In
March 2006 the Vancouver School Board (VSB) launched a public planning
process to develop a long-term plan for French Language learning in the
District. Included in the plan are:
An overall vision for French Language learning in the District;
Recommendations for Core French, Intensive French and
French Immersion programs;
Principles for offering French Immersion programs.
As a result
of the extensive consultation process undertaken this
Fall, please find below our district French Language
Learning long-term
planning final report and recommendations. The report was approved by
the Board of School Trustees on February 19, 2007.
At the April 27, 2006 Modern Languages Advisory Committee meeting, the
process for the long term planning for French language instruction was
discussed. An important mandate was to ensure adequate consultation
throughout the process. It was also decided that this process cannot be
rushed, as there have been too many hastey 'band-aid' solutions made in
the past, and long term planning has been identified as a priority for
this issue.
The first step in the process is to get feedback as to exactly
what the questions are that need to be addressed, in order to set up
a discussion paper as to possible solutions to the multifaceted issues
involved in the delivery of French Language Instruction. Following are
2 documents that are being sent to all the representatives on the MLAC.
In turn they are to distribute these to all of their reps for feedback.
Through the DPAC rep, the documents will be distributed to all PAC's in
the district, and so your represented school will receive this package
directly, as will your administrators through their rep on the MLAC.
Through
the CPF rep, the documents will be distributed to all CPF School Rep's
in the district. Unfortunately as it is nearing the end of
school,
there will probably only be 1 or 2 more PAC (and CPF) meetings
left.
The feedback requested is only about which questions need to be asked,
not specific ideas or solutions. Stay tuned for that part of the
process. You can see in the first document, the timeline proposed. You
may be concerned about this being finished off in time to make changes
for enrollment for 2007. It was decided that there will likely
have
to be planning to take care of that intake year separately, so as not
to rush the long term planning process.
Please take the short time needed to read through these 2 documents.
The first document, French Language Learning in Vancouver, is the one
requiring feedback. The second includes a more detailed description of
the Terms of Reference originally identified by VSB which has already
had input from CPF (others were invited). Feedback is requested and can
be made directly to the email address especially set up for this
at learnfrench@vsb.bc.ca.
This outline for a process to engage in long term planning for French
Immersion and other French language learning opportunities will be
discussed at Committee III at a special meeting on February 27.
Please pass this along to others who may be interested.
At the VSB Board meeting Mar.
6, 2006 regarding the proposal for the VSB French Second Language Long
Term Planning project to be part of the Modern Language Advisory
Committee, it was stated that the proposed outside consultant
would be about $15,000 to $20,000 from last year's Federal French
funding.