Editor Snaps Shots for
Taking the Province by Storm

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TUNE ON THIS PAGE
The Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun," in honour of (literally) the sunniest summer on record in Nova Scotia.

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Editor's Blurb
Storming Downtown Halifax

Q-Tips' Tales
~ Nicole Bergeron ~ Josée Déraps ~
~ Nathalie Drouin ~ Claire Dubuc ~
~ Louise Girard ~ Lucie Grégoire ~
~ Lucie Lapierre ~ Francine Paquet ~
~ Christine Paré ~ Ada Perreault ~
~ Annie Racine ~ Guylaine Robitaille ~
~ Sonia Ruel ~ Dany St. Hilaire ~
~ Monique Venne ~

Their Instructors' Tales
~ Maria Desjardins ~ Leta L.-Malone ~
~ Maurice Michaud ~ Mary Lou O'Hara ~

For eight consecutive summers, the Centre for Continuing Education at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax has conducted an intensive, one-month "English as a second language" program for a group of 15 to 25 teachers from Québec. Made possible through funding from the Ministère de l'Éducation du Québec, the program aims to give these teachers an opportunity to perfect their written and oral language skills by immersing them in a predominently anglophone environment. A good number of these teachers then return to their home province, where they go on to teach English as a second language to their students.

Throughout the duration of the program, both teachers and program instructors find ways of injecting some fun in the learning process. In addition to spending three hours every weekday in a classroom, the teachers spend their afternoons, evenings and weekends experiencing everyday life in "Canada's Ocean Playground." And, in the process, they discover a colourful and diverse culture by meeting local residents who enrich their vocabulary and their collection of expressions in English.

Interestingly enough, it is the French, with Samuel de Champlain, who, in 1604, formed the Order of Good Cheer in Nova Scotia. Nearly 400 years later, it is again a group of francophones who every year come to this province and bring with them verve and good cheer.

What's the meaning of "Q-Tips"? Although no one can say for sure, it is believed that the first group of Québec teachers is responsible for coining the term to refer to themselves. The "Q" obviously stands for Québec"—duh!—but it took a gregarious participant to remind us of the meaning of "Tips": "Teachers Immersion Program." So forget those soft, fuzzy, disposable objects! In Halifax, Q-Tips are something entirely different.

They are about trails of fun and laughter as teachers from Québec meander Nova Scotia and learn. They are about working hard, and this online book is proof. And they are about going back to La Belle Province with a soft spot in one's heart for the Nova Scotian way of life—the essence of Nova Scotia.

Maurice Michaud