top of page

Coffee and Conversation



Hello, hello.

everybody Welcome to the linguistic


live I'm I'm pleased to see that U an

individual has already joined us

Ruba can I add you to this

conversation yes yes sure hello welcome

welcome you how are you I'm doing well

thank you how are you this this

afternoon I'm okay I'm okay and you I'm

I'm doing well thanks hello I hear some

people in the

background uh me it seems like a busy

house on your

end uh I don't uh play the camera I


think because I'm at

hairdresser ah no problem you're at the

hairdresser


oh that's funny so are you getting your

haircut in a special way is there a

special

occasion yes yes I will I will turn on

the camera but I know okay I

will there you

are yes I am I there you are hello hello


so you're you're getting uh are you are

you getting ready for a special event or

is this your no because the Christmas is

uh coming soon for that I make the color

of my hair oh yeah what what color is

your hair going to

be uh Fair blonde

blonde blonde yes blonde platin blonde

my

oh very blonde platinum blonde yeah yeah

wow

wow amazing and normally your hair is a

brown color brown color Yes Brown no

like you like me yeah oh that's funny

well great I'm I'm glad you you got an

appointment because that's not e

near

hairdresser yes yes


everybody

see I see the hairdresser doing some

work that's great

um we have we have somebody else who's

joined Kumba welcome Kumba hello hello

how are you I'm fine and you I'm doing

well thanks this is Ruba she's currently

at the hairdresser and she's dying her

hair blonde okay hi everyone hi Hi how

are you I think I uh I uh saw you um


yesterday yesterday yes I was you are FR

teacher too yes yes I'm a teacher teer


like like

look you

are you are between two FR teacher okay

you also you fren teacher or fren

teacher May right now I work another

team where is your head where is your

head hat

[Laughter]


your yes yes how are you today I'm fine

and you fine fine yesterday was very

amazing was very funny yes


yes yes okay how do you two know each

other you met yesterday we met yesterday

in sorry where did you meet uh at in the

conversation group oh okay excellent so

you're both at linguistic um to improve

your English yes yes yes

yes how was the conversation yesterday

were there a lot of people yes yesterday

I will send you the photo

because I don't have it I have it

I will uh I will send the

photo it was very I don't know how I can

send it right

now by chat you could you could send it

to the linguistic email and then we can

send it to Kumba I think

okay okay okay

okay yeah we'll find a way so when you

were at the conversation group somebody

took a photo of everyone

yes

yes oh Hamid took a photo of

everybody always happy always happy we

get very fun we

we he's he's always in a good mood yes

yes

yes yeah whenever I meet someone who's

always in a good mood I'm always a

little bit

suspicious there must be a time when

they just it all just comes down but

maybe not maybe Hamid is just

permanently yes he yes thank you very

very uh very funny yeah we had a a good

good time really with him interesting

time

yeah tell us about you me


no oh me you know what I'll tell you

something about me but first we have

another student who decided to join Dia

okay


hi I I guess you were part of the

conversation yesterday with Hamid yes

yes

great I how are

you fine and you fine fine thank you

doing well thank

you so I heard I heard yesterday

what's that

Ruba yes yes I

know yes Ruba is having her hair done

she's dying her hair the original color

is brown but she's dying it platinum

blonde for the

holidays Dia do do you ever dye your

hair yeah oh you do


right but do you know

uh doctor in the

hospital Doctor Who is a doctor


me Dia you're a doctor yeah yeah but in

my country not not here I see you will


you will be

hereo is is one of the reasons you're

practicing your English Dia so that you

can work as a doctor in

Quebec uh it's so difficult but I try it


okay there must be a lot of exams for

you to pass and complete the exams the

the exams in

English uh in English

wow in

English Okay do do you also have to

learn

French uh French I I did my uh formation

in

French okay so French is one of your

primary languages yeah yeah I see not

primary a second

uh my primary language is a

cab

Arabic Arab Arabic andab


okay Ruba and do you speak the same

language I speak Arabic I'm from Syria

okay I speak Arabic

uh I am right now I work as

secretary uh

is the group Gabriel group for the car

do you

know no I don't know what is it again

it's Gabriel group for the car for the


car

driving driving yeah no I I'm the

secretary of the

honor ah okay okay nice is it is it a

place that sells cars or that that

arranges

por porch

yeah


why I am my head

[Laughter]


I

okay you you have a nice

color thank you but I should make the


uh R it's it's not


good no when they

um the brushing when they make the

brushing for my hair will change the

color I went my hair dress to finish

another C then will be with me but it's


okay with you very happy I'm very happy

to meet you

here uh and me I put this uh once a year

uh just the white uh to cover the

white

hair once year

[Music]

maybe

yeah tell more about us where are you

from L myself I am I grew up in


Cyprus hi Cy

cus I have I have been there oh yeah in


in 20 uh 11 in

2011 great in in case you're unfamiliar

with the country Dia en Kumba it's a

it's an island in the

Mediterranean in the north there's

turkey in the south is Egypt Cypress is

a little island in the middle of the

Mediterranean and

it's it's like a Greek island we we

share a lot of our culture with Greece

there's name the name of the island

Cyprus French it's

sheep in Caribbean Island no it's not a

Caribbean Island it's it's like a Greek

island I can put it in the chat Cyprus

like

this that's how it's

written if you can see the

chat um but you know the girl in The


More Beautiful in the world the girl I

don't know why I

[Laughter]


left well there are lots of beautiful

women all over the world I'm happy to

report from my experience um so Ruba you

said you're from Syria yes and Dia where

do you come from Algeria Algeria okay

I'm from Algeria yeah I'm sure these are

things that you said yesterday in your

conversation group

yeah Kumba where are you from uh I'm

from Sagal seal is in the West Africa


near

Nigeria I me North Africa yes North

Africa M yes yeah nice and


I'm I'm I'm here since uh

2010 you've been here since 2010 okay I

study here

and now I'm teaching

French oh

excellent I'm currently trying to

improve my French my wife speaks French

so there's always an opportunity for me

to practice speaking but it's still a

challenge

yes it's so easy than than

English no it's easier than English


yeah

maybe very difficult very very difficult


yes very difficult yes the grammar of

the more difficult

than

mascul yes right yes yes I guess the

verbs are also more difficult in


you feel you feel the opposite way you

feel like English is harder to acquire

than

French okay yeah because I speak

French since I'm child I

see for that but the English should be

easy for you because you speak friend uh

it's so difficult for me I try but but


but I did

yeah right yes I think they same


vocabulary


pronunciation sometimes you even

discover a connection between a French

or English word and an Arabic word or

it's it's it's funny how that happens


yeah think in French and

me French and to translate in English

sometime is very difficult because

English is easier than French when you

think in French and you try to translate

yes and you try to translate it is very

difficult very

difficult cuz I it's not the same the

same because me I study in French French

is my first my first my official

language first official language I speak

my local

language but

uh I I found that English is

a more easy for Z

French more easy to understand

yes there are also lots of resources

online for English MH um I mean I

imagine you can also find resources for

French but English seems to really

dominate um YouTube for example a lot of

YouTube videos or Netflix a lot of shows

in

English which

language which language do I speak with

my wife we speak English it's sometimes

French sometimes

French

[Music]

good

well what do you say uh what do you say

say

uh you say speak something before before

me who's that me no


uh okay what is your

question we speak together I don't know

who speak with me I ah you hear sound


okay okay never mind never mind

yeah and now me what I do to help me

learning English is to put my phone in


English and good idea yes is a good idea

I know many word till I uh put my uh


language my phone in English and I try

to watch TV on English with a subtitle

me too but I I don't understand

anything Google Translate is my friend

now every time I take my phone to

translate what it helped me a

lot we try we try uh

see movies with my husband in English

but but I I don't understand really


really the American the American English

the pronunciation is so

difficult and uh when I began I I I make

many label in my uh house I put many

label in my uh in everything in my house

like uh the oven the table the print I I


I write word and I put it because I I I

I welcome class yeah and it is the

same

okay that's a good idea so you put

little labels all over your house yes

okay you can do it in in French also

it's a good idea or I'll just ask my

wife to work a little bit for me said

what's this what's this what's this like

a

child and Nick you are a

teacher yes I teach at um

I teach English at yeah okay

online no in person and then for

linguistic I create some online material

for the YouTube channel so if you visit

the YouTube channel and you watch a

video that's been published within the

last four months that's probably

something that I've made okay you

English yes an English teacher

yeah

exactly it's called laau

College it's downtown on St Catherine

Street if you've ever gone to Atwater

Metro or geek Concordia Metro it's

between those two stations okay okay I

ask you because my son is studying

in

okay school that's possible yeah what is

he studying uh he studied to be to

become a

nurse oh great we need more

nurses like you your son yes my


son it's hard work it's hard work isn't

it work very very hard work very


difficult Good Luck Good Luck Good Luck

like because is his choice I I had My my

what I have I had anything to to


say okay so it was just his idea to

become a nurse

yes

wow where did he get the

idea where did he get the idea why did

he want to become a nurse I don't know I

don't

know I don't know what what it it work

in the in teenager mind now I don't know


that's funny you can do it

Dia me yes uh I


think I can't I can't because I I I stud


I studied in in

Algeria 16 years uh

medicine I can't I can't

become

here 16

years medicine yes I know but to be to

enter I'm I'm I'm

the my specialty is infection disease

what infection

disase in

infe infectious diseases yes ah so so

your opinion would have been very useful

during the pandemic yeah say my my my


speciality very interesting we are the

first

line the H


yeah I can't it's so difficult I can't

become nurse here I can't I try uh I try


to learn English

to

to to do something

else

no my job not a

nurse your job to become doctor yeah

here it's very difficult here to become

doctor if you study uh AB

abroad I try

it I would try it so yeah on top of the


16 years in Algeria studying to become a

doctor now you have to do even more

years to teach in can sorry to uh to

work in

Canada and uh are you in the

process uh yes okay you are

yeah how how many more years will it

take if everything goes

well uh maybe

two oh okay you can do it only another

two years oh but it's a lot of studying

hey 16 plus

two I I would try it it's so difficult

but I I will try it how long has you

been here de H how long has you been

here two months two months okay yeah uh

I'm going to give you an advice

okay my my experience

okay uh go to study in the S to to be

nurse to begin your

career you are going to wait and you

lost

time uh

because

medicine is a very closed field

here very very closed you have to learn

here uh seven or eight year and to do

the exam of the order I don't know it is

a correct word order

medine yeah the order of nurses the

order okay it is very very a very close

field uh if I was you I'm going to

register in the S to do my

uh D EC CED

deck to become nurse and after you

continue otherwise you are going to lose

many many time me I I I I had master in

my

country M and I I start my uh High

degree uh uh stud uh studies in

University but when I come here I I got

a scholarship to come here when I come

here I I did my master in

ukam and and after after that I want to

be a teacher but they told me to do a

certificate certificate yes what

certificate

get because uh I had my I got my my my

degrees in uh okay in your country in my


country yeah okay I understand that

that's why every time they you to to do

uh to have a degree

here

okay is it is it easier uh Dia for you

to become a nurse at this point uh it's

easier but I can't I can't okay it seems

like it would be a different path uh

maybe maybe uh if I can't

um I can't do it here I will travel with

in other country maybe France or I can't


U stay here if

um right right we we feel like that

every every all all all immigrant Fields

have the feeling to to go back I don't

know to they took

to there's there's the feeling I can

that you want to move back to your home

Kumba no is that what you mean what do

you mean okay I for example you come

with your degree and uh uh when you


apply they tell you your degree is not

the the right one for example and you

feel

disappointed you understand what I

mean okay

but uh don't wait start your study and

uh go to study in the in the University

or in the S to have your degree your

degree from here and it help you very

well in your

career so don't give up keep studying

that's the message yes that's the

message that's the message today thank

you there you go thank you your advice

thank you

very someone else has joined chelum I

don't know if I'm saying that correctly

are you

there

[Music]

sh there I'm here

yes yes hello welcome were you part of

the conversation group yesterday as well

do you recognize these three

women uh well I practic the first time

uh to

listen um and the second time I will uh


speak because I haven't uh lot of words


for describing my uh

my

life I

understand

yes good morning good morning how are

you how good and you how are you fine

thank you I'm happy to uh to see you


thank you me

too how do you two know each

other I in

Les in lessons oh I see okay that's


good the course of conversation

together great okay it's very difficult

when you are acquiring a new language

because for a long time you're unable to

be yourself it seems like your

personality gets left behind a little

bit yes that's

it when as

as I began learning French I was very

frustrated because in English I have a

sense of humor but when I speak French

it's very difficult to make jokes to be

funny because I don't know what words to

use

exactly but uh I was surprised that you

know when I made an attempt it usually

worked

out so maybe it was all in my head but

anyway it can be a frustrating thing at

first that you you can't express

yourself as well as you'd like other

people don't really get to know you as

you would like to be

known


uh

so so I understand what you mean jum

when you say um you don't have enough

words to

describe um to describe your

life um it's a um I need some times for


uh do it okay you need to practice again

and again exactly okay you should start

practicing now tell us about your

[Laughter]

[Music]

life tell us where you're

from uh I am from

Algeria Ah that's how you that's why you

two were talking a little bit at the

beginning yes

okay did you ever meet each other in

Algeria did you know each other in

Algeria no no okay yeah very unlikely

but I thought I would ask the question

anyway Ruba I hope you don't mind I was

muting you a little bit because of the

noise in the hair

salon yes I make my my microphone muted


for the

noise around me right just


speak

his yes I

am how are you good thank

you I'm happy I'm happy to speak with


you me too me too I'm so happy to know a

person like you really really the group

very very nice group you should come

next

uh uh that's

right to make a to uh to show us life


you should

come like a big

family

yes H how long have you all been uh

taking classes with each

other what H how long have you uh been

in the same conversation group group

with each other uh two two weeks two

weeks okay me yesterday is my first one


oh it was your first class yesterday

okay yes no

I'm three

month wow three months three months I my


online

okay sorry Ruba I just muted you but

okay

uh the first time

uh online but I did online with Leona do

you know Leona Lea yes she's my

teacher my teacher

too very nice she is very


nice he talk with me like mother not

like

teach I love so

much he give us advice lot of

advice yes yes like Mom like Mom yes

like Mom I love her so much you should

you should be like

like like our

[Laughter]


father R I'm too young for that I


think I know have a beard

but it's not


white Lana will be your language mother

and I will be the language father

and the language the

language I mean the language

St oh my

goodness that's that's

fun

well do any of you listen to podcasts to

improve your English or do you find it's

a difficult way to uh

improve uh it's a difficult way to

improve

yet because for me for

me for

everybody for

everybody when the practice and the

vocabulary and yes and maybe a

pronunciation yeah pronunciation yes yes

a very big problem

pronunciation um we we must repeat every

day um uh some words and uh we we must


repeat rep

lot we have we have a course of

pronounce iation with Hamid the 13


January for three

hours uh it's I think it's a good idea

for three

hours Focus to the pronunciation and

practice I think it's a good idea that's

great I will

practice

particip good okay you plan on

participating you're going to

participate

yes okay the 13th of January at Saturday

9

A.M if you wanted to practice ahead of

that class did you know that the YouTube

channel has maybe 10 15 videos on

pronounciation

tips um I can uh share it with Hamid who

will send it to you or I can share it in

the WhatsApp group a link to the

videos if you think it will help

although I know it's always I think you

yes it's it's always more helpful to

practice in person with somebody else

but still a video can help with the


mood uh I don't know if they offer the

program like immersion no

immersion does does linguistic offer an

immersive course kind of English

immersion yes no I'm not sure I I mean

we should we should ask and uh find out

um I think it would be a good idea to do

that because

everybody tell me it is

the the best way to learn to learn a

language yes to be immersed completely

in the language completely you forget

your French your Arabic and only English


it's like being baptized yes completely

immersed in the new language you know I

I I found it very interesting when I

tried to immerse myself in French I

realized that part of the struggle is

the the challenge of letting go of your

other

language especially because I come from

a country where the main language is

Greek and when I began to immerse myself

in French I became a little angry I

thought why am I doing this I want to

speak Greek I don't want to speak French

so there was a bit of a psychological

battle I had to

fight yeah um but um I wonder if you


ever feel a kind of uh struggle like

that or if it's just a matter of

adjusting and you feel ready to adapt

and you're happy to adapt uh no Angry

very angry you are oh

okay me I love

English oh when I hear someone speaking

fluen English I'm uh come on on I'm

happy I I want to to to to speak like

that oh that's great you have this um

sense of motivation you really like the

idea of learning English Dia you're

struggling a bit more you're fighting a

battle yes and it is my on my list the

things I have to do before going away

passing

away okay now now you have to tell us

what else is on your

list what what are some other items on

your list okay to speak English Okay

friendly to

travel the world everywhere no not

everywhere at least 10 in 10 country

okay wow that's ambitious I want to take

my

retire

sooner okay to stop uh working teach


good good idea yes why no and think I

think this year I'm going to stop

teaching okay uh Ruba teacher

colleague hi colle how do you what do

you think about that you're going to

continue to teach or you stop you stop

no no I will uh I will make equivalent

for my master degree in um


uhal okay I will do the equalent for

work my right now I can't do it because

I

haven't right now I'm

the I'm not I haven't the final decision


of the tribal okay okay you should

I I should take this the approval of the


pral for continue my study in the

University

after that I will uh come back to the

university I will teach you the French

the French my PA of my life paent of my

life I want to continue this Pati you

know okay the teaching


is

mat difficult may very interesting

mat that the teaching profession

profession yes it's profession very

difficult but is very interesting


am this is my passion of my life I will

continue but right now I'm so happy in

my

work in my work I will try to improve my

English before I speak English very well

may I stop to speak because uh I uh

I teach the French for seven years seven

years for

that for that I forget the language

there are block block on my head I um


right now I remember the vocabulary I

remember the sentences I remember the

grammar uh for that I'm here um good


yeah I think when you get your paper you

are going to teach uh quickly because uh

there p p of teacher yes there are many

one of the

point I don't want to teach to teach in

the school I want to teach in the

University because in Alo I I teach in

university is a big difference

uh difference between the

two teach what

French yes I have master degree


of I


for as a foreign language yeah second

language French as a second language

yes

okay me I have my degree in

literature yeah hey I forgot it I'm a

writer

also oh yes you're a writer yes


writer my third book in January can yes


my my third your third book yes


I'm are you I think oh

yeah

okay Kumba can you show us one of your

books

yes oh there it is it's right there


Le


imig is the

first the first book Le deser that's the

first book we'll we'll find

out I I wonder what kind of book it is

is it a children's book is it a book for

sorry sorry

sorry

sorry this the first one okay de


de translator is the word we can't find

it in the library uh you can find it

online on

Amazon

immigration I found it I here's the link

it's in the

chat the will be published in

January

great

congratulations you you show us

uh you show us

the your book

my I will show you right now my

hairdresser

[Laughter]

Kumba shares her book with us and Ruba

shares her hairdresser with

us

congratulations thank you

congratulations very I'm

proud to know people like you or person

like you

too very

very uh we come here with

our our knowledge

our degree

and I understand that when she said I

don't want to restart my study I

understand you look look this is my

hairdresser say

[Laughter]


hi okay I should leave you right now

okay see you the next week okay bye

everybody good to see you by everybody

see you tomorrow everybody okay

tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow next week

what happened tomorrow no no no no sorry


Monday I forget my

[Laughter]

mind

okay bye

bye


okay okay what is a duration of

the ah well usually it's about 45

minutes if you want we can end here okay

um and uh if you're available next week

at the same time that'd be great I'd be

very curious to learn more about your

book

um on on Amazon on Amazon Amazon and


Amazon

okay yes you can bring bring it Monday

good

idea can bring in her book it is in

French it is in French right so you're


I'm I'm just curious I'll I'll ask this

question and then I'll I'll let you go

because I'm sure you have other things

to do but your first book de it looks

like it's a it's it's a novel for adults

not a novel it is a Roman a Roman a

novel like a story the novel is shorter

than

Roma oh okay okay and then the one that

you showed us um about immigration is

that another both R both Roma okay very

nice okay I'm I'm looking forward to

learning more about them learning more

about France in France for you ni good

for is good for for you but for you we

are learning

English yeah that's true perfect but uh

we can you can learn

it the second is about immigrant

immigration clandestine immigration

illegal immigration illegal

immigration yes because in Africa you

know that yeah it is a

what happened in

Africa yes yes

yeah you are here I'm here yes I


listen first I listen and the second

time I you see

you okay next next week you'll be uh

saying a lot more then

but whether you participate or not it's

great to have you thank you so much for

joining it's Lov to

meet and what was your name it's not sh

that's your surname what's your first

name uh

Rim

okay you to meet I have it's easy to


pronounce Kima

Kima Kima it sounds like an ice cream

shop I have a colleague who name is

k

okay well have have a good weekend

everybody thank you for joining a good

weekend thank you for all everybody bye

bye bye bye how to H

up

hello hello

everybody Welcome to the linguistic


live I'm I'm pleased to see that U an

individual has already joined us

Ruba can I add you to this

conversation yes yes sure hello welcome

welcome you how are you I'm doing well

thank you how are you this this

afternoon I'm okay I'm okay and you I'm

I'm doing well thanks hello I hear some

people in the

background uh me it seems like a busy

house on your

end uh I don't uh play the camera I


think because I'm at

hairdresser ah no problem you're at the

hairdresser


oh that's funny so are you getting your

haircut in a special way is there a

special

occasion yes yes I will I will turn on

the camera but I know okay I

will there you

are yes I am I there you are hello hello


so you're you're getting uh are you are

you getting ready for a special event or

is this your no because the Christmas is

uh coming soon for that I make the color

of my hair oh yeah what what color is

your hair going to

be uh Fair blonde

blonde blonde yes blonde platin blonde

my

oh very blonde platinum blonde yeah yeah

wow

wow amazing and normally your hair is a

brown color brown color Yes Brown no

like you like me yeah oh that's funny

well great I'm I'm glad you you got an

appointment because that's not e

near

hairdresser yes yes


everybody

see I see the hairdresser doing some

work that's great

um we have we have somebody else who's

joined Kumba welcome Kumba hello hello

how are you I'm fine and you I'm doing

well thanks this is Ruba she's currently

at the hairdresser and she's dying her

hair blonde okay hi everyone hi Hi how

are you I think I uh I uh saw you um


yesterday yesterday yes I was you are FR

teacher too yes yes I'm a teacher teer


like like

look you

are you are between two FR teacher okay

you also you fren teacher or fren

teacher May right now I work another

team where is your head where is your

head hat

[Laughter]


your yes yes how are you today I'm fine

and you fine fine yesterday was very

amazing was very funny yes


yes yes okay how do you two know each

other you met yesterday we met yesterday

in sorry where did you meet uh at in the

conversation group oh okay excellent so

you're both at linguistic um to improve

your English yes yes yes

yes how was the conversation yesterday

were there a lot of people yes yesterday

I will send you the photo

because I don't have it I have it

I will uh I will send the

photo it was very I don't know how I can

send it right

now by chat you could you could send it

to the linguistic email and then we can

send it to Kumba I think

okay okay okay

okay yeah we'll find a way so when you

were at the conversation group somebody

took a photo of everyone

yes

yes oh Hamid took a photo of

everybody always happy always happy we

get very fun we

we he's he's always in a good mood yes

yes

yes yeah whenever I meet someone who's

always in a good mood I'm always a

little bit

suspicious there must be a time when

they just it all just comes down but

maybe not maybe Hamid is just

permanently yes he yes thank you very

very uh very funny yeah we had a a good

good time really with him interesting

time

yeah tell us about you me


no oh me you know what I'll tell you

something about me but first we have

another student who decided to join Dia

okay


hi I I guess you were part of the

conversation yesterday with Hamid yes

yes

great I how are

you fine and you fine fine thank you

doing well thank

you so I heard I heard yesterday

what's that

Ruba yes yes I

know yes Ruba is having her hair done

she's dying her hair the original color

is brown but she's dying it platinum

blonde for the

holidays Dia do do you ever dye your

hair yeah oh you do


right but do you know

uh doctor in the

hospital Doctor Who is a doctor


me Dia you're a doctor yeah yeah but in

my country not not here I see you will


you will be

hereo is is one of the reasons you're

practicing your English Dia so that you

can work as a doctor in

Quebec uh it's so difficult but I try it


okay there must be a lot of exams for

you to pass and complete the exams the

the exams in

English uh in English

wow in

English Okay do do you also have to

learn

French uh French I I did my uh formation

in

French okay so French is one of your

primary languages yeah yeah I see not

primary a second

uh my primary language is a

cab

Arabic Arab Arabic andab


okay Ruba and do you speak the same

language I speak Arabic I'm from Syria

okay I speak Arabic

uh I am right now I work as

secretary uh

is the group Gabriel group for the car

do you

know no I don't know what is it again

it's Gabriel group for the car for the


car

driving driving yeah no I I'm the

secretary of the

honor ah okay okay nice is it is it a

place that sells cars or that that

arranges

por porch

yeah


why I am my head

[Laughter]


I

okay you you have a nice

color thank you but I should make the


uh R it's it's not


good no when they

um the brushing when they make the

brushing for my hair will change the

color I went my hair dress to finish

another C then will be with me but it's


okay with you very happy I'm very happy

to meet you

here uh and me I put this uh once a year

uh just the white uh to cover the

white

hair once year

[Music]

maybe

yeah tell more about us where are you

from L myself I am I grew up in


Cyprus hi Cy

cus I have I have been there oh yeah in


in 20 uh 11 in

2011 great in in case you're unfamiliar

with the country Dia en Kumba it's a

it's an island in the

Mediterranean in the north there's

turkey in the south is Egypt Cypress is

a little island in the middle of the

Mediterranean and

it's it's like a Greek island we we

share a lot of our culture with Greece

there's name the name of the island

Cyprus French it's

sheep in Caribbean Island no it's not a

Caribbean Island it's it's like a Greek

island I can put it in the chat Cyprus

like

this that's how it's

written if you can see the

chat um but you know the girl in The


More Beautiful in the world the girl I

don't know why I

[Laughter]


left well there are lots of beautiful

women all over the world I'm happy to

report from my experience um so Ruba you

said you're from Syria yes and Dia where

do you come from Algeria Algeria okay

I'm from Algeria yeah I'm sure these are

things that you said yesterday in your

conversation group

yeah Kumba where are you from uh I'm

from Sagal seal is in the West Africa


near

Nigeria I me North Africa yes North

Africa M yes yeah nice and


I'm I'm I'm here since uh

2010 you've been here since 2010 okay I

study here

and now I'm teaching

French oh

excellent I'm currently trying to

improve my French my wife speaks French

so there's always an opportunity for me

to practice speaking but it's still a

challenge

yes it's so easy than than

English no it's easier than English


yeah

maybe very difficult very very difficult


yes very difficult yes the grammar of

the more difficult

than

mascul yes right yes yes I guess the

verbs are also more difficult in


you feel you feel the opposite way you

feel like English is harder to acquire

than

French okay yeah because I speak

French since I'm child I

see for that but the English should be

easy for you because you speak friend uh

it's so difficult for me I try but but


but I did

yeah right yes I think they same


vocabulary


pronunciation sometimes you even

discover a connection between a French

or English word and an Arabic word or

it's it's it's funny how that happens


yeah think in French and

me French and to translate in English

sometime is very difficult because

English is easier than French when you

think in French and you try to translate

yes and you try to translate it is very

difficult very

difficult cuz I it's not the same the

same because me I study in French French

is my first my first my official

language first official language I speak

my local

language but

uh I I found that English is

a more easy for Z

French more easy to understand

yes there are also lots of resources

online for English MH um I mean I

imagine you can also find resources for

French but English seems to really

dominate um YouTube for example a lot of

YouTube videos or Netflix a lot of shows

in

English which

language which language do I speak with

my wife we speak English it's sometimes

French sometimes

French

[Music]

good

well what do you say uh what do you say

say

uh you say speak something before before

me who's that me no


uh okay what is your

question we speak together I don't know

who speak with me I ah you hear sound


okay okay never mind never mind

yeah and now me what I do to help me

learning English is to put my phone in


English and good idea yes is a good idea

I know many word till I uh put my uh


language my phone in English and I try

to watch TV on English with a subtitle

me too but I I don't understand

anything Google Translate is my friend

now every time I take my phone to

translate what it helped me a

lot we try we try uh

see movies with my husband in English

but but I I don't understand really


really the American the American English

the pronunciation is so

difficult and uh when I began I I I make

many label in my uh house I put many

label in my uh in everything in my house

like uh the oven the table the print I I


I write word and I put it because I I I

I welcome class yeah and it is the

same

okay that's a good idea so you put

little labels all over your house yes

okay you can do it in in French also

it's a good idea or I'll just ask my

wife to work a little bit for me said

what's this what's this what's this like

a

child and Nick you are a

teacher yes I teach at um

I teach English at yeah okay

online no in person and then for

linguistic I create some online material

for the YouTube channel so if you visit

the YouTube channel and you watch a

video that's been published within the

last four months that's probably

something that I've made okay you

English yes an English teacher

yeah

exactly it's called laau

College it's downtown on St Catherine

Street if you've ever gone to Atwater

Metro or geek Concordia Metro it's

between those two stations okay okay I

ask you because my son is studying

in

okay school that's possible yeah what is

he studying uh he studied to be to

become a

nurse oh great we need more

nurses like you your son yes my


son it's hard work it's hard work isn't

it work very very hard work very


difficult Good Luck Good Luck Good Luck

like because is his choice I I had My my

what I have I had anything to to


say okay so it was just his idea to

become a nurse

yes

wow where did he get the

idea where did he get the idea why did

he want to become a nurse I don't know I

don't

know I don't know what what it it work

in the in teenager mind now I don't know


that's funny you can do it

Dia me yes uh I


think I can't I can't because I I I stud


I studied in in

Algeria 16 years uh

medicine I can't I can't

become

here 16

years medicine yes I know but to be to

enter I'm I'm I'm

the my specialty is infection disease

what infection

disase in

infe infectious diseases yes ah so so

your opinion would have been very useful

during the pandemic yeah say my my my


speciality very interesting we are the

first

line the H


yeah I can't it's so difficult I can't

become nurse here I can't I try uh I try


to learn English

to

to to do something

else

no my job not a

nurse your job to become doctor yeah

here it's very difficult here to become

doctor if you study uh AB

abroad I try

it I would try it so yeah on top of the


16 years in Algeria studying to become a

doctor now you have to do even more

years to teach in can sorry to uh to

work in

Canada and uh are you in the

process uh yes okay you are

yeah how how many more years will it

take if everything goes

well uh maybe

two oh okay you can do it only another

two years oh but it's a lot of studying

hey 16 plus

two I I would try it it's so difficult

but I I will try it how long has you

been here de H how long has you been

here two months two months okay yeah uh

I'm going to give you an advice

okay my my experience

okay uh go to study in the S to to be

nurse to begin your

career you are going to wait and you

lost

time uh

because

medicine is a very closed field

here very very closed you have to learn

here uh seven or eight year and to do

the exam of the order I don't know it is

a correct word order

medine yeah the order of nurses the

order okay it is very very a very close

field uh if I was you I'm going to

register in the S to do my

uh D EC CED

deck to become nurse and after you

continue otherwise you are going to lose

many many time me I I I I had master in

my

country M and I I start my uh High

degree uh uh stud uh studies in

University but when I come here I I got

a scholarship to come here when I come

here I I did my master in

ukam and and after after that I want to

be a teacher but they told me to do a

certificate certificate yes what

certificate

get because uh I had my I got my my my

degrees in uh okay in your country in my


country yeah okay I understand that

that's why every time they you to to do

uh to have a degree

here

okay is it is it easier uh Dia for you

to become a nurse at this point uh it's

easier but I can't I can't okay it seems

like it would be a different path uh

maybe maybe uh if I can't

um I can't do it here I will travel with

in other country maybe France or I can't


U stay here if

um right right we we feel like that

every every all all all immigrant Fields

have the feeling to to go back I don't

know to they took

to there's there's the feeling I can

that you want to move back to your home

Kumba no is that what you mean what do

you mean okay I for example you come

with your degree and uh uh when you


apply they tell you your degree is not

the the right one for example and you

feel

disappointed you understand what I

mean okay

but uh don't wait start your study and

uh go to study in the in the University

or in the S to have your degree your

degree from here and it help you very

well in your

career so don't give up keep studying

that's the message yes that's the

message that's the message today thank

you there you go thank you your advice

thank you

very someone else has joined chelum I

don't know if I'm saying that correctly

are you

there

[Music]

sh there I'm here

yes yes hello welcome were you part of

the conversation group yesterday as well

do you recognize these three

women uh well I practic the first time

uh to

listen um and the second time I will uh


speak because I haven't uh lot of words


for describing my uh

my

life I

understand

yes good morning good morning how are

you how good and you how are you fine

thank you I'm happy to uh to see you


thank you me

too how do you two know each

other I in

Les in lessons oh I see okay that's


good the course of conversation

together great okay it's very difficult

when you are acquiring a new language

because for a long time you're unable to

be yourself it seems like your

personality gets left behind a little

bit yes that's

it when as

as I began learning French I was very

frustrated because in English I have a

sense of humor but when I speak French

it's very difficult to make jokes to be

funny because I don't know what words to

use

exactly but uh I was surprised that you

know when I made an attempt it usually

worked

out so maybe it was all in my head but

anyway it can be a frustrating thing at

first that you you can't express

yourself as well as you'd like other

people don't really get to know you as

you would like to be

known


uh

so so I understand what you mean jum

when you say um you don't have enough

words to

describe um to describe your

life um it's a um I need some times for


uh do it okay you need to practice again

and again exactly okay you should start

practicing now tell us about your

[Laughter]

[Music]

life tell us where you're

from uh I am from

Algeria Ah that's how you that's why you

two were talking a little bit at the

beginning yes

okay did you ever meet each other in

Algeria did you know each other in

Algeria no no okay yeah very unlikely

but I thought I would ask the question

anyway Ruba I hope you don't mind I was

muting you a little bit because of the

noise in the hair

salon yes I make my my microphone muted


for the

noise around me right just


speak

his yes I

am how are you good thank

you I'm happy I'm happy to speak with


you me too me too I'm so happy to know a

person like you really really the group

very very nice group you should come

next

uh uh that's

right to make a to uh to show us life


you should

come like a big

family

yes H how long have you all been uh

taking classes with each

other what H how long have you uh been

in the same conversation group group

with each other uh two two weeks two

weeks okay me yesterday is my first one


oh it was your first class yesterday

okay yes no

I'm three

month wow three months three months I my


online

okay sorry Ruba I just muted you but

okay

uh the first time

uh online but I did online with Leona do

you know Leona Lea yes she's my

teacher my teacher

too very nice she is very


nice he talk with me like mother not

like

teach I love so

much he give us advice lot of

advice yes yes like Mom like Mom yes

like Mom I love her so much you should

you should be like

like like our

[Laughter]


father R I'm too young for that I


think I know have a beard

but it's not


white Lana will be your language mother

and I will be the language father

and the language the

language I mean the language

St oh my

goodness that's that's

fun

well do any of you listen to podcasts to

improve your English or do you find it's

a difficult way to uh

improve uh it's a difficult way to

improve

yet because for me for

me for

everybody for

everybody when the practice and the

vocabulary and yes and maybe a

pronunciation yeah pronunciation yes yes

a very big problem

pronunciation um we we must repeat every

day um uh some words and uh we we must


repeat rep

lot we have we have a course of

pronounce iation with Hamid the 13


January for three

hours uh it's I think it's a good idea

for three

hours Focus to the pronunciation and

practice I think it's a good idea that's

great I will

practice

particip good okay you plan on

participating you're going to

participate

yes okay the 13th of January at Saturday

9

A.M if you wanted to practice ahead of

that class did you know that the YouTube

channel has maybe 10 15 videos on

pronounciation

tips um I can uh share it with Hamid who

will send it to you or I can share it in

the WhatsApp group a link to the

videos if you think it will help

although I know it's always I think you

yes it's it's always more helpful to

practice in person with somebody else

but still a video can help with the


mood uh I don't know if they offer the

program like immersion no

immersion does does linguistic offer an

immersive course kind of English

immersion yes no I'm not sure I I mean

we should we should ask and uh find out

um I think it would be a good idea to do

that because

everybody tell me it is

the the best way to learn to learn a

language yes to be immersed completely

in the language completely you forget

your French your Arabic and only English


it's like being baptized yes completely

immersed in the new language you know I

I I found it very interesting when I

tried to immerse myself in French I

realized that part of the struggle is

the the challenge of letting go of your

other

language especially because I come from

a country where the main language is

Greek and when I began to immerse myself

in French I became a little angry I

thought why am I doing this I want to

speak Greek I don't want to speak French

so there was a bit of a psychological

battle I had to

fight yeah um but um I wonder if you


ever feel a kind of uh struggle like

that or if it's just a matter of

adjusting and you feel ready to adapt

and you're happy to adapt uh no Angry

very angry you are oh

okay me I love

English oh when I hear someone speaking

fluen English I'm uh come on on I'm

happy I I want to to to to speak like

that oh that's great you have this um

sense of motivation you really like the

idea of learning English Dia you're

struggling a bit more you're fighting a

battle yes and it is my on my list the

things I have to do before going away

passing

away okay now now you have to tell us

what else is on your

list what what are some other items on

your list okay to speak English Okay

friendly to

travel the world everywhere no not

everywhere at least 10 in 10 country

okay wow that's ambitious I want to take

my

retire

sooner okay to stop uh working teach


good good idea yes why no and think I

think this year I'm going to stop

teaching okay uh Ruba teacher

colleague hi colle how do you what do

you think about that you're going to

continue to teach or you stop you stop

no no I will uh I will make equivalent

for my master degree in um


uhal okay I will do the equalent for

work my right now I can't do it because

I

haven't right now I'm

the I'm not I haven't the final decision


of the tribal okay okay you should

I I should take this the approval of the


pral for continue my study in the

University

after that I will uh come back to the

university I will teach you the French

the French my PA of my life paent of my

life I want to continue this Pati you

know okay the teaching


is

mat difficult may very interesting

mat that the teaching profession

profession yes it's profession very

difficult but is very interesting


am this is my passion of my life I will

continue but right now I'm so happy in

my

work in my work I will try to improve my

English before I speak English very well

may I stop to speak because uh I uh

I teach the French for seven years seven

years for

that for that I forget the language

there are block block on my head I um


right now I remember the vocabulary I

remember the sentences I remember the

grammar uh for that I'm here um good


yeah I think when you get your paper you

are going to teach uh quickly because uh

there p p of teacher yes there are many

one of the

point I don't want to teach to teach in

the school I want to teach in the

University because in Alo I I teach in

university is a big difference

uh difference between the

two teach what

French yes I have master degree


of I


for as a foreign language yeah second

language French as a second language

yes

okay me I have my degree in

literature yeah hey I forgot it I'm a

writer

also oh yes you're a writer yes


writer my third book in January can yes


my my third your third book yes


I'm are you I think oh

yeah

okay Kumba can you show us one of your

books

yes oh there it is it's right there


Le


imig is the

first the first book Le deser that's the

first book we'll we'll find

out I I wonder what kind of book it is

is it a children's book is it a book for

sorry sorry

sorry

sorry this the first one okay de


de translator is the word we can't find

it in the library uh you can find it

online on

Amazon

immigration I found it I here's the link

it's in the

chat the will be published in

January

great

congratulations you you show us

uh you show us

the your book

my I will show you right now my

hairdresser

[Laughter]

Kumba shares her book with us and Ruba

shares her hairdresser with

us

congratulations thank you

congratulations very I'm

proud to know people like you or person

like you

too very

very uh we come here with

our our knowledge

our degree

and I understand that when she said I

don't want to restart my study I

understand you look look this is my

hairdresser say

[Laughter]


hi okay I should leave you right now

okay see you the next week okay bye

everybody good to see you by everybody

see you tomorrow everybody okay

tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow next week

what happened tomorrow no no no no sorry


Monday I forget my

[Laughter]

mind

okay bye

bye


okay okay what is a duration of

the ah well usually it's about 45

minutes if you want we can end here okay

um and uh if you're available next week

at the same time that'd be great I'd be

very curious to learn more about your

book

um on on Amazon on Amazon Amazon and


Amazon

okay yes you can bring bring it Monday

good

idea can bring in her book it is in

French it is in French right so you're


I'm I'm just curious I'll I'll ask this

question and then I'll I'll let you go

because I'm sure you have other things

to do but your first book de it looks

like it's a it's it's a novel for adults

not a novel it is a Roman a Roman a

novel like a story the novel is shorter

than

Roma oh okay okay and then the one that

you showed us um about immigration is

that another both R both Roma okay very

nice okay I'm I'm looking forward to

learning more about them learning more

about France in France for you ni good

for is good for for you but for you we

are learning

English yeah that's true perfect but uh

we can you can learn

it the second is about immigrant

immigration clandestine immigration

illegal immigration illegal

immigration yes because in Africa you

know that yeah it is a

what happened in

Africa yes yes

yeah you are here I'm here yes I


listen first I listen and the second

time I you see

you okay next next week you'll be uh

saying a lot more then

but whether you participate or not it's

great to have you thank you so much for

joining it's Lov to

meet and what was your name it's not sh

that's your surname what's your first

name uh

Rim

okay you to meet I have it's easy to


pronounce Kima

Kima Kima it sounds like an ice cream

shop I have a colleague who name is

k

okay well have have a good weekend

everybody thank you for joining a good

weekend thank you for all everybody bye

bye bye bye how to H

up

 
 
 

Opmerkingen


Contact us

administration@languistic.ca

+1-514-210-9280

7275 Sherbrooke Street East, Unit 2217, Montreal, Quebec (On the 2nd floor of Place Versailles Mall, right beside Radisson Metro Station)

We accept students worldwide for online classes!

Join our community & receive special offers

Thanks for submitting!

© 2021 Languistic.ca

emploi_quebec_logo-removebg-preview.png

Accredited by

Formateur agréé par la Commission des partenaires du marché du travail aux fins de l’application de la Loi favorisant le développement et la reconnaissance des compétences de la main-d’œuvre.

Follow Us On:

  • YouTube
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
bottom of page