My
internship project focuses on the inclusion and support of six components of minority
language education in curriculum documents developed and used by the Conseil
scolaire acadien provincial (CSAP). These
six components, identified in École et
autonomie culturelle (Landry, Allard, and Deveau, 2011) are: a
positive relationship with the French language, active enculturation, self-determination, awareness and engagement, community and entrepreneurial leadership, and
mastering of knowledge. During the
twenty weeks of this internship, I will complete an analysis of these documents
and identify teaching and evaluation activities, suggested in the curriculum guides,
which correspond to the six aforementioned components. In order to complete a more effective and
concrete analysis, I will first prepare a literature review and bibliography of
research completed in the areas of minority language education and curriculum
development. With the completion of the
literature review and bibliography, a detailed, research-based list of criteria
can be developed to be used in the analysis of selected curriculum
documents. With the completion of the
exploration and analysis of these documents, the final report, documents, and
presentations can be prepared and shared with different educational
constituents.
In
order to better understand minority language education in Nova Scotia, it is
important to identify the CSAP’s context.
The CSAP is Nova Scotia’s sole Francophone and Acadian school board. While the CSAP was established 1996, there
has been a French presence in Nova Scotia since the arrival of French colonists
at Port Royal in 1605 (Immigration francophone Nouvelle-Écosse). Despite efforts to disperse and eradicate the
presence of Acadians and French in the province through the Great Upheaval of
1755 - 1763, a significant portion of Nova Scotia’s population are Acadian or
from Acadian descent. There is also a percentage of the province’s population
that are Francophone from other provinces or countries. The
education of this section of the province’s Francophone population is protected
by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The
CSAP functions within the framework and context of Section 23 of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, it is important to reiterate that the
school board’s students and classrooms are located in minority language
contexts where English remains the language of the majority. These students, teachers and administrators
face challenges that are particular to their minority language context. Curriculum development was one of these
challenges and a task that was undertaken after the creation of the school
board. In 2003, the CSAP became the
first school board in Canada to be given the initiative and the responsibility
to develop their own curriculum documents to be used in their French first
language schools. In my internship, I
will be exploring and analysing these curriculum documents.
I have
focused on curriculum and instruction in minority language education for a
variety of reasons. Firstly, I am deeply
passionate about first language learning in minority language areas. I have been a teacher and am currently an
assistant professor in a minority language area. In order to better respect my students’ and
my community’s needs, I feel it is important to be knowledgeable in effective
teaching and evaluation strategies in minority language area schools. Curriculum guides provide direction for
teachers in regards to teaching and evaluation practices. Therefore, in order to ensure that identity
construction is being included and supported in classroom instruction, it must
be included in these same practices.
Also, I would like to further the work accomplished during this
internship during my doctoral research project.
The knowledge and abilities acquired during this internship will
certainly provide a solid framework on which I will be able to base my future
academic and research endeavours.
So, if
I may, I would like return to my original blog - the one with a picturesque, cliff-hanging
highway along the Cabot Trail. In this
first blog, I had compared the next six months of my internship to a journey
along this mountainous, twisty road in Cape Breton. My passion for Cape Breton and its beauty is
similar to my passion for minority language education. The journey, like Cape Breton’s Cabot Trail, will
have its ups and down, as well as its twists, turns, and straight-aways. And, just as I feel as I have accomplished
something after a “trip around the trail”, I predict that I will have this same
sense of accomplishment at the end of this internship.
References
Government of Canada - Department
of Justice. (2008). Section 23 – Minority Language Education Rights. Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Retrieved from http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/charter/page-2.html#l_I:s_23
Immigration francophone Nouvelle-Écosse.
(n.d.). Population of Nova
Scotia. Retrieved from http://www.immigrationfrancophonene.ca/nova-scotia/discover/population-of-nova-scotia
Landry, R., Allard, R., & Deveau, K. (2011).
École et autonomie culturelle :
Enquête pancanadienne en milieu
scolaire francophone minoritaire. Retrieved from http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2011/pc-ch/CH3-2-13-2010-fra.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment