New microgrant stream wants youth to plant language seeds outside school

“100 youth projects wanted in French,” a new microgrant program wants youth to plant language learning seeds outside school.

A network of action-research teams in Canada, other parts of North America, Africa and Europe is launching a youth grant stream to support French language engagement outside of conventional spaces.

Youth across the country aged 14 to 30 are eligible for 100 microgrants in support of grassroots initiatives as part of this program run by the Dialogue Network. The new youth stream complements a previously established stream for organizations.

Executive Director Ajà Besler says everything from curling competitions to film screenings to cooking workshops, is a space for youth to “express themselves” and “strengthen linguistic security.”

“When your connection doesn’t exist outside of the walls of your school, then it’s like learning Latin, it’s not alive,” says Besler.

The youth-grants stream is aimed at empowering youth in leadership roles while also creating spaces for French language engagement, explained Besler.

“We want to create like the opportunity for youth to to lead their own projects.”

Besler said the goal of empowering youth and creating spaces to promote language are “intrinsically connected.”

“You can’t have those spaces without also having young leaders who are kind of creating the spaces and keeping those spaces alive, like animating those spaces.”

Besler pointed out that stereotypes of young leaders can limit their opportunities and limit the diverse value youth bring to spaces.

“Youth leadership can take so many different forms. And I think that engaging, all kinds of youth is really important for our communities, for our organisations.”

The youth-led initiatives offer young language learners a chance to exchange ideas, building a sense of belonging while also encouraging civic engagement in French.

Besler says these informal engagements build language and community not only for Francophone youth but also learners who engage with French as an additional language.

Organizers are looking for project pitches that respond to one or more additonal objectives around growing opportunities for language exchange.

“Creating exchanges with youths from different linguistic communities, encouraging youth participation in social engagement, civil engagement in French and /or increasing support for learning and using French in our daily lives, especially for youth whose first language is not French,” explained Besler.

It may come as a surprise to hear that formal education institutions are not ideal places to grow long term language learning.

“When your connection doesn’t exist outside of the walls of your school, then it’s like learning Latin, it’s not alive. And when you leave school well then you lose that connection you have and you stop practising, and you lose the language. So it’s really important if we want to increase people’s security or linguistic security in French and have them feel comfortable to continue practising fresh or using French, then the people need community outside of schools and need to be able to do things that that are connected to their passions and interests and friends,” said Besler.

For this reason, the activities are open-ended. Projects can take various forms, such as discussion circles, creative activities, workshops, sports and cultural activities.

“It could be artistic, it could be workshops or a show, it could be sports, it could be a tournament or an intramural league in sports in French. It could be workshops discussion groups and book clubs, a cinema club,” explained Besler.

Besler said that sometimes people take for granted that sports activities are a way to build community and cultural engagements involving language.

In March for the month de la Francophonie the Dialogue Network brought together a group of people from across Northern Alberta for curling Bonspiels in French.

“It could be a really good way for someone who is still learning the language or who wants to maybe dip a toe into being more immersed in a French thing, to start with something that is familiar that is maybe less intimidating than jumping right into like the theatre or something like that,” said Besler.

Project pitches have an in person requirement in response to recent trends that have limited youth’s ability to build in person connections, like the Covid pandemic.

“There was a whole national roundtable on linguistic security and it showed for people to maintain French as a language and feel comfortable in it and feel secure, they need those kind of chances to practise French, to connect with French outside of school in ways that are alive,” said Belser.

In conversation with youth organizations, Besler said that what they found was that in the post-pandemic era, generations of youth who are now young adults experienced many important life phases and milestones virtually.

“As much as the internet can bring community and it has all kinds of positive repercussions, I think it’s not enough and people need in-person connections as well. They need to be able to meet other people and connect with humans face to face. And I think there’s a value to that that can’t be recreated online.”

There is also a focus on smaller scale activities so that youth can facilitate and take part in them locally in their community.

With the costs of living going up, organizers also wanted to provide financial support for the projects.

Each grant includes $850 for the project costs and $150 for the partner organization supporting the youth throughout the project.

Having a connection to grassroots community organization is also a key element of the projects which helps youth to build resources.

“We also want people to feel connected to organisations that are in their communities that understand their specific realities,” said Besler.

“We also want them to feel connected and maybe have more long-term links to these community organisations after their project is done,” added Besler.

The organizers said they want the 100 selected projects to represent diverse demographics within different parts of the country, including the North.

“We want to make sure we have youth from different geographic areas in Canada for a different kind of demographic groups and different types of activities. So we want to make sure that it’s balanced and representative and also helping us kind of attain these objectives.”

Besler said proposals are being accepted until April 30. More information is available through the applicant guide.

The project pitches will be assessed based on a number of factors, including their impact on youth and communities, relevance to the program’s objectives and feasibility.

Besler said the organization hopes to make an announcement about successful applicants by about June.