For spouses of Canadian Forces (CF) members, moving to a new community can often be a challenging experience. Not being familiar with the local language adds to the difficulty of adjusting to that new environment. Spouses may have a tough time meeting new friends and looking for work and their children may find it hard adjusting to new schools. Families can often feel isolated and alone.

Military Family Resource Centres (MFRC) are working hard to alleviate this situation by making it easier for families to integrate into the communities by offering universal second language training (SLT) courses. Available at most bases, wings and units, more than 500 courses have been offered since September 2000 and 3,500 spouses have taken advantage of the service.

Most CF locations in Canada Europe and the U.S. are also offering retention classes and tutoring when classes are not available. There are even pilot projects in place for youth and the Director of Military Family Services (DMFS) is working on computer-based training and Virtual SLT courses. This high profile initiative is going a long way in breaking those barriers and bringing about a real change.

The new service is making a big difference. Spouses are now becoming more active within the community. It’s even been reported that some spouses have elected to be volunteers – helping others who are experiencing the same difficulties. The spouses are immensely proud of having taken the initiative to learn English and are sharing their accomplishments with others in their military community.

As well, DMFS is now working to expand SLT to include teaching foreign languages. Pilot projects for Italian and German are now underway in Europe. Members of the CF community can contact their local MFRC for information about where the training is offered and how to enroll.