Share the beauty of la langue française: The OCSB is looking for innovative French teachers
When French teachers Amélie Roy and Josette Bosc applied to work at the Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB), they were as excited to instil their love of the language in students as they were to join a school board that places a strong value on offering high quality bilingual education. Nearly two decades later, in their roles as the board’s French as a Second Language (FSL) educational consultants, Roy and Bosc now help to welcome and support other French teachers through professional development so they can effectively meet the needs of their students. As both the OCSB and Ottawa grow, and parents increasingly value opportunities for bilingual education, the board’s focus on quality programming becomes even more important.
“This is an environment of collaboration, innovation and support,” says Bosc who is also the president of the Ontario Modern Language Teachers’ Association. “The board, as a whole, values bilingual education and makes it a priority by dedicating resources and professional development for French teachers.”
Adds Roy about working at the OCSB, “It’s the whole package. We’re not just a large, successful educational institution, we are also a family where we care for each other and support one another.”
All of the OCSB’s schools have the same French pathway options, which allows students to stay in their neighbourhood schools. Its early French Immersion kindergarten program features play-based learning in equal amounts of French and English. In Grades 1 to 3, meanwhile, students receive a quarter day of instruction in French. From Grades 4 to 12, students can choose between French Immersion or Extended/Core French pathways.
Students in the Immersion pathway are offered subject courses taught in French such as Social Studies, Religion, Science, History, Geography and Philosophy. All students in the Extended pathway also receive some subject instruction in French. This structure, aside from being effective for learners, allows FSL teachers to teach French as a language as well as a variety of subjects in French.
“I recently spoke with a colleague who is Francophone, and she told me that just because you speak French doesn’t mean you want to exclusively teach French language classes,” says Bosc. “At the OCSB, you can teach in your language but you can teach a subject you are passionate about in French.”
Before French teachers even step into the classroom, the board, which hires both Francophones and Francophiles, implements supportive measures. Jean-François Bélanger is the OCSB’s manager of Human Resources. He says one of the board’s most important supports for new hires is the New Teacher Induction Program. It focuses on preparing teachers to effectively navigate the education system and gives them the tools to become better educators. This is also where Roy and Bosc come in as FSL educational consultants; they often meet with teachers to provide classroom and curriculum support, implement board and Ministry of Education initiatives, and discuss professional goals.
“There are many ways we are helping teachers to achieve their goals in the classroom,” says Bélanger. “Our educational consultants work with principals and vice-principals to help them in supporting FSL teachers, and recently we held a professional development day designed to specifically assist French teachers.”
Professional development days, consisting of workshops and keynote speakers, are an opportunity for the OCSB’s French teachers to network with their counterparts from other schools. Networking opportunities are then extended beyond the OCSB as French teachers are encouraged to join external professional bodies such as the Ontario Modern Language Association and through the OCSB’s involvement with the Eastern Ontario Staff Development Network (EOSDN). A consortium of Eastern Ontario District School Boards and the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University, EOSDN facilitates professional learning and collegial sharing to improve student achievement.
“When you are starting your teaching career, the wide range of curricular and classroom demands can be a learning curve, so we want to give teachers as many tools as possible and want them to know they are a valued part of the team,” says Roy.
With Canada facing a shortage of French educators, the OCSB is currently conducting hiring interviews on a monthly basis. Bélanger says if an applicant is successful, it is possible to fasttrack the hiring process to ensure the OCSB’s students continue to receive the highest levels of French language instruction. Current staff members include professionals from a variety of universities, regions and provinces. This, says Bélanger, also further speaks to the board’s diversity.
“You’re not only working with people who grew up in Ottawa but with people from around the world to create our family and community,” he says.
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