper appreciation and knowledge of the different perspectives on female characters in the novel developed in French and English-language contexts. Recommended minimum language skills include the ability to understand, read and interact orally in class in your second official language. Assignments designed to gradually increase your level of bilingualism, as well as individual supervision, are planned.
Important components
Example of a bilingual program description
Maîtrise en ingénierie, génie entrepreneurial de la conception
This is a bilingual program in the sense that full support is given to complete the requirements for the program in either English or French. We have a full complement of fully bilingual professors and advisors who can work with, mentor and advise students in the language of their choice.
However, the professional language for engineering and for much of the access to venture capital in North America is English. In order to succeed in industry after graduation, students will need to develop a least a minimum capability in English. This program will provide an appropriately supportive environment for students whose first language is not English to do so at their own pace.
The internship and project courses can be done entirely in French but the environment is bilingual which often switches to English for professional and technical conversations. Elective courses can be done entirely in French as directed studies or topic courses with a bilingual professor.
The regularly scheduled elective courses and all the core courses will be delivered in English. However, students have the right, and are encouraged, to complete all work required for the degree in either English or French. As stipulated in the University’s bilingualism regulations (Academic Regulations I-2), students will be able to write their work, including their internship and project, in the official language of their choice (French or English). Students will be informed of the policy on their language rights via the student handbook and the website. There is sufficient bilingual faculty to supervise and grade internships and project reports in either language. International internships and projects are welcomed, but reports and other gradable components must be submitted in English or French.
