At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Education Minister Dominic Cardy said the department had adopted 18 of the 24 recommendations to improve second language learning. The recommendations were contained in a report by two commissioners appointed to review the law on official languages. “These recommendations are in line with a variety of work in progress at the department for some time,” Cardy said Wednesday, noting that the report’s findings echo comments the department has heard from students, educators, stakeholders and families in recent years. The recommendations, which were accepted Wednesday, aim to improve second language learning in early childhood and childcare facilities and the public school system. A key among the 18 recommendations accepted was the first on the list: a recommendation to adopt the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) as a template for second language and supplementary language programs. “CEFR is an important tool,” Cardy said, noting that it gives the department “a globally accepted standard for describing and evaluating” student progress and competence. The system is globally recognized and describes language proficiency on a six-point scale, from A1 – a simple but limited understanding of a language – to C2, the highest level of proficiency on the scale. Enrollment in French Immigration will normally resume next week for the 2022-2023 school year and no changes have been announced regarding entry requirements or the timetable. Additional funding from this year’s budget will also be directed to original projects underway in kindergarten to 12th grade. Currently, 11 schools have participated in the projects. However, the province would like to see more schools involved and will turn to additional schools and pre-school centers. The recommendations, which were accepted Wednesday, aim to improve second language learning in early childhood and childcare facilities and the public school system. (Alexandre Silberman / CBC)
Long-term problems with ease
Recent data released by the province show that almost half of its students have not reached the level of speaking French. In addition, only one third of Grade 10 students achieve either intermediate or higher levels of proficiency in French. Retaining teachers and providing “equal” French language learning opportunities across the province was also an issue, Cardy said, with 66 of the province’s approximately 300 schools not offering French immersion planning. “Course offers have not always provided fair services for English-speaking students and vary greatly from region to region from rural to urban,” he said. The report also highlighted issues with streaming, which creates separate French and English language learning programs and places students with others with comparable skills. “The result is that we had students who were discouraged from learning French,” Cardy said. “They get rid of it in many cases, especially in the older years, and we have heard stories like this from family students, school staff …” Work is also ongoing to improve the way French is taught to newcomers to the province. “One of the challenges we would have with learning French was … the entry points for immersion,” Cardy said. Young students often reached a year “that did not meet our programming requirements” and then were “completely cut off” from learning a second language or learning it at a higher level. “It makes absolutely no sense,” he said. “You have to have a system that reflects the needs of the students and not the other way around.”
