Successful Initiatives 181 
     
    
   
   
    
     All our schools, with the exception of the three convents in Tignish, Miscouche 
     
     and Rustico (all under the direction of the sisters of the Congregation of Notre 
     
     Dame in Montreal), are directed by lay men and women with teacher’s certifi- 
     
     cates from the Normal School in Charlottetown. Their training in teaching as 
     
     well as their language training leave much to be desired. Acadian men and 
     
     women have to take exactly the same course as English-language candidates. 
     
     It is true that all our teachers, without exception, have to take French classes 
     
     for at least two years. But these classes are limited to studying grammar, a bit 
     
     of translation and, to make matters more preposterous, the grammar textbook 
     
     is written in English, as are all the explanations. Therefore, it is scarcely of any 
     
     use to French-speaking students. That is the weakest point in the organization 
     
     of teaching French in our tiny province. (TR)* 
     
    
   
   
    
     As we have seen, the speech by the Island delegate had happy 
     
     consequences. Several French-Canadian organizations, sympathetic to 
     
     the Islanders’ predicament helped the Acadian Teachers’ Association 
     
     organize summer courses for its members. In 1938, the nationalist 
     
     newspaper, Le Devoir, even launched a subscription campaign to collect 
     
     the funds required for financing the courses. As a result, for ten years, 
     
     very competent French-Canadian professors came to the Island to 
     
     teach the two-week-long summer courses. They were sent by the 
     
     following groups: the Comité permanent de la survivance francaise, the 
     
     Société Saint-Jean Baptiste in Montreal, the Alliance des professeurs 
     
     catholiques de Montréal and the Quebec Department of Education. 
     
     The P.E.I. Department of Education also helped finance the courses“. 
     
    

    
     These summer courses took place in Miscouche in 1940 and the 
     
     majority of the Acadian teachers enrolled. Four professors from 
     
     Quebec and Ontario gave courses on French parsing, composition 
     
     and grammar. Another course focussed on how to teach beginners to 
     
     read. The summer sessions proved to be very useful: back in their 
     
     classrooms, teachers tried to put into practice their newly acquired 
     
     skills*®. For the first time, Acadian teachers on the Island had the 
     
     opportunity to perfect their French education and pedagogical training 
     
     in their mother tongue. 
     
    
   
   
    
     ADULT EDUCATION 
     
     Throughout this period attention was given to adult education. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The temperance societies which had played such an important role 
     
     in this area lost their momentum at the turn of century. But after