Authors
Developed by Canadian Core French/FSL educators for Canadian classrooms!
Senior Editor and Series Author
Dr. Irene Bernard, St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia
Irene Bernard received her doctoral degree from The Pennsylvania State University in French Canadian language and culture. Since then she has taught at three universities in Nova Scotia as well as in the public school system.
Dr. Bernard has worked in the field of French education in Nova Scotia since 1976. In addition to developing strong French education programs for undergraduates at both Nova Scotia Teacher’s College and St. Francis Xavier University, she has been involved in organizing many programs for French teachers including summer French immersions and methodology short courses.
In 1998, she completed an elementary Core French program published by Prentice-Hall Ginn titled Acti-Vie, for which she developed the pedagogy and acted as Senior Author and Series Editor. In 2006, the Communi-Quête program with Oxford University Press was completed. Dr. Bernard set the pedagogy and served once again as Series Editor and Senior Author of this program. Communi-Quête was developed as a team effort with outstanding second language educators across the country.
Through her writing and publishing projects, Dr. Bernard has had the opportunity to work with teachers and consultants in second language education throughout Canada. She has delivered workshops for various national and provincial teachers associations. She has also worked with teams of teachers wishing to develop their curriculum writing skills.
In 2000, Dr. Bernard was awarded the Patricia Douglas Lifetime Membership Award by the Nova Scotia Language Teachers Association for her long time commitment and devotion to French language education in Nova Scotia and across the country. In 2001, Dr. Bernard won an Outstanding Teaching Award from St. Francis Xavier University. She has recently been nominated for an Association of Atlantic Universities Distinguished Teacher Award for excellence in university teaching over a number of years.
Dr. Bernard maintains an interest in French Canadian language and culture. She is also currently working on a research project titled “L’Acadienne néo-écossaise se raconte.” Acadian women of 70+ years are being interviewed and their life stories are being recorded on digital video. Dr. Bernard has presented findings on Acadian women in Louisiana and in Europe.
Senior Authors
Beverley Biggar
Beverley Biggar began her undergraduate degree at the University of Western Ontario where she studied French and Spanish. She obtained an Honours Bachelor of Arts in French from Laval University in Québec City and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Toronto. She taught French as a second language (FSL) in the Halton District School Board and English as a second language in Ontario and Manitoba.
Ms. Biggar has extensive experience in the publishing industry. She started her career at Copp Clark Pitman where she was editor of several FSL projects and supplementary resources. Subsequently, she became developmental editor of French resources at Addison-Wesley, then Managing Editor of the FSL department at Prentice Hall Ginn, followed by FSL Publisher at Oxford University Press Canada.
While at Prentice Hall, Ms. Biggar worked under the guidance of Dr. Irene Bernard to co-author a successful Grades 4–6 FSL series, Acti-Vie 1–3. The authoring partnership continued at Oxford University Press with the Grades 7–9 series, Communi-Quête 1–3.
Ms. Biggar is currently pursuing graduate studies in second language learning at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.
Dr. Joseph Dicks
Joseph Dicks is Director of the Second Language Research Institute of Canada within the Faculty of Education, University of New Brunswick. He teaches courses in the areas of bilingualism, second language acquisition, French second language pedagogy, and research methods. Before working at the University of New Brunswick, Dr. Dicks taught French as a second language at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels. His scholarly interests include teacher education, attitudes and motivation, best practices, and program evaluation in FSL contexts. Recently, he has worked as an author on several units of Communi-Quête, the French as a second language series published by Oxford University Press.
Helen Lockerby
Helen has been involved in French Second Language Education for 27 years. She has dedicated most of her career to teaching Core French at elementary and intermediate levels. Helen also worked as Core French consultant at the PEI Department of Education for 7 years. Besides teaching, she has developed curriculum for English Second Language programs and was a contributing or senior author for numerous Communi-Quête units. In 2006, she was the recipient of the Canadian Parents for French PEI Educator of the Year Award. Helen presently teaches Intensive and Core French in a consolidated school in rural PEI where she lives with her husband and 2 dogs.
Anne Normand
Senior Author, Ontario
Anne Normand has taught Core French, French Immersion, and Music to students in grades 1-8 during her 17-year teaching career with the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board. She also held the position of French Consultant for the Board for five years, during which time she was responsible for leading workshops and supervising the piloting and implementation of new FSL resources. Ms. Normand's experience in publishing includes the development of the Ontario Edition of Acti-Vie, and the authoring and developmental editing of several units of Tout-ados. Anne holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in French Language and Literature (Trent University), a Master of Education degree in Curriculum Studies (The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education), and Specialist qualifications in French as a Second Language and Religious Education. She is a part-time instructor at Trent University's School of Education and Professional Learning. Anne spent two years working as Ontario Senior Author and Managing Editor for the FSL department of Oxford University Press while on a leave of absence from teaching.
Contributing Authors
Geeta Allen
While teaching for over two decades, Geeta Allen has maintained a keen interest in motivating students to develop a love of learning French. She currently teaches at the high school level in Mississauga, but has spent most of her career teaching at the grades 6, 7 and 8 levels in the St. James-Assiniboia School Division in Winnipeg. While in Manitoba, Geeta worked with the Bureau de l'éducation francaise of the Department of Education and Training to review and develop curriculum, and to pilot new programs for Core French. She was also selected to participate in a Pan-Canadian project for the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers (CASLT) to prepare a national video on formative evaluation, as well as a provincial video project on methodology.
L'approche de l'enseignement communicative et la motivation des élèves ont guidé Geeta Allen pendant sa carrière comme enseignante de français de base à Winnipeg, Manitoba, entre 1981 et 1999, et maintenant à Mississauga, Ontario. Geeta a enseigné au niveau présecondaire pour la plupart de sa carrière. Elle a collaboré avec le Bureau de l'éducation française, Éducation et formation professionelle au Manitoba pour faire la révision du nouveau matériel, et pour développer du curriculum. Geeta a fait partie du projet pancanadien en évaluation formative pour L'Association canadienne des professeurs de langues secondes (CASLT/ACPLS), et elle a participé à un projet vidéo provincial sur la méthodologie.
Shauna Cadotte
Shauna Cadotte has worked for the Grand Erie District School Board teaching Core French at the Junior level for thirteen years. An ardent believer that motivation is paramount to second language learning, she has conducted workshops on the subject for the Ontario Modern Language Teachers' Association (OMLTA). Her interest in student motivation has inspired her to create innovative and instructive games for second language learners and allowed her to contribute to the field of curriculum development.
Shauna Cadotte est enseignante de français cadre depuis treize ans au Grand Erie District School Board. Elle enseigne aux eleves de la quatrième à la sixième années. Ayant toujours cru que la motivation est une clef importante dans l'apprentissage d'une deuxième langue, elle a dirigé des ateliers à ce sujet pour l'Association ontarienne des professeurs de langues vivantes (AOPLV). Son intérêt pour la motivation l'a incitée à créer des jeux innovateurs et instructifs pour l'eleve d'une deuxieme langue. Elle a contribué au developpement du curriculum en ecrivant les matériaux d'apprentissage.
Devon "Artemis" Chartier
Devon "Artemis" Chartier has taught French since l982. Artemis is a musician with her own CD entitled More Light, which includes songs about making a difference in the world through love and music. Along with Dale Russell, Artemis is also the Co-Founder of the School Alliance of Student Songwriters, a non-profit organization created to help youth express themselves, network with other young artists, and develop their literacy. Artemis is currently teaching Grade 9 Core French and guitar for the Durham District School Board in Ontario.
Jocelyn Drozda Daunheimer
Born in Estevan, Saskatchewan, Jocelyn has been teaching Core French at the middle level in Saskatchewan for thirteen years. She has been actively involved in curriculum implementation and professional development for her colleagues around the province for the past eight years. She has instructed summer sessions and given workshops for various school divisions and conferences. She has received her Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction, in which she focused her research on developing strategic listening skills for students in middle level Core French. She has authored several resources for teachers, and has been part of the executive committee for the Saskatchewan Association of Teachers of French for the past four years. She is married and is a dedicated mother of two small children.
Suzanne Gallant
Suzanne Gallant holds a Bachelor of Arts with a French major as well as a Masters in Education. She taught French as a Second Language for 11 years in Edmundston, New Brunswick (grades 3-11), and, since 2000, has been teaching French Immersion and Science in French (grades 6-8) in Fredericton, New Brunswick. She has given many seminars and presentations on how to make teaching French fun and interactive.
Greg Golden
Greg Golden is a Core and Immersion French teacher with the Halifax Regional School Board. He has been teaching since 1983 and has worked with students at the elementary, junior high, and senior high levels. He has extensive experience in teaching language-learning strategies, core methods, immersion methods, and applied linguistics at the Nova Scotia Teachers' College. Greg is currently teaching at École St. Joseph's A. MacKay in downtown Halifax. He also conducts in-service training sessions in the Communicative-Experiential approach to second-language learning for school boards across Canada.
Myra Froc
Since 1972, Myra Froc has been a teacher of Core French and Immersion programs from K to 8 in British Columbia and Saskatchewan. In 1997, Myra received her Masters degree from the University of Regina, specializing in the assessment of FSL writing and reading. From 1992-2002, Myra served as FSL consultant and on the curriculum advisory committee for the development of Core French in Regina Public Schools. Myra has presented many workshops and inservices locally, provincially, and nationally in the area of FSL education. She is currently a middle years Core French teacher, a vice-principal, and a term lecturer at the University of Regina.
School Board: Regina Public Schools
Helen Lockerby
Born and educated in Halifax, N.S., Helen Lockerby has taught Core French in Manitoba, England, and her adoptive province, PEI. Helen took a break from teaching to follow one of her professional interests, curriculum development and she was the Core French & ESL consultant for the PEI Department of Education for 7 years. Throughout her career, Helen has been actively involved in professional development. She served as president of the provincial Core French Teachers' Association for a number of years and was on the Board of Directors of the national association, CASLT, for 7 years. Helen is presently teaching grades 4-8 Core French in a small rural school and lives in Montague with her husband Tim, a lively crew of dogs, and a big, tolerant cat named Gerald.
Originaire de Halifax, en N.-É., où elle a fait ses études, Helen Lockerby a enseigné le français de base au Manitoba, en Angleterre et à l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard, où elle habite maintenant. Ayant temporairement interrompu sa carrière d'enseignante pour donner suite à un de ses intérêts professionels, soit l'élaboration d'un curriculum, Helen a également été, pendant sept ans, conseillère pédagogique en français de base et en ALS auprès du ministère de l'Éducation de l'Î.-P.-É. Elle a été présidente de l'Association des professeurs de français de base de l'Î.-P.-É. et membre du conseil d'administration de l'ACPLS pendant 7 ans. À l'heure actuelle, Helen enseigne le français de base aux élèves de la 4e à la 8e année dans une petite école rurale et elle habite à Montague avec Tim, son mari, Gérald, un gros chat affectueux et une bande de chiens pleins de vitalité.
Dan Miles
Born in the United States, Dan Miles grew up in countries around the world with a father who worked for an international corporation. His early schooling was in French in France, Tunisia, and Québec, in Spanish in Venezuela, and in English in the US.
As an adult, Dan moved to Canada where he completed a joint Bachelor's degree from McGill University and Université de Paris 11 in environmental geography. He completed his teaching qualifications at Simon Fraser University and his Masters in curriculum development at Gonzaga University.
Professionally, Dan has taught Core French and French Immersion over the past 18 years. While teaching he has been actively involved in all levels of curriculum development including being part of the writing teams for the British Columbia Ministry of Education on the original and the reviewed Integrated Resource Packages (IRP). He has been on many other committees reviewing and developing training for teachers. He has written curriculum for the British Columbia Teachers' Federation. He also has presented workshops across Western Canada in l'approche communicative. For the last seven years he was on the executive of the British Columbia Association of Teachers of Modern Languages, and as president for the last three years. Currently he is the District Vice Principal in charge of French Programs for School District No. 8 (Kootenay Lake), in BC. He also teaches Core French classes as well as middle-school level science' in French.
Né aux États-Unis, Dan Miles s'est élèvé aux pays autour du monde avec un père qui a travaillé pour une corporation internationale. Sa scolarité d'enfance était en français à la France, Tunisie et au Québec, en espagnol au Venezuela et en anglais aux États-Unis.
Comme adulte, Dan a déménagé au Canada et a completé un diplôme universitaire combiné de l'Université McGill et Université de Paris 11 en géographie écologique. Il a obtenu son diplôme d'enseignement de Simon Fraser University et sa maîtrise en développement des programmes à Univeristé Gonzaga.
Professionellement, Dan a enseigné le français de base et de l'immersion pendant 18 ans. Pendant l'enseigner, il participe au développement des programmes de tous les niveaux, y compris sur les équipes d'écriture pour le Ministère de l'Éducation de Colombie Britannique des Ensembles de ressources intégrées (ERI) originals et le révisés. Il était un membre des comités qui révisent et développent l'entraînement pour les enseignants et enseignantes. Il a écrit des programmes pour la Fédération des enseignants et enseignants de la Colombie Britannique. Il a aussi présenté des ateliers à travers le Canada de l'ouest à propos de « l'approche communicative ». Pour les derniers sept ans il était un member du comité dirigeantes de l'association de Colombie Britannique des professeurs de langues vivantes et comme president pour les derniers trois années. À l'heure actuelle, il est le directeur adjoint responsible des programmes français pour School District No. 8 (Kootnay Lake) en Colombie Britannique. Il aussi enseigne les cours de français de base et la science au niveau intermédiare' en français.