Parent and author, Rae Ann Fera, shares her experience via CBC on being a unilingual anglophone with a child in French and this important tip from her daughter’s grade 4 teacher: “Help them feel ownership”  Read more.  

Ministry of Education sponsored website: FSL Homework Toolbox has tips, resources on homework terminology, strategies for supporting student reading, writing and math at home and much more.  

Supporting learning French at home and in the community, helps your child develop proficiency. Canadian Parents for French and the Ministry of Education provide a searchable web data base to help students, parents and teachers find French events, tours, exchanges and post-secondary learning opportunities near home, in the community and beyond. Check out frenchstreet.ca in both official languages!

Minister of Education Mitzie Hunter announced the government’s commitments to ensuring an adequate and growing supply of French Second Language teachers at the Canadian Parents for French Symposium on October 28, 2017. This collaborative approach to the supply, recruitment and retention of French teachers will involve the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development as well as provincial agencies involved in Francophone immigration.

Actions will include targeted promotion of French teacher jobs, improvements to FSL teaching career paths and support for current FSL teachers. The Ministry of Education is already at work creating a supply and demand model that will be more responsive to emerging teacher supply issues in all areas of specialization. A new Ministry Working Group is being formed on FSL teacher supply and parents will be represented by Canadian Parents for French Ontario.

 CPF Ontario press release. 

Minister Hunter’s Remarks and Q & A at the CPF Symposium.

When it comes to learning a second language, listening is really important. If students hear it, they can say it. If they can say it, they can read it. And if students can read it, they can write it.

 À l’Écoute is a series of 110 video capsules that are for classroom and home use. The first series is “Un Jour, Une Question” (One day, One question). For example, one of the videos in the series is “Pourquoi avons-nous besoin des abeilles?” (Why do we need bees?). It is a 1m42s animation video that is suitable for children ages 10-17 with a French proficiency level of A1/A2 on the CEFR.

 At home, your child can watch the videos and a parent can support the activity just like you would with reading. Open up the IDÉLLO website and watch a video of interest on À l’Écoute. Ask your child to tell you about the video and ask what he/she thought was going to happen and why. Ask for favourite words from the video. For more independent, older children, get them started and then, follow-up with an open ended question – like “what was that all about?”. The videos introduce all kinds of subjects. A good next step is to open the TDSB Virtual Library in French to find more information about whatever caught your child’s imagination. The Toronto Public Library also has an on-line French selection. 

Get started by signing up for a free account. It is all educational material, created and vetted by Ontario educators!

IDÉLLO is the part of our Ontario French public broadcaster, Groupe Média TFO, that supports learning in French. The IDÉLLO creative team is working with the French Second Language (FSL) educators at the Ministry to create and share resources that support the Ontario FSL Curriculum with content that is current and relevant to students. They are also doing presentations to teachers across Ontario to put these resources into classrooms. 

CEFR is short for the Common European Framework of Reference. It provides a common basis to describe language proficiency that is used all over the world in many, many languages. It helps us get past that sticky word ‘bilingual’ which means so many different things in so many different situations.

 The CEFR uses ‘can do’ statements that move through a progression from “I can use simple phrases” all the way to “I can present a clear, smoothly-flowing argument in a style appropriate to the context”. The areas of proficiency are understanding (listening and reading), speaking (interaction and production) and writing. Level A is basic (beginner), B is independent (intermediate) and C is proficient (advanced). Each level has many sublevels with 1 or 2 being the most commonly used.   

 An intermediate or B 2 is the usual requirement for doing post-secondary studies in French, in a French college or university and is the highest level tested in a secondary school setting.

DELF is short for Diplôme d'études en langue française. Learners challenge a DELF exam at the CEFR level they choose, in consultation with their French teacher. If they pass, they receive the diploma for that level. It includes oral and written assessments. The Ministry of Education is funding students from across Ontario to challenge the DELF. Research summary here.

 In 2018, 52 TDSB students from core, extended and immersion French will have the opportunity to participate. The TDSB currently has 15 French teachers who are trained examiners or ‘Correcteurs’ and is funding an additional 15 to go through the training this year in order to grow capacity, not just in administering the DELF but also in classroom practice. Deeper knowledge of the CEFR through the DELF is very important to full implementation of the new Ontario core, extended and immersion French curriculum which is heavily influenced by the CEFR and its focus on authentic communication.

 CEFR info and DELF FAQs here.

On November 15, 2017, the Government of Ontario put forward legislation to create the first French language university in Ontario. It is expected to be in the Toronto area and programs will be in the broad areas of human plurality, urban environment, globalized economy and digital cultures. Ryerson and OCAD have already indicated interest in partnering to expand opportunities for their Francophone and Immersion/Extended French students to do elective courses in their areas of study in French at the new university. The new university is also expected to offer opportunities to develop professional level French proficiency. News release.