Project Name
Learning, Teaching, and Reclaiming Language: Centering Linguistic Diversity in Teacher Education
Team Members
Dr. Meike Wernicke
Nicole George
Project Summary
This project focuses on the redesign and delivery of a required teacher education course that prepares elementary and middle school teacher candidates to teach French-as-a-second-language as part of the mandated grades 5-8 curriculum in BC. The redesign aims to create space for learning how to teach ancestral and heritage languages in addition to French, to reflect the linguistic diversity of students and teachers in BC, and acknowledge the importance of the Indigenous Languages Act within Canada’s language policy. We explore how the course can engage critical reflection on issues related to language education and policy as well as teaching strategies that students can practice and adapt to their local languages.