Bienvenue au département des langues vivantes! Our goal in our Moderns Department is to provide our students with authentic communication activities/tasks that connect to relevant topics such as the ethics of social media and teen advocacy for Mental Health. For example, in our Grade 9 French Immersion class, our teachers provide our students with a daily practice called “Café de Conversation'', where they can discuss relevant topics with their peers while also using the vocabulary and structures that they have learned in class. In addition, in our Grade 12 Immersion class, we start each class with a “Question du jour'' which is an open ended question or a thought provoking prompt that allows them to share their opinions in small groups and large class discussions. Recently, our French classes engaged in a dialogue about Truth and Reconcilation Day that allowed students to reflect on the purpose of this day but also on the work that has to be done in order to honour our relationship with our Indigenious partners.
Recently, Our Grade 10 French immersion students received a special educational opportunity where they visited the Language Department at Wilfred Laurier University. This trip was designed to inspire our students to visualize the long term value of their French studies.
Our Core French students have been actively engaged in learning and working to develop their French language competencies in the areas of speaking, listening, reading and writing. Our primary goal with our Grade 9 Core French students is to make them feel valued, seen and heard in their French classrooms. In our Grade 9 French classes, students are given the opportunities to talk about themselves, their interests, likes/dislikes. They recently created identity texts where they reflected on their beliefs and an important memory associated with their identity.
Vision
Our vision is to foster a lifelong love of language learning by creating an inclusive environment that encourages and develops confidence, innovation and resilience by engaging them through relevant action-oriented and identity affirming tasks.
We are pleased to offer innovative, inclusive and action-oriented language learning that focuses on helping students achieve language proficiency in the areas of oral communication, auditory comprehension, reading comprehension and written expression. Our framework for learning is a focus on developing our students’ 21st century competencies and fostering intercultural understanding. Our students develop their learning skills in the areas of critical thinking, communication, creativity, collaboration, citizenship and character through complex modes of inquiry, problem-solving, analysis and real-life applications. The language acquisition/refinement process is grounded in Authentic Communicative Tasks to engage adolescent learners and help them to make real world connections in their learning.
French Immersion
There is a focus on increased language proficiency in the areas of...
Listening
Authentic, current French auditory materials, exposure to different regional accents, exploration of formal and informal communication “registers”.
Speaking
For different communicative purposes and situations (ex: to exchange information, to persuade, to share opinions, etc.)
Reading
Exposure to Québecois literature, media texts, modern drama, graphic texts, formal and informal letters, etc. (Grade 9)
Exposure to classic and modern French literature and literature from the French colonies, information/graphic texts, news reports, editorials and various media texts (Grade 10)
Writing
For practical/real-life situations (ex: sending a formal letter or email, advertising for a roommate, etc.) and for literary analysis (character analysis for novel study, etc.)
Core French
There is a focus on language acquisition and increasing vocabulary.
Listening
Authentic, current French auditory materials, exploration of expressions used for daily communicative activities.
Speaking
For different authentic communicative purposes and situations (ex: to describe, to ask questions, to retell events in the past, etc.)
Reading
Exposure to short informational and short narrative texts (Grade 9)
Exposure to classic French literature and various media texts (Grade 10)
Writing
For practical/real-life situations (ex: giving written directions/instructions, writing an email to a friend, writing a greeting card) and for literary analysis (character analysis for novel study, etc.)
Department Members
- M. Sivapathasundram - Department Head
- W. Bugante
- A.Chong
- C. DiMaria
- H. Simpson
- Y. An
- M. Zelinska
- T. Ostovar
- M. Breje
- D.H. Lee