Vive le Québec! Long live Saskatchewan!
The act of being immersed in another’s culture, language and day-to-day life is being embraced by a Davidson School student and her “twin” from Québec as they travel and live in each other’s homes, communities and provinces for a span of three months this school year.
Davidson School Grade 11 student Paige Hodgins, 16, is welcoming École secondaire De Rochebelle Grade 10 pupil Andrea Rocha, 15, to her home in town this fall as part of a Saskatchewan-Québec student exchange program, which will see Paige travel to Québec City at the end of January.
While in their different communities, the girls are and will be immersed in the other’s language and culture in order to gain a better understanding of their twin’s unique part of Canada.
“Davidson is really different from Québec,” said Andrea adding residents of Québec City refer to it as just Québec. “The first things that I saw when I came here is it is really more familiar, maybe because it’s smaller. There is more religion, like more churches here too.”
Andrea said the school in town is a bit smaller than De Rochebelle, which translates to beautiful stone and has over 2,000 students, but that is fine with her. She said the residents of Davidson are “really nice” and Paige’s friends have taken her in as one of their own, so she is doing OK as she discovers the Land of the Living Skies.
“It’s a new experience for me,” she said. “In Saskatchewan it’s rural, but that’s really important. There is more English for sure. It’s in the same country, but I think something that I could say is the society is a little bit different. I hope to learn in the same country how we can live differently and how the people can be different.”
Paige said she is “really excited” to move into Andrea’s home in Québec City at the end of January, which will have her plunge into the French language and culture of the historic city on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River.
“I can’t wait,” said Paige. “We don’t have French offered here anymore because Ms. Low (former Davidson School French teacher Arlene Low) left the school, but I did take French over the summer and a little bit now until we finish. I have taken it all through school, but the best way to learn is immersion and that is why I wanted to do this.”
Paige said she applied to enter the exchange program in the last school year on the advice of Low and will join several other students from across Saskatchewan who are travelling to la belle province for French language studies.
To read more please see the Oct. 22 print edition of The Davidson Leader.