Harman Patil (Editor)

Explore (education)

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Explore, Destination Clic, and Odyssey are three educational exchange programs administered by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) and funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage to promote bilingualism in Canada.

CMEC is a coordinating body for the various provincial education ministries. It operates these educational exchange programs with funding assistance from the federal Department of Canadian Heritage.

The Summer Language Bursary Program (later Explore) was created in 1971 by the Government of Canada. This was joined by the Programme de bourses d’été pour francophones hors Québec (PBEFHQ; meaning "Summer bursary program for French-speakers outside of Quebec"; now Destination Clic) in 1977.

Explore provides bursaries for students to travel for 5 weeks to another province and immerse themselves in one of Canada's two official languages (English and French). Summer programs for language learning predate the bursaries but are now considered the main source for most students who attend them. Explore is offered during the spring or summer for people with any skill level in their second language. Explore participants are awarded a bursary that covers tuition fees for the course, instructional materials, meals, and accommodation. They will discover another region of Canada while learning French in classes adapted to your language level. Through classroom instructions, workshops, sociocultural activities, and field trips, they will not only improve their language skills, but discover the culture of a new region as well, all while exploring, meeting new people from across the country, and exchanging ideas in a stimulating environment perfect for learning their second language.

Destination Clic provides bursaries for francophone youth (grades 8 and 9) to practice their French in another region of Canada.

Odyssey provides a salary for Canadians to work as a language assistant working in a school. Members of the program teach their first (or stronger) language to learners from another language group. Under the supervision of a teacher, they will use games and other activities on a daily basis to motivate students to learn more about their second language. Language assistants will have the opportunity to share their culture, drawing from personal experiences.

References

Explore (education) Wikipedia