Showcase meeting 2 – Tuesday, January 31, 2023

PRESENTATIONS

Sherry Jones, Staff Officer, Professional and French Language Services, Manitoba Teachers’ Society (MTS)

Promoting the profession: encouraging high school and middle-year students in Manitoba to consider a career teaching in French

French immersion graduates who are taking their post-secondary programs in French, promote the advantages of pursuing studies in French and choosing a career in teaching. The largest teachers’ union in Manitoba established this three-year project with the aim to increase the number of graduates of French immersion programs who enroll in post-secondary programs in French – more specifically teaching.

Corinne Labelle, Coordinator of Marketing and Membership, and Marie-France Gaumont (video), Consultant, Canadian Association of Immersion Professionals (ACPI)

The Great Tour

The Great Tour (La Grande virée) is a cross-Canada tour – from coast to coast – aboard a caravan sporting the Teacher 5 étoiles’ campaign colours. The team met with high school students in French immersion, as well as university students studying Education, to promote careers in French immersion. Over a 2-year period, the Teacher 5 étoiles team reached-out to young people and professionals in the field, connecting school boards with qualified candidates, young high school graduates interested in the profession, and university students who have chosen to turn to French immersion education.

Laurent Camarata, Professor and Researcher, Campus Saint-Jean, University of Alberta

Research on issues related to student retention in French Immersion and Francophone minority settings in Canada

This project, which is being conducted in partnership with Canadian Parents for French and funded by the Association des Collèges et Universités de la Francophonie Canadienne (ACUFC), focuses on parents of students who are thinking about withdrawing or who have already withdrawn their child from French immersion programs/or French schools in a minority setting. The study also looks at the experiences of teachers and administrators, who accompany families considering a change of program or school for their child, to gather their perspectives on the issue.