From October 10 to 16, Languages Canada coordinated and participated in a number of partnership-building and knowledge-sharing activities in and around the Conference of the Americas for International Education (CAIE), which took place in Montreal from October 11-13. CAIE is a bi-annual professional development and networking event, organized by the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education (IOHE) in collaboration with local hosting partners, bringing together 600+ international education leaders from across the Americas.
1. An exploratory meeting on common language benchmarks for the Americas, held at CLLC in Ottawa on Tuesday, October 10th. The ultimate goal of this initiative is to establish benchmarks that are relevant, applicable and recognized across all of the Americas, which will support language education across borders. The preliminary meeting examined existing pros and cons of benchmarking tools (e.g. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and the Canadian Language Benchmarks), and identified some preliminary steps for a working group, including developing a set of common terminology to guide further discussions. related to developing The meeting was attended by seven LC member programs, as well as the Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks and the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers.
2. A roundtable on Opportunities for French language education in the Americas, hosted by the Université de Montréal on Friday, October 13th. The meeting brought together seven Montreal-based LC member programs, along with representatives from Brazil, Mexico and Colombia to discuss challenges and opportunities for French language education in the Americas. In addition to the Brazilian partners from LwB and Paraná (listed above) presentations were given by Dr. Guillermo Hernandez of the Mexican Association of Universities and Higher Education Institutions (ANUIES); Dr. José Celso Freire Jr., President of the Brazilian Association for International Education (FAUBAI); and Carlos Coronado of the Universidad de Magdalena, Colombia. Of particular note, during the meeting, Dr. Eliane Segati Rios Registro shared information on an agreement recently signed between the Government of Quebec and the state of Paraná. Languages Canada will share further information on opportunities for French LC members to participate in a project proposal under this agreement.
3. A full-day discussion on possibilities to augment Canada-Brazil student mobility through the development of of a Languages Canada ESL/FSL Teacher's Assistant Certificate program and pilot project. The meeting was held on Monday, October 16th at Algonquin College in Ottawa, and was attended by eight LC member programs. The meeting discussed the process around developing the LCTA Certificate; criteria for establishing a project steering committee; feasible project milestones and timelines; resources; and models of mobility and possible international experience recognition that could be considered in developing a pilot project.
The Languages Canada team are working through follow-up for these three projects, and will keep members informed of developments. Thank you to CLLC, l’Université de Montréal and Algonquin College for hosting these valuable events!
In addition to the events listed above, the Languages Canada team also participated in meetings with visiting delegations of academic institutions and education stakeholders from Chile, Mexico and Brazil, as well as a group of Canadian Trade Commissioners from across Latin America.
Please address any questions related to the above activities to Rachel Lindsey, Director of International Relations and Operations at rlindsey@languagescanada.ca / 613-794-7224.
