CASLT’s 50th Anniversary Research Symposium at CLWB 2020

Looking Back and Looking Forward: Second Language Research Agendas in Canada

A feature of this year’s Celebrating Languages Without Borders (CLWB) conference is the CASLT Research Symposium. Designed as part of CASLT's 50th anniversary celebrations, it will take place at CLWB 2020on Friday, October 23 between 7:15 am and 3:15 pm PDT.

Watch this video to learn more about the symposium, and don’t forget to register for CLWB 2020 in order to participate and help influence future L2 research!

Exhibitor Registration for CLWB 2020

Reserve your virtual booth today to guarantee your spot at Celebrating Languages Without Borders (CLWB) 2020! The conference is just nine days away.

A minimum of three hours of conference time will be dedicated to exhibitors. The cost of a virtual booth is based on the type of organization:

• Standard: $200
• Not-for-profit: $150

Consult our Information for Exhibitors Web page for details about the virtual booth features. For any questions, please contact CASLT’s Communications and Marketing Coordinator at communications@caslt.org.

CLWB Conference Streams: Online Teaching and Culture

One of the most in-demand teaching trends for 2020 is online learning and how to do it effectively without inducing “Zoom fatigue” in either the teacher or the students. With that in mind, many presenters at CLWB have volunteered their expertise to help the rest of us up that long learning curve.

Watch for the last installment in this series: Inclusivity and Indigenous Languages. CLWB takes place on October 23–24, so register now!

Explore Program

Explore is an intensive French-immersion program for people with any skill level in French. Participants are awarded a place and funding that covers tuition fees for the course, instructional materials, meals, and accommodation. Program offerings include a five-week program available for students aged sixteen or over and a youth program for students who are between thirteen and fifteen years old.

Visit www.myexplore.ca for more information. For any questions about Explore, including requests for an in-person or virtual class presentation, please email explore.clic@ontario.ca.

Aspiring Alberta teacher develops Cree language learning tools for children

Global News

A recent University of Alberta graduate has turned her appreciation of Indigenous culture into lesson plans that introduce the Cree language to students. Sarah Ryan reports.

Ensuring progress and knowledge retention among ESL students

By Douglas Magrath

As they prepare for and move on to college life, students undergo many transitions. The most important are the social and academic changes that new students will face in addition to dealing with a new language if English is their second language. Students need to make connections that will help them adjust to this new life. International students especially may feel isolated as they are far away from home, and the initial excitement may wear off quickly.

CLWB Conference Streams: Research and General-Interest Presentations

Celebrating Language Without Borders is coming up at the end of October and there are still so many presentations to introduce! In our last three installments on CLWB conference themes, we’ll look at two of the hottest topics of 2020 — online teaching and inclusive classrooms — as well as presentations that apply generally to all language classrooms, such as new research and pedagogy. This article focuses on the general themes.

Stay tuned for our two final articles in this series: Online Teaching and Culture and Inclusivity and Indigenous Languages. CLWB starts on October 23, so register now!

French for the Future: Registration for Bilingual Young Leaders is Open!

Do your students wish to promote Canada's bilingualism across the country? Implement local initiatives that will encourage youth to speak French? They can apply to become a Bilingual Young Leader!

This Youth Committee founded by French for the Future is composed of 7 young Canadians who want to carry out local initiatives to promote bilingualism in Canada. Candidates can apply before October 12th. To do so, they must be between 16 and 22 years old and be bilingual.

Each member must be prepared to meet with the Committee several times a year.

Ontario working to increase the supply of French-language teachers in the province

Government of Ontario

The Ontario government is taking action to recruit and retain more French teachers to ensure that all students receive a high-quality French-language or French as a Second Language (FSL) education. To assist in this effort the province is supporting various initiatives such as career fairs, as well as partnering with two working groups in order to focus on professional development for French teachers and raise awareness of employment opportunities.

Check the latest news of ACPI: French Immersion News

https://mailchi.mp/acpi/bulletin-de-lacpi-octobre-2020?e=d4dfdbea66

CASLT Awards 2020

CASLT is honoured to recognize second language educators who have developed innovative teaching practices and contributed significantly to the advancement of language teaching and learning. Congratulations to the recipients of our 2020 CASLT awards!

• H. H. Stern Award: Beth Hubley
• Robert Roy Award: Norman Sieweke and Dr. Roswita Dressler
• Honorary Lifetime Member Award: Dr. Mary Grantham O’Brien

Learn more about our 2020 CASLT award recipients in our recent news release.

CLWB Conference Streams: International and Heritage Languages

With a baker’s dozen of presentations, Celebrating Languages Without Borders has much to offer to teachers of International and Heritage Languages (IHL). Thirteen presentations, mostly in English, offer rich, new ideas for a variety of language classrooms.

At only $125, CLWB registration is a bargain this year, especially since you can participate in your pajamas!

Initiative translates COVID-19 resources into Indigenous languages

Excalibur

Founded by a group of medical students and master of public health candidates, four individuals at Translations 4 Our Nations (TFON) have led a global initiative in translating COVID-19 resources into more than 40 Indigenous languages from over 30 countries. The initiative partnered with Indigenous communities during the pandemic to facilitate the accessibility of health information, and eventually, launch a free website.

AÉUM : trois propositions pour le français

Le Délit

Déjà en août, Jemark Earle avait annoncé au Délit plusieurs idées pour améliorer la place de la langue française à l’Association Étudiante de l’Université McGill (AÉUM), dans le cadre d’un entretien à propos de la nouvelle constitution de l’AÉUM. Cette fois, il revient à la charge avec trois propositions distinctes, qu’il compte mettre en place avant la fin de l’année scolaire en cours.

CLWB Conference Streams: FSL/FAL/French Immersion

Teaching French is not the easiest of professions, so we need to have our batteries recharged from time to time. Fortunately, Celebrating Languages Without Borders provides the perfect mid-term boost with over 30 presentations in the FSL/FAL/French Immersion stream. Of course, CASLT knows that supporting FSL teacher preparation, retention, and recruitment is essential, so Updates from the CASLT Teacher Education Project in Canada will outline three initiatives that address these issues.

Those FSL/FAL/French Immersion batteries are sure to get a big boost from all this PD, especially since CLWB registration is only $125. Stay tuned for our next installment of CLWB Conference Streams, which focuses on International and Heritage Languages.

Lancement de la plateforme IFprofs Canada

L’Ambassade de France au Canada est ravie d’annoncer le lancement de la plateforme IFprofs Canada!

IFprofs est le premier réseau social de l’éducation en français, ouvert aux professionnels de l’enseignement du et en français à travers le monde. Les membres de ce réseau peuvent partager des ressources pédagogiques et des informations sur des événements. Ils peuvent rencontrer les enseignants du monde entier pour échanger sur leurs pratiques et enrichir leur enseignement. Grâce à IFprofs, la francophonie repousse les limites de l’espace francophone pour devenir mondiale.

Pour célébrer le lancement d’IFprofs au Canada, l’Ambassade de France au Canada organise un concours qui récompense les 5 meilleures Ressources Pédagogiques conçues pendant la période de confinement. N’hésitez pas à contacter cecile.heijnen@diplomatie.gouv.fr pour toute demande de précision.

Filmmaker hoping to inspire all people to learn Indigenous languages

CBC News

A Moroccan French education student hopes to put the spotlight on Indigenous languages in Saskatchewan and inspire more non-Indigenous people to learn them. Wahbi Zarry speaks three languages — French, English and Arabic — and is now creating a documentary series about learning Indigenous languages. In his series, Zarry learns as much of a language as possible in 10 days to show how anyone can learn it. He's calling the series Canadian Languages.

Active bilingualism delays the onset of mild cognitive impairment

Technology Networks via Open University of Catalonia

As well as allowing us to communicate with other people, languages are the tool we use to convey our thoughts, identity, knowledge, and the way we see and understand the world. Mastering more than one language enriches us, provides a gateway to other cultures and, according to a team of researchers led by scientists from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), actively using them also brings us neurological benefits and protects us from cognitive impairment associated with ageing.