"On est très fier de vos efforts! Félicitations à vous tous!"

Over three days in April – April 24, 25 & 26 – 117 Grade 12 students in Core French and French Immersion from the HWCDSB’s seven secondary schools challenged the DELF at the A2, B1, and B2 levels. DELF (Diplôme d'Études en Langue Française) is an official diploma awarded by the French Ministry of Education to certify the French language competency of candidates outside of France.

With this diploma, the students will be able to explain their French proficiency and use this internationally recognized certification for future employment, internships, and other post-secondary opportunities.

Students demonstrating their confidence and proficiency in French responds to one of goals of the Ontario Ministry of Education in its A Framework for French as a Second Language, K – 12, 2013, says French as a Second Language Consultant Teresa Cho.

“This framework articulates three provincial goals for FSL, the first of which is to increase student confidence, proficiency and achievement in FSL. This goal is a reminder of how important it is that students have confidence in their ability to use their French skills effectively.”

In recent years, provincial, regional and local initiatives have taken place using the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR) to inform practice in FSL. The CEFR provides a comprehensive overview of competencies that French language learners need to develop in order to communicate and interact effectively. It presents levels of language proficiency, starting at the basic level A1, continuing to A2, B1, and B2 (which is considered independent). Levels C1 and C2 reflect a competency level beyond secondary school.

Adds Cho: “We recognize and appreciate the efforts of the 20 Catholic elementary and secondary FSL teachers and administrators who evaluated the students’ proficiency, the FSL teachers who have taught French along the way, and the staff who facilitated the event working efficiently and swiftly to organize, input marks and package exams to send off to the DELF center in time.”

“Without the dedication and call to serve of these elementary and secondary teachers and administrators, it would not be possible to offer this amazing opportunity to our students.”