Supporting Initiatives Within the Curriculum
Gender Equity
Saskatchewan Education, Training and Employment is committed to providing quality education for all students in the K-12 system. It is recognized that expectations based primarily on gender limit students' ability to develop to their fullest potential. While some stereotypical views and practices have disappeared, others remain. Where schools have endeavoured to provide equal opportunity, efforts are required so that equality of benefit or outcome may be achieved. It is the responsibility of schools to decrease sex-role expectations and attitudes in an effort to create an educational environment free of gender bias. This can be facilitated by increased understanding and use of gender balanced material and non-sexist teaching strategies. Both female and male students need encouragement to explore a wide variety of options based on individual aptitudes, abilities and interest, rather than gender.
In order to reach the goal of gender equity in the K-12 system, Saskatchewan Education, Training and Employment is committed to efforts to bring about the elimination of gender bias which restricts the participation and choices of all members of society. The curriculum strives to provide gender balanced content, activities and teaching strategies described in inclusionary language. These actions will assist teachers to create an environment free of bias and enable both female and male students to share in all experiences and opportunities which develop their abilities and talents to the fullest.
Indian and Métis Content Perspectives
The integration of Indian and Métis content and perspectives with the K-12 curriculum fulfils a central recommendation of Directions, the Five Year Action Plan for Native Curriculum Development and the Indian and Métis Education Policy from Kindergarten to Grade XII. In general, the policy states:
Saskatchewan Education recognizes that the Indian and Métis peoples of the province are historically unique peoples and occupy a unique and rightful place in our society today. Saskatchewan Education recognizes that education programs must meet the needs of Indian and Métis peoples, and that changes to existing programs are also necessary for the benefit of all students. (p. 6)
The inclusion of Indian and Métis perspectives benefits all students in a pluralistic society. Cultural representation in all aspects of the school environment empowers children with a positive group identity. Indian and Métis resources foster a meaningful and culturally identifiable experience for Indian and Métis students, and promote the development of positive attitudes in all students towards Indian and Métis peoples. This awareness of one's own culture and the cultures of others develops self-concept, enhances learning, promotes an appreciation of Canada's pluralistic society and supports universal human rights.
Saskatchewan Indian and Métis students come from different cultural background and social environments including northern, rural, and urban areas. Teachers must understand the diversity of the social, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds of Saskatchewan Indian and Métis students. Educators need cross-cultural education to develop these understandings. Teachers of Indian and Métis students benefit from an increased awareness of applied sociolinguistics, first and second language acquisition theory, and standard and non-standard usage of language. Teachers must utilize a variety of teaching strategies that accommodate and build upon the knowledge, culture, learning styles, and strengths which Indian and Métis students possess. Responsive adaptations are necessary to all curricula for effective implementation.
The following points summarize Saskatchewan Education, Training and Employment's expectations for the appropriate inclusion of Indian and Métis content in curriculum and instruction:
| Curricula and materials concentrate on positive images of Indian, Métis, and Inuit peoples. | |
| Curricula and materials reinforce and complement the beliefs and values of Indian, Métis, and Inuit peoples. | |
| Curricula and materials include historical and contemporary issues. | |
| Curricula and materials reflect the legal, political, social, economic, and regional diversity of Indian, Métis, and Inuit peoples. Indian and Métis Education Policy from Kindergarten to Grade XII. |
Saskatchewan teachers are responsible for integrating into the appropriate units of their programs, resources that reflect accurate and sufficient Indian and Métis content and perspectives. Teachers have a responsibility to evaluate all resources for bias and to teach students to recognize such bias.
Resource-Based Learning in Core French
Resource-based teaching and learning is a means by which teachers can greatly assist the development of attitudes and abilities for independent, life-long learning. Resource-based instruction means that the teacher, and teacher-librarian if available, plan units which integrate resources with classroom assignments, and teach students the processes needed to find, analyze, and present information.
Resource-based instruction is an approach to curriculum which involves students, with all types of resources. Some possible resources are books, magazines, films, audio and video tapes, computer software and data bases, manipulative objects, commercial games, maps, community resources, museums, field trips, pictures and study prints, real objects and artifacts, and media production equipment.
Resource-based learning is student-centred. It offers students opportunities to choose, to explore, and to discover. Students who are encouraged to make choices, in an environment rich in resources, where their thoughts and feelings are respected, are well on their way to becoming autonomous learners.
The following points will help teachers use resource-based teaching and learning:
| Discuss the objectives for the unit or assignment with students. Correlate needed research skills with the activities in the unit, so that skills are always taught in the context of application. Work with your teacher-librarian, if available. | |
| Plan in good time with library staff so that adequate resources are available, and decisions are made about shared teaching responsibilities, if applicable. | |
| Use a variety of resources in classroom teaching, showing students that you are a researcher who constantly seeks out sources of knowledge. Discuss with them the use of other libraries, government departments, museums and various outside agencies in their research. | |
| Ask the teacher-librarian, if available, to provide resource lists and bibliographies when needed. | |
| Encourage students to seek assistance during the course of the assignment or unit. | |
| Participate in and help plan inservice programs on using resources effectively | |
| Continually request good curriculum materials for addition to the school library collection. | |
| Support the essential role of the library resource centre and the teacher-librarian in your talks with colleagues, principals, and directors. |
Why Begin a Second Language Early?
There are many advantages to introducing the student to the study of a second language at an early age. Some of these are:
| Students entering school have already acquired considerable oral mastery of their own language. Children have an innate ability for language learning. At this age, there is no resistance to learning a second language, and this enhances the all-important factor, motivation. | |
| In the early stages of second language learning, imitation and creative re-use are more important than reasoning or formal grammatical analysis. It is by acceptance that vocabulary and structure are acquired. Therefore, in the beginning stages of second language learning, acceptance and a willingness to participate are more important than "logical rightness". | |
| In the beginning stages of second language learning, a good deal of repetition of sounds, vocabulary words, and structures is necessary. Young children accept and expect repetition in nursery rhymes, stories and songs. | |
| Repetition, which in one form or another is necessary for remembering, meets with resistance in older children, even when the themes are more advanced. The phonetic and linguistic content of already familiar children's stories, songs and activities play a considerable part in the early learning of a second language. | |
| Most young children take a new language in stride. They still enjoy experimenting with language, singing, reciting, using gestures, acting, performing. Many of the mother tongue strategies can still be used effectively. | |
| Adolescents and adults cannot simply plunge into a new language. Their learning process is accompanied by far more reticence. Although the older student's interest and motivation are often high at the outset, frustration may soon negate these. Neither adolescents nor adults are prepared to submit to having their thoughts and interests circumscribed by their lack of proficiency in language. Because of vocabulary and structure, they must confine themselves to immediate concrete life situations - and they are long past that stage. To a teenager, errors can be devastating. Language acquisition is most effective when there is a low level of negative affective factors i.e. anxiety, confidence, motivation" (Krashen, 1981). | |
| For these reasons, it is much better for students to complete the awkward initiation into the new language at an early age, so that, when they are teenagers, the nature of their French activities and their proficiency in French will be at a much more advanced level. | |
| At an early age, nearly all students, regardless of intellectual ability, can learn to express themselves orally in another language. Differences in intellectual ability are much more apparent when second language study is begun in later years. | |
| Greater proficiency in second language learning will be achieved if students begin their study as early as possible. The more time spent on study and the greater the opportunities for real communication, the more progress will be made. | |
| It has been demonstrated that students who begin their study of a second language early are superior in pronunciation, fluency and motivation to speak. | |
| Second language study at the elementary level is usually successful. Young children show little evidence of psychological resistance and the desire to translate that older students typically do. They accept playful repetition, can deal comfortably with making errors. They are more at ease with the language and have better fluency and pronunciation. These are both motivational factors and the basis for further development. |
In the early stages of second language study, it is inevitable that students will make mistakes when attempting to use the language in free speech. Over-generalizations occur just as they do in the mother tongue. Younger students readily accept the fact that errors will occur and correct them. Older students are often afraid to risk making errors in front of their peers. This inhibits participation and motivation, both key factors in second language learning.