French language test for permanent residence

[tinpanalley]

I have a friend who is in Canada on a work visa and can now begin his and his wife's process for permanent residence. Apparently he has a French test to take. Here is the thing, my friend is also dyslexic. Learning anything with text is already difficult and nobody teaches French phonetically so what he's picked up so far has been entirely by ear. He can't really rely on 'spell it out' or looking things up in dictionaries to understand vocabulary. What I want to know, on his behalf, is if there is anything the government of Quebec provides for people wanting to take this French language test who happen to be dyslexic and will have trouble writing anything in French not out of a lack of effort but rather because of this disability.

Thank you!

 

[tathspts]

I have a friend who is in Canada on a work visa and can now begin his and his wife's process for permanent residence. Apparently he has a French test to take. Here is the thing, my friend is also dyslexic. Learning anything with text is already difficult and nobody teaches French phonetically so what he's picked up so far has been entirely by ear. He can't really rely on 'spell it out' or looking things up in dictionaries to understand vocabulary. What I want to know, on his behalf, is if there is anything the government of Quebec provides for people wanting to take this French language test who happen to be dyslexic and will have trouble writing anything in French not out of a lack of effort but rather because of this disability.

Thank you!

There are many audio french courses you can do. Govt. wont provide you anything unless you are a permanent resident or a CSQ holder at-least.

 

[tinpanalley]

There are many audio french courses you can do. Govt. wont provide you anything unless you are a permanent resident or a CSQ holder at-least.

Thank you. There are audio courses yes, but it won't change the written part of the test. I just can't imagine there isn't something for dyslexic people. What about blind people?

 

[iamblue]

I would suggest him to find a private tutor. He can go to the YMCA language school and see if he can get a professor.

I did all my courses (level 1 to level 7 plus 3 specialized courses) with them except one in my home town . In my first course at YMCA, my teacher, Nicholas, focused a lot on speaking and listening. YMCA has many teachers and I'm not sure which one your friend will get, but go ask them! They are experienced in teaching students all over the world too. I am an East Asian, and my classmates included Canadians, South Americans, Europeans and Arabs.

 

[iamblue]

Thank you. There are audio courses yes, but it won't change the written part of the test. I just can't imagine there isn't something for dyslexic people. What about blind people?

He may want to take the listening and speaking parts only in the TEFaQ if he can somewhat read the questions. Or his wife can be the principal applicant so she can take the French test instead.

 

[yodheydhara]

He may want to take the listening and speaking parts only in the TEFaQ if he can somewhat read the questions. Or his wife can be the principal applicant so she can take the French test instead.

Can you share the link on where we can find out about YMCA french language learning offerings in the US?

 

[iamblue]

Can you share the link on where we can find out about YMCA french language learning offerings in the US?

The YMCA language school is in Montreal. I cannot post any link in this forum so you just google it.

But if you are outside Quebec, you may wanna check with the Alliance Française. I took my first course at AF in my hometown.

 

[yodheydhara]

The YMCA language school is in Montreal. I cannot post any link in this forum so you just google it.

But if you are outside Quebec, you may wanna check with the Alliance Française. I took my first course at AF in my hometown.

Thank you blue,
I googled and looked on the YMCA site but I couldnt find any information regarding French classes there. Yes, AF is there, but it is very costly here - they are almost 400 USD for the beginner's course that is for 5 weeks. I am trying to learn French using some books and this app called Duolingo on my phone. Hope that helps, but I understand that you need a group of Francophones around you to really learn the language. That is what I am trying to find.

 

[iamblue]

Thank you blue,
I googled and looked on the YMCA site but I couldnt find any information regarding French classes there. Yes, AF is there, but it is very costly here - they are almost 400 USD for the beginner's course that is for 5 weeks. I am trying to learn French using some books and this app called Duolingo on my phone. Hope that helps, but I understand that you need a group of Francophones around you to really learn the language. That is what I am trying to find.

You need to search "ymca language school montreal". It is the one in downtown Montreal. Other YMCA branches in Montreal don't have language courses. The States is so big. No one can give you any better suggestion without knowing which city you are in. I'm sure big cities have more choices than a small town.

Duolingo "may" help but it is hard to reach B2 level. My friend did almost 60% (just for fun) but she does not even hit the A1 level. Also the pronunciation of its recording is not really good. I've tried it only once. You should buy a textbook (AF uses Alter Ego, but I think there are better books specific for self-learning) and follow each chapter and exercise step by step. And you can get some overseas tutors on Skype at an affordable price or join some French conversation meetups to practice more.

 

[yodheydhara]

You need to search "ymca language school montreal". It is the one in downtown Montreal. Other YMCA branches in Montreal don't have language courses. The States is so big. No one can give you any better suggestion without knowing which city you are in. I'm sure big cities have more choices than a small town.

Duolingo "may" help but it is hard to reach B2 level. My friend did almost 60% (just for fun) but she does not even hit the A1 level. Also the pronunciation of its recording is not really good. I've tried it only once. You should buy a textbook (AF uses Alter Ego, but I think there are better books specific for self-learning) and follow each chapter and exercise step by step. And you can get some overseas tutors on Skype at an affordable price or join some French conversation meetups to practice more.

Sure, this is great information, thank you iamblue! I am in Minneapolis.

 

[tinpanalley]

He may want to take the listening and speaking parts only in the TEFaQ if he can somewhat read the questions. Or his wife can be the principal applicant so she can take the French test instead.

Unfortunately they can't go through his wife, it's he that got the job that gave them both their visas. So he's the principal applicant no matter what. I'm just surprised, I've kept looking around and nowhere on the Canadian government site (which is usually quite thorough about these things) does it explain what someone with either dyslexia or blindness would have to do to pass a French language test. And you might think what do you need vision for in a speaking test? Well, imagine if you eliminated reading from learning a language. It all comes down to hearing at that point. My friend is dyslexic not blind but the impairment is also a significant handicap because he isn't capable of physically putting a lot of words together and it can sometimes take several minutes to read something that someone without dyslexia might glance over in 5 seconds.
I just thought there must be a place to officially mention this in the immigration process so that he isn't given a long text to read or written answers to provide that would cause him to fail. Writing is something he pretty luch does phonetically because he sees words as they sound not as they're spelled.