June 21 marked an important event for students in the Groupe adapté de développement des compétences langagières (GADCL) at Arthur-Pigeon school. The long-awaited launch day of their book, Le Délire de Dan le peureux, had arrived.
The in-person press conference announcing the launch was attended by the student authors themselves, as well as by members of the community, teachers, school administration, partners from the Carrefour jeunesse emploi Huntingdon (CJE) and Zel communication, as well as Huntingdon MNA Claire IsaBelle, Mirelle Théoret (constituency assistant for MP Claude DeBellefeuille), members of the press, and Sylvain Blouin, editor and illustrator for the project.
The fruit of many months of work, this book offers readers the opportunity to choose their own ending. It was written by the students, and organized with help from their teacher, Stéphanie Lefebvre. The students were lucky to have regular visits and workshops with Blouin, who helped guide their creative process.
“I helped with the technical aspect of the book and together we became a team,” said Blouin. “I am so very proud of this book, and I want to thank the students for working so hard.” Speaking to the students, he added, “It was easy for me to illustrate the book because of your amazing creativity.”
This project was the brainchild of Lefebvre and Marilou Demers from CJE Huntingdon. The students in the GADCL struggle with language development and this project became a way to motivate them and ultimately helped them to engage more with their French classes.
“The students didn’t believe they’d be able to write a book,” said Demers. “In spite of their difficulties, they surpassed themselves and succeeded,” she added.
Speaking to her students, Lefebvre exuded pride and happiness. “I am so proud of you,” she said. What she hopes the students will retain from this experience is that they can do anything they set their minds to.
“I also hope that the community sees that our students can be an important part of society in spite of their difficulties,” she added.
Given the difficult year the students and teachers have gone through, the press conference also offered the opportunity for school principal Dominic Tremblay and Demers to highlight the high level of dedication and the amazing work ethic shown by Lefebvre. “I have a young daughter, and I can only hope that she will have a teacher like Stéphanie. She goes above and beyond for her students,” said Demers.
Le Délire de Dan le peureux can be bought via the Editions Exclamation website, editionsexclamation.ca, for the cost of $20. Three dollars from every sale will be given to the GADCL class to help purchase class-appropriate learning materials.
