Project Overview

This project aims to strengthen FSL teachers’ linguistic and pedagogical competencies resulting in a stronger sense of self-efficacy among teachers in French immersion and second-language programs, in both urban and rural settings. The activities improve the delivery of these programs by ensuring teachers are confident in their knowledge and abilities and will result in a lower rate of teacher turnover in French immersion and second-language programs.

To attenuate some of the key issues FSL teachers struggle with, CASLT is developing two instructor-led streams for FSL teachers in the K-12 context. One stream, comprised of two courses, is on second-language pedagogy and the other stream, comprised of three courses, is to improve French-language proficiency. Each course, for both streams, takes place twice per week for six weeks and is delivered in English and French. All courses will be adapted for asynchronous delivery on the CASLT CoLab website.

In addition, to help FSL teachers combat isolation and enhance their confidence, CASLT is establishing communities of practice. The organization is hosting online community-building events to provide opportunities for teachers to share and reflect on their pedagogical practice while improving their French-language proficiency.

Throughout this project the organization is adding the following to the teacher support section of the website: strategies for improving French-language proficiency; second-language pedagogy tools; information and articles on challenges facing second-language teachers; and a guide on how to find, establish, and maintain communities of practice.

Finally, to maximize the impact of the project and to reach teachers at a national level, the organization is undertaking a promotional campaign leveraging CASLT’s newsletter, Twitter, Facebook, CASLT’s website, email blasts, mail-outs, teacher conferences, etc. In 2021–2022, the engagement data was impressive with 20,000 social media impressions linked to promotional content.