Evidence of meeting #79 for Official Languages in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was teachers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:30 p.m.
Director of Communications, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
No, the FCFA does not have that presence because that is not its mandate. However, we promote it to partner organizations by working, for example, with the Association des universités de la francophonie canadienne.
As we mentioned earlier, we also work with organizations such as Canadian Youth for French and Canadian Parents for French to promote the importance of this issue, the fact that French should have a greater presence on campuses.
4:30 p.m.
President, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
He answered the question that was posed. We work for the same organization.
4:30 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers
The Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers began in the early 1970s, so we're over 40 years old. It was created out of a grassroots movement of teachers trying to work in French, teach in French, without any educational material or professional development. This is how it began. Today we're still doing it. We try to provide our new teachers with professional development, professional training, professional information, dissemination of research so that they can apply it in their school rooms, and educational and pedagogical materials.
That's basically our first mandate, to help teachers do and improve their job. Our mission is to promote excellence in teaching a second language. We do this for French and English, but we do it for other languages as well. We had a conference at the end of April in Winnipeg where, of the nine streams that we have for our conference, one was totally dedicated to aboriginal languages. We try to promote aboriginal languages as well. We try to exchange best practices in education at that level. We also have multi...Japanese, Spanish, and German as well, but our main focus is French and English.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
May 7th, 2013 / 4:35 p.m.
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
First of all, I want to thank you for being here, Ms. Kenny. I have not previously had the time to say hello to you, but it is always a pleasure to see you again. That is also the case for you, Mr. Leclair, of course.
I am going to make a brief comment before moving on to my questions.
I very much appreciated Mr. Galipeau's impassioned tirade in favour of Radio-Canada, and I find it somewhat unfortunate that this passionate defence comes so late now that we have seen all the budget cuts being made at Radio-Canada. I find it is too little too late.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Mr. Chair, I did not think I was causing a commotion. Pardon me.
So to come back to the subject of the study, Mr. Leclair, we have—
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Mr. Galipeau raised his voice against Ms. Michaud. She is entitled to make her comments. There have been budget cuts at Radio-Canada.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Yes, but Ms. Michaud has the floor. We must respect that.
Ms. Michaud, you have the floor.
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
I hope all that does not reduce my speaking time. Thank you very much.
So, Mr. Leclair, I was coming to one of my questions.
In recent meetings, we have heard from a lot of people who have told us a little about the situation and about the challenges experienced by second-language and immersion teachers in the rural and more remote regions. I imagine you have an overview of the country. We have snapshots of small regions, but I would like to hear your views on those challenges that immersion teachers might be facing in remote regions and how the federal government could assist them.
4:35 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers
As I said, the association reacts to the needs of its members, and teachers in the remote regions are obviously facing quite significant challenges.
First, we often encounter the situation in which a teacher is teaching mathematics, for example. Since he speaks French, however, he winds up teaching French without having the pedagogical knowledge to teach second languages. In many cases, these are teachers who live entirely in an anglophone environment, in an anglophone administration in which staff are also anglophone. This person is thus the only individual who is bilingual or who speaks French. He or she has very little immersion contact and, as we know, you really have to be in contact with the language in order to be able to maintain it. So there are challenges of that kind, such as the challenge of access to educational resources related to professional training.
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
When you talked a little earlier about an additional professional training need for second-language teachers, were you referring to those teachers?
4:35 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers
Yes, indeed.
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
I imagine there are generally other needs for people in urban centres. Could you clarify your thinking on that point?
4:35 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers
Needs do vary across the regions.
In urban centres, good knowledge of the language and teaching methods are also fundamentally important. However, training in interculturalism and cultural or multicultural knowledge is important. We often suggest that teachers stimulate students' curiosity about other languages. If someone speaks Arabic or Japanese, why not make presentations on the subject and talk about those languages. Languages are not big ferocious monsters. The idea is really to talk about that and play with it. There are a lot of inclusion and diversity problems that are part of the broader issue in the major urban centres.
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Thank you very much.
My question is for both Mr. Leclair and Ms. Kenny.
I want to go back to a point that seems to cause some confusion, or that at least requires more of an explanation.
You talked a little earlier about the need to adopt a common framework of reference. However, if I rely on the information I have here, you are basing your remarks mainly on the Common European Framework of Reference. From what I understand, you would like a similar framework to be adopted here in Canada.
What are the benefits of that framework? How does it work and how could we adapt it here?
Ms. Kenny may also want to comment on the subject afterward.
4:40 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers
The first thing that a common framework does is standardize the terminology of second-language teaching, learning and evaluation. In other words, everyone is talking about the same thing. That is the first benefit.
Currently, the French language outcomes of a British Columbia high school graduate cannot be compared to those of a student from Newfoundland and Labrador. They are completely different. What we want is to establish a standard so that the level is virtually the same for all high school graduates.
4:40 p.m.
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
The provinces and territories would nevertheless be free to adapt teaching methods and content?
4:40 p.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers
Yes, you have to be flexible, based on the needs and realities of each.
4:40 p.m.
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
There would be basic objectives.
You want a mark of 75% on an exam to mean the same thing in all provinces and territories. Is that in fact what you are trying to accomplish?
