A 1958 classroom where Greek, Italian, Japanese kids wrestle English into submission. No villains, pure humanity.
This film observes, in a Montréal public school, the teaching of English to immigrant children. To thousands of children arriving in Canada from Greece, Italy, France, Germany or Japan, English is "a foreign language." Under able coaching they begin to understand and even enjoy the vagaries of the English language.
Direction
Jackson's invisible hand — no narration, just patient, radical observation.
Editing
Candid Eye style: real time, real kids, no manufactured drama.
Director
Stanley Jackson
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of the NFB's Candid Eye series, this helped invent direct cinema — vérité before it was cool.
These classrooms were Canada's postwar integration engine; the film captures assimilation's human cost without judging it.
CA
