P.A. Superintendent of Education receives award for French curriculum efforts

The award is given to those who show dedication and excellence to the promotion of French education in Saskatchewan.

It came as quite a surprise to Préfontaine. She did not know about her nomination until the invitation to the award presentation in Moose Jaw arrived in the mail.

“I was quite flattered,” she said. “I’ve had the opportunity to help build the French language with teachers and students, and I think that’s pretty cool.”

Being able to go into a classroom and see teachers interacting with students is the best part of her day.

During her acceptance speech she made a point of emphasizing how much of a team effort teaching French is.

“The award was given to me, but it’s really a team effort. It’s very much a provincial team effort and I feel really honoured to be part of that team.”

Préfontaine was nominated by her colleagues Diane Lacasse, language coordinator for Regina Catholic, and Isabelle Campeau, coordinator of French education and language programs for Regina Public.

What drove them to nominate Préfontaine for the award was her work with the Saskatchewan Reads program.

Saskatchewan Reads is an initiative to improve reading results among students Grade 1-3.

“We wanted to honour and highlight the leadership she demonstrated throughout the whole process,” Campeau said.

Prefontaine led the adaptation of the program for French immersion and francophone schools, who have a different curriculum.

Campeau said Préfontaine was “instrumental” to making sure the program had been properly adapted.

“We realized we’d made the right decision in nominating her once we started digging deeper,” Campeau continued.

Campeau and Lacasse cited Préfontaine’s contributions to core and intensive French education, as well as her work with the Ministry of Education.

Core French begins in kindergarten, but intensive French does not begin until Grade 6. It’s designed for children wishing to learn French but for one reason or another were not accepted into core French.

For the first five months most of the day is spent speaking in French. By the end of Jan. most students are able to have a back-and-forth conversation in their new second language.

Préfontaine called it an “amazing program.”

She is excited for the future of French education in Saskatchewan.

“We have more resources than we’ve ever had before. When you don’t have a lot of resources you make a lot and you share a lot, which makes the experience that much richer.”

ssterritt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit

by Spencer Sterritt

P.A. Superintendent of Education receives award for French curriculum efforts

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