Speak like a native

Language school proprietor takes a
practical approach to language teaching

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Jonathan Sullivan

Age: 32

Occupation: Proprietor of Dojo Linguistique

Bio: This loquacious Verdun stud had just graduated from Concordia with a biology degree and was busy slaving away in a laboratory when it finally dawned on him that perhaps he’d never been all that crazy about biology in the first place. Encouraged by friends who were teaching English in Asia and totally digging it, Jonathan started applying for similar gigs “and the Force must have been with me, ’cause two months later I was teaching in Japan.” Spending the next several years going back and forth between Montreal and Asia, teaching both French and English in a variety of environments, in 2005, “while trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life,” Jonathan came to the conclusion “that I’d start my own language school in Montreal—and do it better than anybody else.” And so, almost two years later, in September ’07, Dojo Linguistique was born. If you’re looking to perfect your French or English skills and figure Jonathan’s method is the way for you to go, you can get more details at www.dojolinguistique.com.

What’s the deal with the Dojo angle? Is Dojo some new-fangled language instruction gimmick from Japan that everyone should know about? Not even close. “Officially, what we do is ‘task-based learning’—instead of approaching a client with a pre-designed curriculum, we prepare an individualized program for them. Let’s say there’s a specific task a student must do in a second language at their work place—for example, presenting a business proposal. With our method, we listen to their presentation and target what needs to be developed further, targeting the grammar, vocabulary and the expressions that will allow this person to give a presentation that is as strong in French as it is in their native English. A lot of it’s coaching, doing the presentation repeatedly, continually fine-tuning it. And what you find with this method is that the grammar and language skills you learn for this presentation really stick with you, if only because you went over it so many times.”

How many Dojo language lessons will it take before the pur laine of this province start considering me, a guy whose roots in this province go back about 200 years, Québécois? “All I can say is if you want to be really good within three months, we’ll be meeting with you for one-hour sessions about three times a week—or every day if you really want. But it still takes a while to lose your accent.”

How many lessons before I can get a job in the provincial civil service? “Do you know the stats on how many anglos have jobs in the provincial government? Let’s just say it will take a bit of practice.”

How many lessons before Gilles Rhéaume and his friends stop hating me? “I think if you put the effort into speaking French, nobody is going to hate you. So much of it is about making an effort.”

Last book read: After the Quake, by Haruki Murakami.

Musical preferences: Feist, White Stripes, Elliott Smith.

Childhood ambition: To become a marine biologist.

Words of wisdom: “I don’t believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.”

Comments: dimwit@hdot.net