FRANÇAIS, LANGUE SECONDE - Linguistic Risk Taking Passport
Linguistic Risk Taking Passport
Looking for a way to get your students to express themselves in French outside the classroom? The Linguistic Risk Taking Passport is the tool for you! It has been adapted for early childhood (Family Passport – 0 to 8 years old), elementary school (9 to 12 years old) and secondary school (12 to 18 years old).
4 easy steps to use it in the classroom
- Hand out the passport to students and explain the rules of engagement. Madame La Prof’s video capsule can even do this for you!
- Encourage students to take risks among those suggested or to create their own.
- Ask your students to reflect on the level of risk (easy, medium or high) and record it in their passport.
- As a class, ask students to share their experiences.
Want to know more?
Each risk-taking kit includes a teacher’s guide, an introductory video for students, an introductory video for parents and the passport itself.
Please feel free to contact us at passeport@learnquebec.ca for further information.
- LEARN,
- SPEAQ (Société pour l’enseignement de l’anglais au Québec),
- LBPSB (Lester B. Pearson School Board),
- SWLSB (Sir-Wilfrid-Laurier School Board),
- CSSMI (Centre de service scolaire des Mille-Iles), and
- CSSDL (Centre de service scolaire de Laval).
The Linguistic Risk Taking Initiative and Passport were originally conceived by Professor Nikolay Slavkov in collaboration with a team of professors, students and staff at the University of Ottawa’s Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI). For more details or partnership information, please visit the following web page: https://ccerbal.uottawa.ca/risques-linguistiques/
Julie Paré, Pedagogical consultant and project manager, LEARN
Isabelle Alarie, Madame La Prof, for the videos
What is linguistic risk-taking?
A language risk is an authentic, everyday communication that language learners may find daunting, and which could benefit from encouragement.
Research has shown that some learners are reluctant to take risks, and don’t always take advantage of opportunities to practice their second official language outside the classroom. It’s true that a real act of communication in one’s second language is not stress-free. Such an act can involve “risk factors”, such as making mistakes, being misunderstood, misunderstanding others, taking on a different identity, changing one’s language habits, and so on. This is why some learners tend to stay in their comfort zone, resorting to the official language in which they feel most comfortable in their day-to-day interactions. In doing so, they miss out on many opportunities to “live” bilingually.
The Linguistic Risk-Taking Initiative is designed to encourage your students to take a variety of linguistic risks that will boost their confidence in their second language. This initiative will help them incorporate linguistic risks into their daily routine.
Family Passport Kit (0 to 8 years old)
Elementary Family Kit (9 to 12 years old)
- Pedagogical guide (PDF)
- Elementary passport (PDF for printing)
- Introductory video
- Elementary passport (PDF for printing)
- Introductory video
- Elementary passport (PDF for printing)
Secondary Passport Kit (12 to 18 years old)
- Pedagogical guide (PDF)
- Secondary passport (PDF for printing)
- Introductory video
- Secondary Passport (PDF for printing)
- Introductory video
- Secondary Passport (PDF for printing)
