{"id":1532,"date":"2026-07-07T16:12:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T20:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fondationgracedart.com\/?p=1532"},"modified":"2026-07-13T16:33:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T20:33:46","slug":"the-grace-dart-foundation-celebrates-lasalle-dd-50-centres-first-fasttrack-french-graduates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fondationgracedart.com\/fr\/2026\/07\/07\/the-grace-dart-foundation-celebrates-lasalle-dd-50-centres-first-fasttrack-french-graduates\/","title":{"rendered":"La Fondation Grace Dart c\u00e9l\u00e8bre les premiers dipl\u00f4m\u00e9s du programme FASTTrack French du Centre LaSalle D&D 50+"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\"LaSalle
LaSalle D&D 50+ Centre, FASTTrack French Graduates, June 17, 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"The
The first cohort of students celebrate. Seated with them, far left: Diane Doonan, vice-president of the LaSalle D&D 50+ Centre; far right, Alex Pitcher, activity program co-ordinator and one of the facilitators of the Fast Track French program. Tim Snow \/ Montreal Gazette<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Diane
Diane Doonan, vice-president of the LaSalle D&D 50+ Centre, adjusts Patricia Hernandez's cap before the start of the graduation ceremony. \"Our seniors, you have no idea how eager they are \u2014 and always have been \u2014 to speak French,\" she said. (Tim Snow \/ Montreal Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Graduates
Graduates including Keith Howell, centre, at a ceremony at the LaSalle D&D 50+ Centre. Tim Snow \/ Montreal Gazette<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>
\"Gloria
Gloria Sandy, a 78-year-old retired nurse, dances her way to the front of the room to accept her diploma. Tim Snow \/ Montreal Gazette<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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The Grace Dart Foundation is proud to celebrate the success of the FASTTrack French program at LaSalle D&D 50+ Centre and the inspiring community response it has generated across Montreal (see media below).<\/span><\/h5>

Recognizing a growing need among older adults to communicate more confidently in French, LaSalle D&D 50+ Centre<\/strong> developed the FASTTrack French initiative and received funding support from the Grace Dart Foundation to bring the program to life. The inaugural session launched in 2025 and culminated in a joyful graduation ceremony on June 17, 2026, where the program\u2019s first cohort proudly received their diplomas.<\/p>

The graduation celebration featured heartfelt remarks from Diane Doonan, Vice-President of LaSalle D&D 50+, Alex Pitcher, Program Coordinator, and each of the graduates, who shared a few words in French and reflected on their learning journey. Jennifer Bradley, Managing Director of the Grace Dart Foundation, addressed the graduates with words of congratulations and encouragement, recognizing the determination, confidence, and commitment they have demonstrated since the program\u2019s launch.<\/p>

FASTTrack French<\/strong> is a practical, situation-based language program designed to help older adults gain the confidence and skills needed to communicate in French during everyday activities across Quebec. Through real-life scenarios, the program makes learning relevant, useful, and immediately applicable to participants\u2019 daily lives.<\/p>

The FASTTrack French Program for Seniors is offered free of charge at LaSalle D&D 50+ Centre.<\/p>

To learn more about the program<\/b>,\u00a0click here<\/a>\u00a0or visit\u00a0LaSalle D&D 50+ Centre on Facebook<\/a>
<\/em>To register<\/strong>, call 438-882-7771 or email alex.p@lasalledd50.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Local Media Coverage<\/h5>
\u00a0\u00a0The Gazette |<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>June 22, 2026<\/div>
It\u2019s never too late to learn French<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/i><\/span>Graduates from an
innovative language program are busting myths about anglophones.<\/i><\/span><\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
\u00a0\u00a0The Suburban<\/span>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span><\/span>July 1, 2026
Seniors on the fast track to learning French<\/a><\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
\u00a0\u00a0Radio-Canada<\/span>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span><\/span>2 juillet 2026
Cours de fran\u00e7ais pour a\u00een\u00e9s (Le 15-18)<\/a><\/div><\/div>

Entrevue avec Joy Ibrahim, Centre LaSalle D&D 50+ (8 min)<\/p><\/div><\/div>

\u00a0 CBC Listen 88.5 |\u00a0<\/span>July 3, 2026
LaSalle seniors take part in community centre French class<\/a>
<\/span>Interview with Joy Ibrahim, LaSalle D&D 50+ (8 mins)<\/div><\/div>
\u00a0<\/div>
\u00a0\u00a0CJAD 800 |\u00a0<\/span>July 5, 2026
This LaSalle-based group is offering seniors free French classes<\/a>
<\/span><\/div>

Interview with Diane Doonan,\u00a0<\/span>LaSalle D&D 50+ (13 mins)<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

La Fondation Grace Dart est fi\u00e8re de souligner le succ\u00e8s du programme FASTTrack French du Centre LaSalle D&D 50+ ainsi que l'enthousiasme qu'il suscite au sein de la communaut\u00e9 montr\u00e9alaise.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fondationgracedart.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fondationgracedart.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fondationgracedart.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fondationgracedart.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fondationgracedart.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1532"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/fondationgracedart.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1566,"href":"https:\/\/fondationgracedart.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1532\/revisions\/1566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fondationgracedart.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fondationgracedart.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fondationgracedart.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}