The Mode rn LanguagesCouncilof the Newfoundla nd Teachers' Associa tion: Its Or iginsand
Role in the Professional Developmen t of Fr er.chTea c hers
by
Pat rici aHooper
Athes is su bmi tte din part ial fulf illment of the require ments torth e degree of
Mas te r ofEduc atio n
Memorial Un i ver si t yofNevfoundland St. .rcnnrs , Newfoundland
Janu ary , 1993
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Th e ModernLanguagescoun cil , aspecial interest counc il of the Newfou ndland Teac h ers' As so c iati on, was founde d in 19 66. si nce the n it ha s serve d as the only profess i on a l or g an iza tio ntor Fre nchteach e r sinNewfoundl a nd andLabrador. In lig h t of the incre ased emphas is on prOfe ss i ona l development andon Fren chteac herretrai ning,a studywasdone topre s e nt a hist oryof theModernLanquaqe scounci l , its role inprofessionaldevelopment and possib ilit ies fo r its fu t u r e growth. The aim was to chroniclethena t u reand exten tof the su ppo rt offered by the Council. This was don e pri mar ily throug h a ravie.... of al l av a i l a b le corre spondenc e, reports, documents and other so urces and throug h a survey of is representat ive sa mpl e of the pre s e nt Fr e nc h teacher population.
Thestud y identifie dth r e e distinc tCh ro nologi cal period s to r thecouncil. It shovedthatevertthoug h there ha s beena recent periodotve ry strong qroW'thsomeotthe firstproble .s of theor qan i za t ion reea Ln,
A number ot factors were anaLyzed to discover those import ant in determining MLC membe rs hi p. Age, un iversity tra i n ing in French. years teaching Fre nc h, and school size werefou ndtobe stati s tica ll y siqni tica nt.
Teach ers were al soasked togi v e into rmat ionre l ated to thein fl ue nceot tileMLCinth e irpr o fe s s i onal liv e s . While the council hashad a positive impactonthosewho havebe en
i i
most actively in vo l v ed, i t ha s tailed to significant ly inf l uen c e thema j ori t yof Fr e nchtea cherssurveyed. ucvevee, this in forma tion, i t taken with th e suggestions for imp rove me nt givenby teache rs,canreform th e! Coun ci l and help it fulfil a 1II0r e su b s t a n t i ve ro l e in the live s of French ed ucators . The se recommendationsforch a ngeand sev e ralide as torfurtherres e archcomple t ethe stUdy.
iii
Ad povle4 g yept .
Without the know ledge and gui da nce of Professor Joa n Ne t t en , Facultyof Educatio n, thi s stud ywouldnot have be e r.
complete d . I am inde b t e d to her for he r ins ig h t and encou r a g emen t.
A since r e than k -y o u to Illy falllil y at camp bell ton , col l e a gu e s at Deer Lake , st.aff of the Newfo u ndla ndTeachers ' Associati on,and typistMauree n Kent. Finally, Illy tha n k s is ext en dedto all tho seWhoei th e r participatedin thesurveyo r who sharedwi t h Meth e or a l histo ry of theMod e rn Langua g e s Coun cil.
Iv
Page
Abst r a c t ...•. .•••• •••••.•.•...••••• ••• ••. ••• •..• i1 Ackno wledgemen ts ••.••• ••.•••••.•••••• • •••• • •• ••.. . iv List of Tables •••••. .•.••.• •.•••.• ••••• •• ••••••. .• vii
CHAPTER 1 PURPOSEANDDESI GNOFTHESTUDY Introduction •••••• •••• •••••••••• •••••• ••• •• • • The St u dy ••••••••.•• •••• •• •••••• ••••••• •• ••• • Sig nificanceof the St u dy •• •••.••• •• •• •••• •• • Li mitation s of the Study ••••••.•••••• •••••• •• Definit i on of Terms ••••• •••••••• •••••••••••••
CHAPTER2 HISTORYOF THEDEVELOPMENT OFTHE MODERNLANGUAGESCOUNCIL
Intr od uc t io n •••• • •••• ••••••• ••.••••••• • • ••• •• 10 TheEarly Yea r s , 19 66-197 1 •• ••••••••• ••••• •• • 10 The Diffi c u l t Years , 1972-19 78
The Years ofGro wth, 1978 - 1989
27 32 Conc l u s i o n ••••••••• •••• • • • ••• ••• ••••••• • •• ••• 53
CHAPT ER3 THEQUESTIO NNAIRE
Int r o d u c t i on ••• ••••••••• •••••••••• •••• •••••• • 60 Design •• •• •••••••••••• •••••••••• ••••••• • ••••• 61 SamplePop ulation •••••••••••••• •• ••••••• ••••• 63 Data Ana l y s i s •••••• ••••••• •• ••••••••• •••• ••• • 65
Page
CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS OFTHEDATAFROMTHE QUESTIO NNAI RE
Introd u ction ••. .•••••.•.•• • • ••••••••• •• •. .•.. 67 Prorile orthe Respondents •••••• •••...• •... 67 Su=ary--Ro&pondentCharacterist ic s •••••• •.•• 19 Parti c ipat ion in theHLC •••••• • ••••••••• ••• •• 80 summary- -Pa rticipationinth etiLe•••••••••.•. 84 Analysis orLik e r t Scale Item •• ••••• ••• • •• ••• Ana l y s i sor Respons esto OpenEnded Items ...• Furt h er Da t a Analys is •••••••• •••••••••• •••• . . 9)
SU1Dlllary ••••• ••• •• ••• •••••••••••• ••••• • •• ••• .• 99
CHAPTER5: SUMMARY,CONCWSIONS ANDRECOMMENDATIONS SUm!I1ary••••••• •••••••••• •••••••••••• •••••••.• 101 Findings ••••••••••••• • •• •• • ••••••••• •••••• ••• 101 Con c lus ions ••••••••• • • •••• •••• •• ••••••••••• •• 107 Rec o llUllendat i ons•.••••.••••• • • ••. •.••• •••••••. 109 suggest i ons torFur t he r Study••••••• ••••••• •• 114
BIBLIOGRAPHY•• ••••••••••••• ••••••• •• ••• •••• ••• • •• • 116 APPENDICES •• •• ••• •••••••• ••••••• • •• ••• • •• •• •• •• •••
Append i xA•••• ••••••• • •• •••• • • • •••••••• ••••• •
vi
Lhtot'Tab le.
Tab le Page
Mal e /F ema l eDistributioninsa mple 68
Number of Ye ars Teaching French 69
School Population 70
Community PopulatioJ'l 71
Teachers Within One Hour Dri ving
Distance of Community>5000••••• •.• •.•• 71 Schoo l Locati on- Region of Provi nce •... 72 Un ive rs i ty Train ingin French •... . .. 73 universityDegrees ... .... . ... .. . .. . 74 FrenchMethodology Courses .. . •.. .. . .•. .. 75 10
11 12
13
14
Tima Spe nt in aFr e nc h Milieu ...•..•..••
French ProgramsTa ug ht ..•... •...•.•.... . Percentageof Instructional Day spent Teaching French... ... . . .. .. .. ....•.. . Reasons for Not Attendinq1988-89 Co n f e r e nc e •..• .. . • ••••.• ..•... . .•. . .• .. . Number of AnnualConferences Attende d ...
76 77
78
ei .3 15 Responsesto Statementson Roleof the
ModernLanguages Council .•. ...•... . . .. 16
17
ia 19
positiveComments Aboutthe Modern LanguagesCouncil.•.... .. .. .• •.. .• • •.. • . Age Fac t ors and participationin MLC (5years) •.•• •••••.••.••••••. ••••.••...•
Years Teaching French and part i c i pa t i o n inMLC (5 years) ••• •• ••.••• •. .••. . .• •... un iver s i t y French Tr ainingand pa rt i c i pat i oninMLC (5 years)
vii
.9
94
96
96
Table
'0
21
COIlUllunit y Popu la t i on and Part i cip at i on in MLC (5years) .•••.••..••• •.• • • ••.•••• SChool Popul a t i on andPar t i c i pat i o n in
HLC (5 ye ars) .
vi ii
Pa g e
97
"
CHAPTER. 1 PORPOSI ANDDJl8 I QlforTBI S'lODY
Co nt inuing profes s ionaldevelopment has becomea majo r thrustof teachereducation in NewfoundlandandLabrado r, ar.d inde e d acros s ceneee, Gr aduat i on t'rom anap provedteacher training insti t u t e is no longer thought to be suffic ient traininq for a lifp.t illle of teaching. The peda g09 ica1 commun ity desires and ne e ds conti nu e d ins t ru c t io nal and aca de mic stimula tion. As summari ze d by Small and Bilsk i
(19 B3 ) :
The knowl e dge explosion, the advent of
mi crocomputers , an era of new communications techn ol ogy... ,andahost at'othe r innovations have begun to and ....ill continue to affect all profes s i on s. One resultofthishasbeen a growing awaren ess ot' the need to re add r es s the area of continuing professio na l ed ucati on and of life long le arni ng. (p . 3)
Sma ll (1985) furt h er con c lude that th e se cha nge s par t i cularlysig nifi c ant fo rthoseintheteac h ingpro f e s si on. Teache rs need to sta y inform e d ot' new dev e lopllI l:!nts in techno logy and cur ricu l a.
our i ng the past decade, in Ne wf o undland and Labrad or, th is incre a sed int e r est in profession al deve lopment has ma n ife s t e d It se lfinthe form of profess I onaldays sponsored bydistrIct school boards or by the Ne....foundland TeachersI Association (NTAl , the growth in the number ot' the AssociationIS spe c i a l interest councils and the increase in the me mbe r s hi p of these agencies , the establishment of professional deve lopmentawards, and the nUlll.ber of certified
teachersenrolled in univers ity cour s e s and summerins t i tu te s. These are ind ica t o r s that educators realize that they must avail of every op port u ni t y to con t i nu e their profe:;siona l growth. De ve lopment of this sortis nece ssaryif they are to beef fec t i v e leaders in this age ofrapid ch an g e.
Th e teachers of Frenc h have found themselves in a particularlydynamic situat ion. The past t ....entyyears ha ve ....itnesseda barrageof languagele a rn ing theori esand te a c hi ng stratQgies. As outlinedby stern (1986) andothers, Fr ench teachers have faced methodologies ranging from grammar- translationto audLc-el LnquaL, fromth e reading method to the communicative ap p r o a c h. Withfederal government leg islation such as the Official Languages Act (1969), bec omingbili n g ua l in the Canadian context hasbecome a much debatedtopicin the polit ical arena. Parents have as ke d fo r school French programsthatgraduatepupils fluent in th e secondla ng ua g e. The implementa tio n of new program options, ~uch as French immersion , has arousedboth public praise and critic ism.
All of these developments ha v e created a hei ghtened a....are ness of Fren ch as an integra l pa r t of the school cu r r i c u l um. This concern has led to a closer examination of programcontent and structu re , as well as to a demand fo r te ac he rs who are competent in ene la n g u a g e itself, in the te c h n i ques needed to impart it to ot he rs , and who are als o enthusias ticab out and committed to the pro f e s s i o n. ca r v e (19 8 3 ) concludes that the Fr e n c h teacher must have, among
ot her cha rac t eristics , the necessa ry ling ui stic knowledge, me t hodo l og y, techni qu es, the abilitytoeval uate, chooseand adap tmate ria ls ,and anopen mindwi th re ga r d tonewresea rch.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, the Modern Languages counc il (MLC) of the !-ITAis the or ga ni z a tio n most dir ectly linke d with the post- u ni vers ity profe ssion al development of Fr e nch teachers as a sp e c i fic bod y. The MLC is one of a numbe rof organi za tions, kno wn as spe cial interestcouncils, tha t have been fonn ed to promote and he lp teache rs \!lit h proff"Is slona l de velopme nt in specifi c curr icu l um areas suc has social stud ies, mathemat i cs, and science. All sp e cia l interest councilsare re s pon sibleto the parent bod y,the NTA, which is the prov i ncial pr ofessional body and bargai n ing agent. Whi l e othe r agencies , such as the Depar t me nt of Educat ion and sc ho ol boa r d s , provide services to French tea c hers, the MLCis the only group to have the teaching of Frenc h, or ot her secondlanguages, asit s singu larpurpose.
The purpose of this study is toexami ne the origins and hi story of the Hodern Languages Council, French te ache r partic i pati on in thi s orga nization , and to demonstrate its func tio n and poten tia l as a veh i cle for the professional de v e lopme nt of Frenchteachers. Precedent for this type of study has bee nset by thepUblicationof numerousarticles and thes es relate dto ins e rviceand professional development.
No history of the MLC has been compiled. Champdoizeau's (1976) study of the history of French education in Newfoundland didnot includethisin f o rma t i o n. No attempt has been made to chroniclehowthe events and activitiesof the Council havef'Jlfil ledit s pr o t:l!!ssionaldevelopmentobjectives asoutlined in theoriginalConstitu t ion (1966). Furthermore while the ~ouncil's me mbersh i phas inc reased in nul1lber, an analysisot:thos e whoelect to becomeme mbe r s and thos ewho do nothasne ve r be encond ucte d.
A gre at deal of inform a tio n pertaining to th e MLC curren tly exists. Documents hel d by the NTA and the MLC execu t ive inc l udere po rts , membershiplists,budge tsandother fi nan ci a l reports, minut esof exec ut i v e and ge nera l meetings, re ports on traini ngsessionsandprovincialconferences. MLC news let te rsand numero us piecesof corres ponde nce involving the MLC,theNTA,Me mo rial unive rsi tyof Ne wfo un d land (HUN), thepro v inc ial Depa r t ment of Education, and someother groups ar ealsoavai l a ble.
It is appropriate tha t a study of this material be undertake nat this parti cu l ar time. Someof the founding membe rs of the Cou nci l have alrea dy ret ired from active te aching. Cha nge ofre s i de nce , ag e, or illness may le ad to th eloss of informa tion wh ich is unchro nic led. A::co r ding to MLCcorrespo nd ence.as earl yas1982 . cons ideration was given to th e compiling of a history , but the project was not initia ted.
In addit ion, int erest in the activ it ies of the special inte r e s t cou ncil s is inc r e a s i ng. The NTA, through it s pUblic at i on, The Bulletin(1 9 8 8 ),is endeavouring to highlight the councils, and a provincialcommit teehas been formed to coo rd i na t e council efforts . As ....ell, since 19 9 0 marked the one hundredth anniversary of the NTA, the Association is placing increasedemphasis on collectingthehistories ofits SUbgroups. It has also establisbed a Presidential Revie w committee to, over tbe next several years, investigateall aspects of the NTA, inclUding its profe s s i o nal development program.
The to pi c of French teacher trainingand retraining is receivingmuch attention. The Report of tbe PolicyAdvisory Co mm i t t e e on FrenchProgracs (Depa r tm entof Education, 1986) identifies the NTA as a key player in providing profe s s i o nal developmentfo r teachers. However, nospecific refere nce to usLnq tbe resources of tbe MLC for these purpos e s hasbeen made in eitberNTAor DepartmentofEduc a t i o n ccceeepcncence, Witb professiona l issuessu c h as tb iscoming toth e fore, all agencies should ccneIder how existing structu res and organizations may meet tbese newcballenges. This studywill bighligh t the work of the Counc il and sho w how tea c hers believeit can continueto be involvedin th e ir profess iona l lives.
Signiricanc. ortb. Stu,,"y
This st udy wil l attempt to show to ....ha t extent the Councilhas be e n abl e to provide pro f e s s i on a l devel op ment to French tea ch ers, and willgivesomeindica t i o n ofperc e p tio ns of theCou nc i l ' sva l ue and effectivenes s. The ana lysi s wil l also indica t e whethe r the MLC has the inf r a s t ru ctu r e and exp e r tis e necessarytoprovidecontinued pro fess ional growt h withinthe Counc il 'sframewor k ,;/,ndma nda t e. Thi sknowledgeis impo r tan t for the Council itself , the parent NTA body , the Departmentof Education ,endinde e d for all groups associ ated with French ed uc a t ion .
Af t e r more than twenty ye a r s ofac ti v e work,withmuch of itsearl yhistoryin dangerof being los t and wi th thegrowing and co nti nu e d emphasi s on profess ional development , the study ' s importance be c ome s evident. The work should prove va l u a ble tothe Newfoundland Teachers' As s ocia t i o n and the Hodern Languages Council. It would be of interestto those with the Department of Education, school districts, Faculty of Education, Memorial University, whoplan teacher preserviceand inservi ce training.
As with any history , a record of the problems and suc c e s s e sas wellas theyearly workingsof the group provides directionfor futureplans andhelpsit to avoidrepetitions of pasterrors. In particular,the analysisofpr e s e nt French teacher involvement should lead to statementsabou tdi r e c ti ons for conti nue d growth in terms of both membership and
programmi ng. Beforeplanning fo r the futureit is neces s ary to kno wwha t hasbeen and what is. This study provides thi s inf o rm a tion .
Li!!!i taUOD. of tbe Study
Thi sstudy shou l d prove important to theva r i o us agenc ies outlined . However, there arece r t a in limitations:
1. Findings are applicable tor the Modern Languages Council of the Ne....foundland Teachers' Association. While of intere st to the other special in t e r e s t co u nc il s, i t is not knovn to what extent the results could be applied to any or all of these groups.
2. Dataislimi t e d to the province of Ne....foundland and Labrador , but may be useful to French teacher organizations in other provinces.
pefinitiopot Terms
For the purposes of this study. the follo....ing terms are defined:
French teacher - any certified teacher who is teaching French for any part of the school day.
Newfoundland TeachersI Association (NTAl the professional association and bargaining agent for teachers of NeWfoundland and Labrador.
Special Intere st Council (S I C) • any of a numbe r of tea ch er or ga nizations fo rmedund e r the auspice s of theNT". which pro mot.e profess ional and cur ricu l ulll deval o paulint for spe cif i c sUbjec t or int e r es t are as, for examp l e. social StU die s SIC, Religiou s Ed ucati o nSIC.
Hodern Langua ges Counci l (HLC). and ofte n re f e r r e d to herein as the Council - the special intere s t council for te achersof mode r nla nguages, main lyFr ench:or i g ina ll y known as the Hodern and Classi c a l Langu age s Spec ia l ist. Council (MCLC).
Rur a l/u rb a n -defi ne d accord ingto crite ria folloved by the Department of Educa tio n , Gover nment of Nevfoundl and.
Gene r a l ly . any tovn "lit h a populati on gr e at e r tha n five thousand is designa ted as wrc e n.
secondLang ua g e - any lanquage that is not the mother to ngue of thepers o n involv ed.
strong/we ak Fre nc h ba c kg round - followingresu ltsota Depa rtmentof Ed uca ti onst Udy (198 5 ) anytea c h er having tour or fewe r academic French cr e ditswas deemedto have a we a k Fr ench bac kground.
CRAPTEa 2:
HISTOR YOPTB a DanLOPlUlfTOP TBa MODERNLABGtl'~GIlSCOU)lCIL
The histo ry of the Modern Languages Council may be explored thr ou g h the study of several ke y strandsor themes thatare common to all periodsot the Council and, When taken together, providea picture of the Council and its work in Newfoundland and Labrador over th e: past two and a hal f decades. These the me s inc l ud e: p:-oblemsof communicatio nI limited membershipthat started wi t h the fir s t council and contin ue to the pre s ent ; the impo r t a nce of the elected executive, and , in particular , the rol e of certain key indiv iduals; the influence of exte r nal factor s , such as the political support for Fr en ch educa t i o n ; and !ina lly, often inte rwoven....ith the others, certain ma j or initia tives tha.t have helped the Council developits influence.
TheJ u l y J un 11"-1971
The MLC wa. esta bli sh e das a Special Interest Council of th e Newf o un dla ndTeachers' As sociationin 19 66. Acco r ding- to Sister Eileenseek, founding-membe r and late rpresiden t ofthe Cou nci l , the ide a. for th e organizatio n ca me from Brother McHugh, ateac he r withtheRoma nCat holicSch oo l Boardofst . Jo hn ' s. Broth erMcHughand others ....ereimpre s s e d by the....ork beingdon e by the music teachers .peclal int e r est cou n ci l , started the pre v i o us ye a r. He hoped that Fr ench and othe r
10 language teachers could formissimilarorganizat ion. Through discussion and informalmeetings with some French te a c h e rsin the Roma nCatholicsystem, particularl yRogeroae n, Ma uri ce Champdoizeau ,BrotherHepditch,andSisterse ex,itwas ag r e e d that suc ha grou pshould be formallyestablished. On November 16, 19 6 6 , in a letterto BrotherMc Hug h , the NTA approv ed a con s t i tut i o n prepared by this first group of members. It grantedtheModern and ClassicalLanguages Special1s tCou ncil, as it ....as then called, permis sionto operate as a spe ci al in te r e s t council.
Theamb! tions of thisear l ygroupare recorded in report s from thefir st ei g hteen mont h s of operation . Theyhoped to form an or gan i za t ion for te achers of French and other la ng u a ge s , as ....ell as for fa culty members fro mMe morial uni v e rs i ty and offi,cia lsfrom the Departmen t of Ed uc a t ion.
The aims ,sta ted in the constitutio n (November1966 ), ....ere:
..•to improve instruction in the modern and classicalla ngu age s by:
Cal increasing membe rs' knowledge and understandingofth e languages (b) seeki ng to impro ve teaChing techniques
and curriculum
(c ) acting as a clearinghouse for ideas and of trends and developments
11 (d) fur nishing- ee c c aeendaeLens andad vice to
the prov inc ial exe c u t i ve and othe r commit.tees of the NTA on matte rs affecting sode rnand classicallangu a9 11! s inthe schools.
The events ofthe fi r s ttwo ye a r s and th eext e n t to which the group wasguide dby these obj e c t ive s arede t a il ed inthe annua l reports. The Report of 1967-68, ti l e d by th e President, Maurice Cha mpdol z e au, indicated that there were four regular meeti ngs and "..•four other meetings whic h lnv elved demonstrati o ns in the teaChing of French by teachers". At theye a r-e nd meeting there was a buffet supper and entertainmentbyst ude nt sof nolyHeart of Mary Regi onal H1ghSc ho o l ,unde r thedirectio n of Si sterEileenseek,vrc e- presid e nt of the Counc iL Othe r than the account in th e Annua l Repor t there appearto be no records wh ich migh t gi ve an ev al uat ion of th e success ot the pre s en tati ons or the ir cont ribution to the professi onal devel opment of those .. ho attended.
The Annual Report at 1967-6 8 also highlighted sev e ra l difficult ieswhich the young organizationhad encountered.One probl emwas the very low interest in the Council whichha d been shownby Latinteachers. Latin wa s already dec li n i ng as a part of thesc hool curricu lum,andtheCou nc iltsac tivities were really geared to French, as lllay be seen by the co mpo s i t i o n of the execu ti ve. In any case, there were very
12 few references to Latin teaching or teachers. Howe ve r , des p i t e this low int e r e s t, a motiontosho rt enth e name of th e group , Mod ern and Cla ssica l LanguagesSpe c ia list Cou nci l, to simp l y Modern LanguagesCouncil was defea ted. Another pro b l em was the lack of response to a request for all St. JohnI5 schoolsto "poolide a s " about teachingerencn ronlyone scho ol board had submitted items. The executivewasco nc e rn e dabo ut thisreaction,whichseemed to denote a lack ofint e r e s t. It ha d also hoped to use this inc r e as e dsc ho o l contactto addre s s what i t described "... serious French curri c ulum deficiencies" (Annua l Report 1967-68). While complete minutes of each meeting were not kept, there must have been so me discussion of both teacher qualificatio ns and cur r icu l um materials. cne epcotaeeuwrotein his Annual Report(1967 -68) that the groupha d adopted the informal motto ,"to do the be st with what we havew , a statement whichsugge s ts that thestatus quo was uns a t i s fa c t o ry , at least to the members of the fledglingor ga n i z a t i on.
Champdolzeau continued as Presidentin1968~69,supported by the executive members: Sister Sesk,Mr. Kielley, Brother Hepc1itch, Ms. Collins, and Ms. Gellately. In the Annual Report for that year Champdo!zeau identified other problems the organization was encounteringbut gave no suggestions as to how they might be solved. Two items were seen as major hurdles: the lack ot' teachers ..,ithFrench degrees, and the difficulty of attracting members from areas of the provi nce
13 othe r tha nthe Ava lo nPenins ul a. The Reportalsonotedtha t oralFre n ch,Inparticula r.ne ededimpr ovement.bu tdid na t at th ist ime suggest howth is mig h t be done.
Despite thesedifficultiesthe executi ve con tinue d with itseff o rts toeeeethe Objectivesofthe Consti tution. One impo rtan t develop men t. in keep ing"'ithi ts ma nd a t etoimprove teach ing techniques and cu rricUl u m, was to focus on th e coll e c t io n·o t mate r ia l s and inf o rmat ion on Fr e n ch te ac hing that could be use dby teachers. According tothe Reportof 1968-69, itwas hoped thatmore members wouldbe attractedby th isservice. Mater ialswould includetapes, maps, books and rec ords--insho r t, anyth i ng that ....ou l d realize the goal of
"••.he l p i ng the Fren ch teachers at the el e mentary and high scho ol levels " (Annua l Re po r t 1968- 69 ). Success in th i s ve ntu r emig ht hav e donemuc h to establi shtheCou nc il outside St.John 's. Un f o rt una tely the proj ecthad tobe curta il ed. due to lac k of mo ne y . The on ly income fo r theye a r wa s a $125 flat gra nt froll the NTA andrevenue fr o mmember s h ipfe e swhic h were set at twodollars.
At the end at the 1968-69sch oo l year, the execut i ve was cl e a r l y disco uragedbywhat it viewedas lack of progress. In the AnnualRe po r t , Champdo1zeau wrote of the small attendance at the regular Hodern and Classical Languages Council.
The MCLC is not a vital organization. We feel this is the case because there are so few French special i sts. .•.those who teach French are many
times do i ng so of necessity rather than choice. Their interest inour counc il is as a result not all that ....e had ho pedit might be .
Althoughthis [a t t e nda nc e ) is discourag ingwe int e nd to make every effo rt to vi t a l iz e the organization. The response to our province-....ide request forme mbe r s hi p s was likewisepoor.
The records indicate that duringthe 1968-69 academicyear, the Council held several meetings, but few reechera attended regularly.
The difficulties ofthese early years in the life of the or ga n i za t i o n may be attributed to several factors. While ostensiblya provincial body,thegroup metin theevenings in St. JOhn 's, usually at Holy Heart of Mary Regional Hi gh Sch ool. For the most part, the group was composed of membe r s who were either directly or indire ctlyassociated wit h one schoolboard in St..rotms s . As well, the Council was strongly linkedwith'Me mo r i a l university. Three ofthe members of the early organization ....ere, or soon became, members of the De pa r t me nt of Romance Languages at Memorial. In factne i t h e r the executive, small general membership or guest speakers were representativeof the actual popUlation of French teachers of the time. The "average" teacher of French might have been intimidatedby an organizationin which the founding members were all highly trained in the academic study of the French language. In addition, many teachers could well have received
15 instructionin Fr e nc h Crom tho s e who we r e in the Facultyat Me mor i al , sinceFrenc hwas a compulsoryun i vers i t ysubje c t at that time. They miqht hav e been hesitan t to join an or g a n i z ati o n wh e r e they wo ul dnoW' be expe cted to interac t, pro ba bly in French, with the i r toner profes so rs. Th e composition ot th e foun d i n g gro up , their strong French ba c kg r ou nd, and inte rest in improving oral Fr e nch, may have cont ributedto this hesit a ncy. At this till 9 the re ....ereonly afew school swhereFrenchwastaughtorallyandma ny teac hers hadve ry 11ttle experi en ce spnk ing French.
Giventhis situation, th e aspirations of ehe Council in its early years were perhaps somewhat un r e a li s t i c. Tht! group hoped to appeal to Fre nch "speclallsts"--tnose who had an ac a d emi c major in Fre nch,but ingeari ng thoi r ac tivitiesto fit suc h a client e le, aut omat ically exc l uded themajorityot secondla ng ua ge tea chers , who, as Champdoi zeauremar ke d , had on l y ve ry limit ed Fr en ch tra in inq. It is noteworthythat al t ho ug h the Co unc il talked ot appe aling to French
"sp e ci a li s t s" , no suc h designat i o n was in us e by the Depa r tme nt otEduca tion . Consequ ently in theory andpractice the clientel e so ug ht by the Coun c il existed onl y in "I.ry limitednumbe r s at that time .
The Co unc il wished to exert some influenc e on the preparatio n of te a c he rs fo r French . However , alth" ug h the training ot teachers had been the responsibilit y ot the FaCUlty of Education since ttle early 19 60's, there was no
16 Facultymember responsiblefor French teacher trai n ing . The Councilwas alsointerestedin cooperationwiththeDe p a rtm en t of Educati on . However,aqain ,at thispoint, there was no one at theDepartmentlevel with a particu larresponsibility for French ed u c a t i o n . The Coun c i l lo b b i e d these ag e n ci e s to impr o v e Frencheducationbutunfortunately. the other bodies did nothav e thein f r a s t ru c t u r e and personnel to developthe ideas of the Council.
Thecre a t i o n of the Modern Languages Councils was the result of the work of a handful of highly trained Fr en c h educators based in St. John's. Without this group it is un l i k e l y the Council would have started in the 19609 or perhaps even 19705. However, the compos i t i o n and locati on spawned two problems: the diffiCUlty of attracting futu re members from an available pcpu l ati Lcn considerably le s s specialized than the founding group, and the added difficulty of attempting to establish what was int e nd e d to be a prov inc ial group, wbiLe membership was, particularly at the executive level, limited to the St. John's area. The organization did not seem to be fully aware of the dichotomy between its aspirations and the realities of the status of French education and educators in the province. The on l y initiative in these early years which ignited the spark of interestfrom teachers outside St.John1s was the offer of a teaChing materials library, a project which would at first be
17 pursued, but subsequently be discontinued due to la c k of fund ing.
Oe s p i t e Champdoizeau 'sobvious concern about the possible demise of theCo u nc il at the end of the 19 68 - 69 school year, the Counci l did continuein 1969-70. The Annual Report of 1969-70 ind i c a t e s that five general meetings and two others were held,with an average attendance of twenty. Mrs. Horgan, a local teacher, had given a demonstration of La Francais
~teaching materials, while Mr. F. Park, of Memorial Un i v e r si t y of Newfoundland(MUN),presented the Mauger series being used at the university.
The objecti vesof the constitution wereonce more brought to the fore. In the 1969-70 Annual Registration form two special projects were indicated asthe goals for the year:
(1) Setup a center where Frenchteachers may find materials to help them with their teaching (oral).
(2) Really become province-wide.
Inorder to achieve this la tter goal, letters were sent to forty-one schools across the provinces. In addition, telephone calls were made to fifty-three schools in the st.
JohnIs vici ni ty to identify the French teacher in the school. Personal letters were then sent to each individual French teacherident iHed.
This initiatiVE:!met with some success since membership recordsind i c a t e d that, amongst a paid membership of twenty to
ie thirty, app r o xim a t ely half were teachers fr om communit ies across th e province -- Da niel's Har bour , Tr ou t Riv er , cerbori e er , Bal eVer t e , Po r t aucn otxand Stephenville (Annu al Repo r t , 19 69-70). This resul tled Champdoizeautoco nc l u d ein his Annual Report tha t, '".••the int ere s t shown by teache r s from outsi de St.John's appears to be greater than tha t shown byteachers in the city" (Annual Report,1969-70).
The successof this memberShipdrive , particularlywith teachersoutsideSt. John ' s , might be attributed inpartto the decision toset up a library for teachers. Materialswere orderedin January, February and March, anda complete list appearedin the NTABu l l e tin of April, 1969. The collection includ e dfil ms t r i p s, re c o r ds, books, tapes, and magazines .
curingthe same time periOd the Councilal s o enteredinto discuss ionswiththe Facultyof Education to promotetheus e of a specificoral Frenchprogramto upgrade the oral language sk illsof pr os pecti ve Frenc h teache rs. curing the summer of 197 0 Champdoizea u met wi t h Dr. G.A. Hickman, Dean of the Facul ty of Educat io n , on at lea s t one occasion to furthe r comment on what was seen by atle a s t 90me executivemembersof the Councilas ala c kof well-qualifie dFrench teachers. More specifically, as outlinedina lette r to DeanHickman, quoted in the 1969-70Annual Re po rt, Council askedthe Faculty of Educationto help prosp ectiveteache rswho wou l dbeusi ngthe te xt 1& franc a is partQut, and re qu e s t ed th a t the Faculty of Education adopt the prog ra mVoix et Imag e s de France, for
those studen t s whose "flue nc y ne e ded to be upgraded-.
However , since theteach ing of French la nqu a ge sk i llswali the re s pon s i b ility of th eDepartJ:lentof Roma nce t.anquagesrat her than tha t of the Faculty of Educati on , the la t t e r did not aasuee thistask . Nonethe less the programwas later usedin the Summe r Inst itute for French teachers, an in-se rvic e proqram developed by the Department of Education and the FaCUlty of Educ ation, in conjunction with the Department of Romance Languages, to assist practising teachersto upgrad e theiroralskills and developappropriate teaching techniques for the new aUdio-lingual programs adopted for use in the prov ince .
Imp rovi ngthe qualityof French instructionbyimpro v i ng the Frenchla ng uage competence oftea c h e r s is a theme that ....as also ve ry evident in correspondence with the provinc ial DepartmentotEd ucation and with the HTA. OnJune12, 1970, Ch ampd oi ze au wrote to the Hinister ot Education , r.w. Ro....e. expressingthe Council'svi e ws on a numberotit e lDs , inc l Uding the fact that the numbers ot Fren.:'" teachers in some elementaryschools appea r e d to be decreasing. Inhis re p l y, ROW6 clearly abrogated responsibility tor inc reasi ng the statusof French. He wrote:
In re p l y to yourlett er ot June 12 expressingKLei s dlsappoln tmlln t at a pr o posed los s of French teache r s inth e ele:a.enta ry gra de s, the Department of Educat ion ••• has not taken any act i o n wh ich
would reduce the all ocat i on of French teachers to elementary schools. Any cha nge s of this kind ... ar e ma de at the board level AS a result of local decis i on s .
.. .it is unli kely tha t the Department .... ill attempt to co nt r o l the type of specialists which the schoolboard may wish to hire.
It appears like ly tha t the improvement of Frenchla ng ua gein~truction in the provincemay be influenc ed by the workof qroups such as the Hodern Language Counciltoconvi nce schoolboards,and the publi c ingeneral,of its importance.
A le t t e r dated June 19, 1970, and attached to the 1969-70 Annual Repot:'t is a repl y from Shelburne McCurdy, Execu t ive Se c r e t a ryatthe Newfoundland Te a c h e r sI Association. Mc Curd y wrote to Cha mpdo i zeau:
Tha nk yo u for your letter contain ing the recommendationofthe Modern Languages Council of the NTA that the HTA approach school boards with a view to stressing the importance of a second language inourschoo l s. I will place this lette r beforeou r Table officers at their next meeting for theircon siderat ion.
During the1969-70sc hoo l year the Councilco nt r i but e d to a French teachers' workshopheld at curling on the province's west coast. It also began to develop communication with
21 or g a ni zati o nsou tsid e tho province. InOctober, 1969, Daphne Col l i n s.anexecutivemember ,attended a meetingof the French LanguageCOlll.lDis sio n of the CanadianTea chers' Federation.
Two dev elopmen ts hlq hl ighted the 1970·71 sc h oo l year.
The first wasa maj or conference/"'orks hopsponsoredby KLe, the Department ot Ro ma nc e Lanqu a q 8 s . Faculty of Educ ation (Cur r i c Ulum andInstruction) and theprovincialDepartmentot Edu c a tion. The workshopwas held inthe G.A.Hi c kma n Building atMe mo r I a l unive r sit y, St.John's, wtthone hundred and ten teacherspresent. Alth oug h th e maj o ri t y werefr om theAva l o n PeninsUla, there were othe rs rep rese nting all area s of the province . The worksho pwasorga nizedthrough th eFac ul t yof Educ ation, which had by this timeappointeda faCUltymember responsible for Fre nc h teacher tra in ing. Pr o f e s s o r Joan Netten, assistedbyMauriceChampdoizeau of MLe,contactedall sc hooldistr i ctstoencourage themto sendillrepresentative . Th iswa s the fi r s t provincial confe renceforFrench teac hers.
In order to place FrenchteaChingina national context, and to assist pa rtici p a nt s in developinga plan for Newfoundland, Dr.H.H. ste r n , Directorof the Modern Langu a ge Centreof the Ont a r i o Institute for Studies in Educa tion and a. world - reno wne dsecond -language educator,wasinvitedto be the main speake r .
Asurveyadministere dat theendofthe con f e r e nc e by the Fa c ul ty of Educationpro v ides a portrai t ofpartic ipants. Of theeig hty-s even who compl e t e dthe questionnaire,60 percent
22 were teaching t ....o or more ot h e r sub jects in addition French. More th a n half had not studied French beyond the sec o nd year level at HUN and eighty-six percent had no methodo l og yccu eses(r a c u l ty of Education Su rve y,October2.4, 1970)•
A second highlight was the presenceof an MLC exe cut i ve me mbe r at a major conference outsidethe province. The Annual Report of 197 0-71 indicates that Chesley Warren, vice- president, attended the 2nd International Conference of the Ont ario Modern Languages Teachers' Association and the New '{ork Schools Associati on of Foreign Language Teachers. The invitation to attend this conference had been extended to ProfessorJoan Netten,who hadbeen askedtowork withthe HLC sinceher appointment to the FacultyofEd uc a t i o n . She felt thati t would be more helpful to have insteada Hewfoundland teacherattend. After the presentation of this idea at a meeting of MLC, Chesley Warren was chos e n to attend the conference in Toronto.
Accordin; to the Annual Report (1970-71) Champdoizeauwas still president. Warren was vi c e - p re s i d e nt (although he assumed theof fi c e of President la te r in the year), Barbara Sown of Bell Island was secretary, and Margaret Stobie, St.
John's, treasurer. There were forty-five paid members, twenty-five from St. John'S. Meetings were held monthly at Holy H;:oart of Mary Regional High School.
2J The 1971 -72 sc h oe l ye~r SIIW th e consolida tion and cont i nuationof501118earli erinitiative s . cne sWarre n served as president, and the newexecutive consisted of Elizabeth Greene,sisterSesk,HelenHannan.H.Cot t e r asCommun i c a tion s officer (a first for the council). andCh a lllpdoizellu35 past- presiden t. TheHLC helped host the secondpro v i nc ialwo r k sh op whic hwas heldatQueen's coll ege,St.John' s ,onMarch 24and 25. This confere nce,or ga nized pri mar ilybyBo ydPelle y , the firs t Fre nc hco nsulta nt at the Depar tm e nt of Education , WIIS spo ns o r e d by the Depa r tm ent of Educat ion, the Fa cul t y of Ed uc a ti o n, and the HLe . Two hundredte ache rsparticipated , withrepres enta t i ve s fr om allscho o ldist ri c t s in the prov I nce pr esent. The main pu rposeof the con fe r e nce was to provide inse rv i c e trainingforteache rsre l atedtothete a chingoftwo new se ts of curriculUII mat e ria l s - -r..e frA ncais Pa rt o u t and
COUtSmoyen. Speake rsfrOm out sidethe pr ov i ncewere invited to demonstratethe newma t e ri al s. Th e rewere als osched uled soci al events, inclUdin g entertainme nt by lo c al Frenc h stud en ts (Annual Report 1971-72 ). Pr•• ide n t Wa r r e n in his Annual Repo rt deemed the con f e r e nc e tohave been , "•••very suc cess f ul, thoug hthe agenda seeme d crowded" .
Althouqhmembe r s hi plev e l s werest i ll not as high as th e execut i vewouldhave liked, th e y were inc r e as i ng. In 19 71-7 2 there were fiftypaid members, withthefee again setat two doll a r s. Thirt yot the s e were frolll St. John's. Despi t e the cons i d era b l e partic ipation of teache rs at the con fere n ces,
"
this interest did not, at this time, translate into MLC me mbe r s hi p . This result lllay be due, at leastin part, tothe fact that the conferences were not yet associated with jus t the MCLC. The Counc il ....as only one of several agenc ie s involved in the organizational aspects of the conferences that ha d been held.
In 1971-72 tihe sit@ at' the monthly meetings changed from Holy Heart of Mary Regional High School to the library of the provincialNTA building. As well, the NTA providedregular space for 'The French Corner' in The Bulletin {Annu a l Report 1971-72). Warren'sAnnual Report for 1911-72 indicated that progress had been made in furthering all aims of the constitution, although reference to these aims was not explicit. He reported:
..• materials added to resource centre at the NTA library •• • worked with provincial curriculum committee and urged HUN and the Department to provide more French language and methodology courses ••• need a creditcourse with emphasis on aural/oral..•
Warren also noted that the Department of Education had,partly due to lobbying by MLe, sponsored a short immersion-like teacher inservice in the summer of 1971. The Annual Report (1971-72) indicated that MLC had become a member of the Canadian Association of Second Lanquage Teachers, with Sister Eileen Sesk as representative.
2.
Inan at te mptto expa nd its membe rsh i pand broaden its repre s ented1llnq u ag e s.theCounci l invit edte ach e r sotce raan at Ho ly Heart ot Mary Re g io nal High Schoo l and Bish op ' s Colleqe to joIn , wit h ".•.the hope that they become II pez-eenent;andlarg epa r t of theCou ncil" (Annual Repo rt,1971- 72). This statemen t seems to indic a t e th a t the Counc il may ha v e be e n somewha t naive in i ta understand i nq of the prov ince's cur ri culum, as the te a ching of Ge rma n was never widespreadinthe pro v ince,norwa s itspec ifi c al ly encouraqed bythe Departmentof Education.
The themesof the beginn i ngyea rscontinue dto dominate. In the 19 7 1 -72 Annual Report, futu r e plans included lIlo r e province-wid e me mbers h i p, a newslet te r,addlnqto the resource cent r eand con t inued lobby i ngof KUN topro v i de cr edi t course s for aural/oral skills.
While the immedi a t e responseby agen c iessuch as the NTA, the Department of Education, and HUN might no t have beenall that the exec ut. i v e . hope d , theact i onsof these t'irst. yea rs ve re nonetheless importan t . Teacherspart i c ipated in major provi ncia l wo rk shop s. It was throughthispa rtic i pa t ion that they began to be aware of nationaltrends inse c ond language teaching. In turn this activity gave executive member s experience in pla nn i ng furth e r professio n al dev elop ment init iativesat ho me. The staging of aprovinc i a l conference, with local and nat i o n al sp "akers, would la t er bec o me a key function of the Council. The sense of community felt by
26 teachers ....ho attended the se conferenceswould bevi t a l in the forgingof an id e n ti t y for the orga n iza tion.
One of themos t noteworthydevelopments in this period mentioned in the Annual Registrationbut not in the Ann ual Report, ....as the startof several regional councils . In the 1971-72Annual Registra tion,Labrador , and the East Coast(St.
John's) ....ere listed as ha vi ng regional coun c il s , while
"...three others are to be formed" . However,no doc umentation givesdetailsof theseoperations.
The Council's ent rance unto the national scene du r i ng this period was al s o significant. The tr i ps by executive members to various conferences and the membership ee the Councilin CASLT mark thebeg i nn i ng of longte rm communication and involvementatthe national level withot he r teachersof French.
Finally, despite the still small membership and the executive 'sconcern wit hthis pro blem,some prog resswasmade 1n moving the council and its services away from its St.
John' s orientation. While the provi ncial workshops and the estab lishment of regional councils we r e probably the most impor ta nt factors in this 1evelopment , the resour ce ce nt r e , involvement of more teache rs at the executivelevel, loosening of ties with the Department of Romance Langu a ge s , and increase dcOllUDunication swerears c co ntri buting fac t ors.
27 The oitUcu!t u a n , 1972-1978
The period from1972-78 was a relati velyinacti ve time forthe Hodern and Classical Languages Council. Despite the sense of optimismpermeatingthe Annual Report of 1971-72.the next six years were marked by few new developments , and in fac t a decl ine in SOme already begun - to the extent thatthe co unci l was al mo s t defunctby 1978. Host of the documents available fr om this time relate to financial and administrative matters. There is little information on the
French project, professional inservice,
int e r a c t i o nwith MUNand the Department of Education. It is reasonable to aseuee that there was little activity of this type initiatedby the Cou n c i l.
In 1972-73there were forty-five paidmembers. According tocor r e s pon d en c e between N. Ray Wight.secretary-treasurerof the NTA and Helen Hannon, treasurer of MCLC, the Council received $310 from the NTA, a $200 basic grant, and $110 based on member ship. They were also entitled to a conferencegrant of $200but thereisno indication that this money ....as applied for, and, in fact, no conference was held. During 1972-73 sister Eile en seek , an executive member attended the conference of the canadian Association of Second Language Teachers at Regina and ....as subsequently elected secretary- treasurer of that organization. (Sister Sesk would go on to become the first female President of CASLT.)
28 The most significant devel opment of th i s periodwas the gr owth of regi onal counc i l s. In 1973 - 7 4, two regio n a l Councils out s id e St. JOh n's were active. One wasbase d in Gr a n d Fal l s an d the othe r in Labrador city. Th e Reg i o nal sp ec i a l Interestco u nci l for Central Newfou ndlandwas le dby the presid ent , c.L. Buffett , with other exec utive me mbers beingGra c e Gill, Bev erleyButler, BrotherBr ianEnglish,and She ila Redmond. Its me e ting s were held at Gr a nd Falls Academy. and it listed its potentialmembershipas thirty. No ind i c a ti on sof actual membershipare gi v en. Th e se c ondgroup, the Carol Lake French Language cou nc il , was ledby pres ident Wilson Horwo od, with Elizabeth Sawka, J. Wya tt, and Ray oraeten,asmembers oftheexecutive. Bothgroups,accord ing to theReg iona lSp ec i a l Intere s t Cou nc ils 'An nu a lRe gis tr a tion Formsfo r 1973-74 , applied for and receiveda $20 0gr a ntfrom th e NTA, even though the Central Ne wfou nd land grou p established itsof f i cia l start-up date as september of 191 4. At theprov inc ial level SisterEile en Se sk was Pre s i d en t with Hubert Hillier,Ar l e ne McCann,Sist e rv.Aucoinand Allan Go odridgeholding the other executive pos it ions. The Annual Registration formgave the total provinc ia l me mbe r s h i p fo r 197 3-74 at fifty.
The next three years were characterized by me mbe r s hi p loss , commun i c a t i-:tn difficultiesand financialproblems. It was defin itelya period of decline for theor g a n i z a tio n. By 197 4 - 7 5 , the AnnualRegistration reported a membershipofon l y
29
twe nt y - fi ...e, down fifty percent trom theprevious year. In both 1974-75 and 1975w 7 6 income for the council, from all sout-cea, was approximately$1000per year. Three reqionals were li sted in the Registration of 1974-75 : st. John ' s, Labrador City, and Grand Falls but in the space reserved for theiractivities , nothing was recorded.
Honey granted to the HLC in 1975-76 was substantia ll y less than the amountsrequestedbythe Council. The executive had requested $1 975 for the 1976-77year. In respondingto this request, HerleVo k e y of the NTA wrote to Allan Goodridge on June 15, 19 76:
.. .the Sp ecia l Interest Counci l Co ordinat ing Committee felt that it was unlikely thatit would be able to accede to your request of $1975.00for the co mi ng ye a r. •..your council shouldhave the first opportunity to make sene suggesti ve cutbacks. While ask i ng direction from the MCLC, Vok e y went on to describe two possible cuts: send an observer from the St.
John'sarea (as opposed to anotherpart of the province) to the NTA annual general meeting to be held in St.John's, and secondly, reduce the cost of executive meetings. This had been listed asa ma.jor budgeta.ry item.
By 1976-77 membership levels were at their lowest and in it i a t i ve s and activitieswere at avi r tua l standstill. The provincial executive for the year-Alan Goodridge, president, along with Elizabeth scwxe , Brenda Keough, sister seek and
ElizabethMurphy,wereall,with the except i on of Sawka, from the St. Joh n ' s area and yet no execut i ve meetings were reported for theye ar. Accordingto the Annua l Re giS 1"_r at io n there were thirty-five members. However , in fact the me mbe r s hi p fee, which had by nowbeenra isedto $3.50. had .been collectedfromonlyni ne people. There were,accordi ng to the same report, no ex e cu ti ve meetings or in-servi c e activities. The Council spent $955 to se nd t ....o execut i ve members to out-of-provinceconferences , that of the Ontario Modern LanguagesTeachers Association and CASLT. Only two regionalswere listed : St . John'S and Labrador Ci ty, but aga inno reports werefile d by these branches. Since there wereonl yninepaid members theconclusionmustbe drawn that there were few members other thanthos e se rv i ng in execu tive positions. In answerto the question "Does your Counc ilmeet ona r-equLa z- basis?",th e executivehadresponded "no" (Annua l Registration1976-77).
Despitethese obviouslyseriousdiff iCUlties,execut i ve plansfor 1977-78....ere ambitious. They requested$3000 for a workshop , another $3000to send fourpeople to a Canadianand an American conference, and a [ur t h e r $1382 for other expenses. TheNTAIS response to thisrequestca mefr om George Williams, Exe c ut i v e Assistant, Professional De v e l o pme nt. Writing to Allan Goodridge , Williams reduced the out-o t - province it e ms to $600 and asked fo r turther details with respect to theproposedst.John 'swork.shop. Thisin fo rma t ion
Jl
was se nt to the NTA. Wi l lia ms, in the Fall of 19 7 7-7 8 , acknowledg ed rec e ip t atth e confe r en c einforma tio n and gr",n t ed the council an additional $2200 fo rtheconference.
At this point somepressure wa s beingexerted on the MLC to be comelIIore act ive. There wa s a need to undertake some type of provincia l professional development ac t i vit ie s in orderto mainta inthe exist e nc e ofth e coun cil . Infac t , it may be suggested that the increase in membersh ip in th e council in 1973; and the cre a tio n of the first regl o nal councils were th£l results of the succ es s of the fi rst two provincial wo r ksho ps in wh ich meml:le rs of the I1LC ha d par t i c ipa t ed. The su bseque nt decline 1n membership and the number of regional councils wa s und o ubtedl y rel ated to the lack.of high profileactivity(:oIuchasthat as socia t e d witha provinc ialconference) on the part ot the provinc i alcouncil.
One of the difficulties fac i ng the Co un c i l wa s relatedto the membership of the execut i v e group s. The. prov i nc i a l executivewas pri mar il y composed of teac hers in the St.Joh n's area,andthedi stinct i o n be tweentheprovi nc i al exe c utive and that of the st.John'sRegiona lcounci lofte n be came confu s e d.
Thi s pr ob lem lat er le d to admin i strat i ve misunderstandingsandfinancia l dif fi cu lt ies.
However, per ha ps the more serious problemwas a lack of experienc e in pro f e s si o nal developme ntamong st the executive members. A.lthoug hde fini te lyint e res t e d in thecounc il. and committedtoFr en c h educa tion no substan t ial trainingin adult
J2 organiz ationalleadersh iphad bee nprovided . Inspiteof many me etings anddiscussio ns ,no defi niteac c IvttIesmaterialized. In197 6-77, itbecame appar"ntto the execut ive thata thirdprovincia lworkshopshou l d be undertaken. Inthe spring of 1977 , the President, AlanGoodridge,approached sroree e oe Netten at Me mor i a l University to as k for assistance in organizingan annual conference. Netten prepared anoutline forwo r k s h op organization , listsof necessary committees, and duties for each committee. The Council accepted thi s information,proceededto esta blishcommitteesand organ izea provinc ial in-s e rvice. This conferencewas reallythe first one which was organized and car riedout by theHLe. It proved success f ulin establishingthe Coun cilasa trulyprofes s i ona l group ....hich cou l d manage its own affairs and effective ly deliverprofessional de v e l opme nt trainingto its membership.
At this confe rence, annualelectionswere held . Anew executivewas chosen, and a newera in the life of theCo unci l began.
The YursotGrow th. 1978-1989
Th e year 1978-19 was tru ly a wa t e r s he d year for the Mode rn Languages Council. Fo r th e first time the pres ident and almost all executive me lllbe rs were from off the Avalon Peninsula. Beingcent redin a diff e r en t a.rease emed to mark a new beginning. The exe c ut ive r~captured ma ny of the
J3 pro fess i ona l development initiativ·"S tha t executives ha d pl a nn e dinthefirstseveral ye a rsof the Counc i l 'sexistence. The execu ti ve of 1978-79 did a great de a l to return th e council to its origina l aims and to re-establ isha qrovth pat t e r n.
The Regional Cou n cil of Labrador City. the Carol Lake French Lanqu a qe Counc il, was quite imp ort a n t in the revitali zat ionof theprovincial MLe. The Presid e nt for1978- 79 ....as E1izabeth sc vx e, a high schoo l te ac her in Lab r ado r City. Other executive me mbe r s were Past President , Ala n Good ridge , Moun t Pe a r l , Ray O'Brie n, then at Harystown, but previously of Labrador City,and SIsterJoyce Mur ray,Raymon d Condon, and BettyTobin,all of Lab radorCit y . WayneRussell, pr e s e nt executive directorwi t h theNTA, says that it isnot su rp rising thatLabrador City wo ul dhav e been a qrolofthcentre for the Council . The area'sproximityto Quebec, it s poolof bilingual people,and the growingemphasis on French education in LabradorWest werecontributi ng factors . Added to thiswas th e favourable financial stateof the school district, it s emphasis on professiona l devel opme nt and its active re c ru itme nt of people "'he wou l d likely be interested and invo lved in professiona l activ it i es.
Some of the exe cutive s main concerns were simila r to th o s e no t e d in Warrenls AnnualRepo rtof 1971-72. One of thesewasth e prob l emoflowmeml:lershi p. Ac cordingtoan MCLC updatewrit t e n bySa wka in January of19 79 , a majorthrus t for
the year wouldbe to establ ish t....o-....ay contact"lith all those invo l ve d withlanguageteaching . scvka expresse d dismaytha t ou t of thepos sibl e700 to aooFI-ench tea ch ers eli g i b l e fo r membership , ve ry few weremembers of the Counc il. Another goa l me nt ione d in thissameup da t e was "to establ isha sys t e m of cl ea r and detailed records so the tra ns i ti on to new executives can be done smoothly". This reaction was in response to the difficultiesthe LabradorCitybased executi....e had in establishingitself and gett.ingae c e s s t.o records of the previous exe cutive .
During the ....inter of 1978-79 seve ral piece s of correspondence invol vingpre sentand past exeeuti vesas "Iell as the NTA, ind i c a t e d soma problem with the transferof power- to Labrador . OnJa nua ry 19, 1979 Sawka wrota to Herlevokey , NTA, stating that the Labrador City executive was ha v i ng prob lems receivingdocumentati on, materials and monies from the outgoing executive. Th e situationha d no t been fully resolved by the executivemeeting of February10, 1979. The minutesnote that:
Concernwas expressed about the St. John's branch us i ng the same account as previously used by the prov i ncial co unc i l and over its tendency thus far to function somewhat as a provincial. It agreed that A. Goodridge would take up theseis s u e s with the st. John's execut ive.
A key deve10plllent in1978 - 79was the work and gr owt h of additional re gio na l council s. The Annual Regis tration lis ted thr e e regionalsl St. John ' s, Labrado r West, and the Burin Pe ni ns ula . Whil e two othe rs being fOr:Jlled reest a b lishe d, one in Cent r alNe wfou ndl a nd and theot h e r in the Port-au-Port area.
Financial ma t t e r s were becoming increas inqly complex. The year' s bu~_getexce e d e d$10, 000, withmoneybeingused to fu nd a conference, fo r deleqate travel to out -o f -p rovince con fer e nces, and for executive meetinqs. The Annual Registration to r 1978-79 st ated that the Department ot' Ed uc a t i o n had provided $6000 for teachers to attend a ccn r e r e nc e in197 7-78: however, in a note in earlyspr ing of 1979 to sch ool distr i ct French program coo r d i nator, Ray Condo n , secretary-treasurer of the Counc i l,wrote th a t it was high l y un likely there WOUld be any fund ingto assi s t with transportat ionin 1978-79 .
Inotherma t t e r s, the 1978-79executive, in conjunct ion witha by- l aw rev isioncommittee.added the pos i t ionof past president to the executiv e , and co mbine d the positi ons of secret ary and treasurer. Atan executivemeetingon February 10 , 1979, it was suggest e d thatfut u r e provincial executives shou l d meet a minimu mof three ti me s per year . The first meeti ng of each executive 's term of office wou l d include representatives from each re gional (;ouncil. It was also suggestedthat ccpIes of annu al re po r ts be distributedto any
newand existing reg iona l co uncil s. At the sameme et i ngothe r by-lawrev isions wereproposed. First, thatthe name of the cou nc il, of f ic iallyModern andCl a s s i c a l LanguagesSpe c i ali s t council , be changed to Modern Languag es council/Conseil des Lanqu e s xcdernee• Ase c o nd rev i sionwas propos edtoallow for two categoriesofme mbe rs h i p - activeand associate. At the same meeting the execctdve discussed cr e a t i ng a logo, unde r t a ki ngamembershipdr ive , cne ex pr eesed conc ernthat a large portionof thebUdgetwas spenton travel. The minutes ind i c a t e that MLC feltthe NTA shouldstUdy thi slatterissue.
Curing1978- 79the Council, particularly the executive, wasinvol vedin severalis s ue s and projects that helpedfos t e r theaims of the organizat ion. The Council st a r t e d to be c ome more knowl e dge a b l e about French immersion programs. Ray Condo n attendedand reportedon the annual con f ere nc e of the canadian Association of Immersion Teachers. Immersion sessions were also included in the schedule for the MLC conference. Ea r l y in the yearsc wxa sent a brief on the role ofFr e nc h in post-secondaryeducation to Merle Vokey, Oirector of Pr o f e s s i o na l Development with the NTA. The executi ve encouraged participation by French teachers in "Teachers Talking to Teachers" (T4) a professional development program of the NTA. For the first time, a newsletter was produced. From April 26-28, MLC held a provincial conference at St.
John"s , Plans tor the workshop began early in the year.
Topics addre.ssed included oral testing, motivation, careers
37 us ing french , compulsory or optional secondary Frenc h, and French i _elsion. One hundred and twent y- s even teachers at tended the conte rence, which was held on the ca mpus of Helllo rial University .
Inhe rAnnual Re p or t at the endotthe school yea r,Sowka called 1978-79 ",••a reorganiza ti onal ye ar tor theCo unci l".
Thework ofth ecouncilsuppo r ted that statement . Throughits newsletter and pa r tici pa t i o n intheT4proqram, as wel l as through the pro vincial confe r ence , the Council acted as a cle ar i nghousetoride a sanda source of nevdev elopments. It sough t toimp rove teaching techniques , and gavead v ic etothe NTA and the De pa rtment of Educa tion on matte rs related to Fren ch educat ion. With thiscommit me ntandcaref ullyplanned progra m, the executi ve ha d no di f f icul t y build i ng its membership. By theendof 197 8 -79, th er eve r e onehun d redand fif ty- tva paidmembe rs.
In ma ny ways thesuc c e s ses of 1978 - 79we reare fl e cti on of the increa sing empha sis on Fr ench education at the provi ncia l and nationa llevel s . The re was afe der al politica l cOllUllli tmentto French, as demo ns trated by monie sma d e av ai l ab l e to the provi nc e s through a variety of proq ram s: teacher burs ari es for study in Frenc h area s, trave l subsid i es to confe r en ces , co nfere ncegrants, and 11 spe cia l grantfo r the fund ing of Fre nc h program coordinat ors for sc hooldistricts.
It was a time of ne w curriculum and methodologies, the expan sion of core Fre nch and the beg inni ng of Fr e nc h
"
immersion. By this ti me many teachers had experienced the Summer Inst itutesand were more competent and confident . All of these fac t o r s , combi ne d with the energies of an enthusiastic , experienced executive co nt r i but e d to the successes of 19 7 8- 79 , and formed the ba si s for co n t inue d expansi on into the19809.
The high level of activity of 1978-79 continu ed the following year under the direction of President Glenn Loveless, French program coordinator with the Pentecostal AssembliesSchool Board . A new slate of officers representing se v e r a l geographical areas and denominations ....as chose n:
Peter Heffernan, Cynthia Haynes, Cecelia Bungay, with ElizabethSowka as past president. The total revenue for the year as reported in the December, 1980, newsletter wa s
$17,736 .8 0, a siC]nificant proportion coming from federal funding made available through the provincialDepartment of Education. Membershipagain increased, with the newsletter reporting one hundred and ninety members.
Funding was no t a serious problem for the MLC at this time. Starting March I, 1974, a formal agreement between the provinc::es and the federal government had been implemented.
Through this arrangement, coordinated by the Office of the Secretary of State, mo n i e s were gi ven to provincial governments to create or subsidize initiatives related to bilingualism in education. In the beginning funds from this plan were used for teacher travel. This use was short lived.
39
xcveve r , fundingwas co n s i s t e n t l y made availabletohelp with other costs related to provincial conferences. During the 197 9 - 8 0 executive 's term of office, MLC lobbied to make ce r t ai n that these federalgrantswent directly into billnqu al education instead of being diverted into general revenue. On April 29, 1980, a petition si g n e d by 130 French teachers requestingthat the funds be used for the purposeintended by the federal government was presented toEd uc a t i o n Minister LynnVerg e . The gov ernmentagreed with the MLC andon June 9, 1980, Lov ele s s, on behalf of the Council wrote to Ve rge congratulating her onthis positive step.
At the beginning of 1979-80,the executive helped in the preparation and organizationof a number of briefsreacting to the Task Force on the Reorganization of the Senior High School program. At a general provincial Task Force Meeting of October 19-20, 1979, delegates u ... expressed great concern over the low profile given to the Religious Education, French..•components".
Submissions were made by the Burin, St. John's, Carol Lake and Western Regionals, as well as the provincial executive. MLC also receivedcopies of reactions formulated by the Ad Hoc Committee of French Coordinators an.d several individual coordinators. Among the problems notedby these groups vas the overall status of French, the lack of reference to French at the primary and elementary grades and the low profile given French at the senior high school level.
'0 Amid~year update for the 1979-80 council listed the accomplishmentsoftheHLC from Sep tember to December, 19 8 0. Briefshad been prep ared tore a ctto thaTa sk Force as well as toth e Sub-Commi tteeon CurriculumReorga nization. There was a membership dr ive and a pub l i sh e d newslette r. Pla ns ":" r e being made to revita lize the central regional, and a rep resenta ti ve , Elizab e t hse vx e , hadbe en se nt totheCana di a n As s oc i at i o n of Imme rsionTeachers Co n f ere nce . Preliminary plans for a provincial conference were underwa y . This activity was expected to occupy th e executive during the remainde r of the ye a r. The exe cu tive wasalsoconsidering prepa ring a bri e f history ofth e Counc il ,but thisproj ect did not materiali ze.
The pr o v i nc i al conferencewas hel d at st. John 's from April 30 - Ma y 2, 1980. One hundred and eig ht y teachers gatheredto participat ein a selectionof fiftee nsmallgrou p sessio ns and tolistentoke ynoto speaker , Roge rTremblay of theUniversityof Shebroo ke, Que bec . The event alsoSaWthe first majo r formal banquet ho sted by MLC at a provi nci al meeting.
That 1979 -80 ....as anotheryea rofgr o wt h anddevelopmen t for theMLC is evide ncedby the exp anding ran ge of Co uncil acti v it ies , the inc rea se in members hi p and the size of the annual conf e rence. Accordi ng totwoot herexe c ut i ve me mbers much of this success was due to the leaders hippro v ided by
41 PresidentGlennLove l e s s. Peter Heffernan wrote to Loveless onMay 7. 1980:
•.• I want yo u toknow that my collaboration with you during one year on the MLC executive has been a most pleasant experience for me. 'iour cooperative leadership qualities ...must be a boon to your district.
Th i s was echoed in a separate letter from Elizabeth Sawka exp re s sing, "... sincere appreciation for year's collaborationwhere I always felt the truthful interest (t o be] for the Modern Languages Council".
The deve repaeneof the regional councils was a major characteristic of this period. The Carol Lake Regional Co unc i l. for example, had about twenty members. They were inv o lve d in regular me e t i ng s , sc h o o l French ClubS, professional representation at provincial and national conferences . as well as loc a l workshops and social events.
Si mil a r ac t i v i t i e s were undertaken by otherbranches. such as the Burin and Western. In addition. the Central Newfoundland council Regional, this tillle based 1n Lewisporte. reactivated in January, 198 0.
On December 6, 1980. the Western Reqional, with approximately t ....enty-five paid members. held "une journee d'i1nIllers ion " at Dhoon Lodge on the port-au-Port Peninsula.
Under the presidencyat sister Gladys Bozec, Frenchprogram co-ordinatorfor the Port-au-Port Roman Catholic School Board,
