March 8, 2024

On March 8, 2024, all Carrefour Francophone staff took part in a pedagogical day. In addition to fostering team cohesion within the Carrefour Francophone, it was also and above all an opportunity to move forward on two essential points for the childcare services:

  • Talking about the francization project to support the children of the 11 childcares in learning the French language,
  • Invite personal and collaborative reflection on the image of the child.

The day was a rich learning experience for all our staff.

We began with Chantal Mayer-Crittenden, Associate Professor at Laurentian University’s School of Speech-Language Pathology, who has been conducting research in minority contexts for many years.

 

Francization project for early childhood centres

Since 2021, Carrefour Francophone has sought the expertise of Professor Chantal Mayer-Crittenden to increase the francization rate in its early childhood centres.

Numerous actions have been put in place to achieve this goal. In particular, all Carrefour Francophone staff have taken the FrancoFun program as part of this project to better support children in learning French.

This is a certification program for daycare educators set up by the AFÉSEO community organization in Ontario. FrancoFun is now recognized throughout Ontario and elsewhere in Canada. This program places a major emphasis on identity-building, which is all the more essential for young children and their parents living in a minority environment.

At Carrefour Francophone, helping children in day-care centres to become familiar with the French language, and even better, to develop the ability to express themselves in French, is a major challenge. That’s why we do everything in our power to help children in this area from an early age.

During this pedagogical day, Chantal Mayer-Crittenden reminded us that children need at least 50% French in their environment to be able to develop French language skills and maintain these skills over time.

Within this minimum 50%, there is of course a receptive part, during which the child absorbs what he or she hears. This can involve a variety of strategies, such as listening to songs, watching TV in French or playing on apps. But it’s not enough.

To consolidate their learning and improve significantly, children need to be active: to play in French, to take part in artistic or sporting activities in French, and to be in regular contact with the French language thanks to the family or the educators at the early childhood centres.

The aim of this morning was to raise awareness among all staff of the importance of valuing the French language and taking action to enable children to become French speakers.

Time to play

For this purpose, Chantal Mayer-Crittenden set up activity modules designed by therapists. These modules illustrated the simple activities that can be set up with children to help them learn the French language. Several groups of 10 to 15 people were created. This gave everyone the opportunity to try out the 5 modules on offer:

  • A songs and rhymes module: Staff had to sing rhymes together.
  • A storytelling module: Books were available, and in each group, one member volunteered to read stories, showing the other participants how to involve the children in storytelling. This workshop was also designed to demonstrate the rich vocabulary found in books, which can be shared with children.
  • A seek-and-find module: A sensory tray filled with confetti was set up, and the aim was to find the objects inside and name them.
  • A manual activity module of cutting and pasting: Some adults played the role of children, while others accompanied them with simple words to guide them in French in the creation of artistic works.
  • A final story module: This time, the stories were related to everyday life: going to the toilet, washing hands, tidying up… .

The common thread running through all these workshops was vocabulary development, and they provided an opportunity to reflect on other activities that educational staff can put in place for children while supporting the French language.

Offering the full range of activities in French at the childcare centres is an asset for children, but of course the support of families in this process is essential. We would like to thank all the families who have committed to giving their children sufficient exposure to the French language at home, and who have been a great support in this francization process.

The child's image in childcare centres

After lunch, the afternoon continued on the theme of the child’s image. For the occasion, Pedagogical leader Caroline Turpin (Sudbury) and Nathalie Singer (Sudbury East) proposed a series of activities enabling everyone to write down the image they have of the child.

The activities began with an ice-breaker, during which everyone at their table shared a positive element from their childhood.

A series of questions was then posed, enabling each member to identify his or her ten essential values in relation to the image of the child. As the afternoon progressed, each member was able to narrow down his or her list to two or three of the most fundamental values.

Scissors, natural materials, clay, paint and felt-tip pens were all provided. This enabled everyone to give free rein to their imagination and create their own child’s image.

Since this pedagogical day, Caroline Turpin and Nathalie Singer have been sending monthly resources to the staff of the 11 French-speaking early childhood centres, inviting them to reflect on and develop their image of the child.

This time devoted to reflection on the child’s image and the francization project not only strengthened links between and within teams, but also helped develop an image of the child that made everyone aware of the common objectives shared by all:

  • Guiding children in the best possible way: by promoting their health, safety and well-being, and by incorporating indoor and outdoor play, active games, rest and quiet periods throughout the day, while taking individual needs into account;
  • Offer them the richness of the French language: by encouraging children to exercise and explore their ability to communicate in French with adults and with each other.

At Carrefour Francophone, we are determined to pursue our commitment to helping each child achieve his or her full potential. We would like to express our gratitude to all the families who have pledged to support their children’s francization at home. Your partnership is essential in this collective endeavor, and we are grateful for your trust and ongoing support.

We look forward to sharing our progress with you in future communications.