Culture, Confidence, and Crêpes Sucrées: Exploring Teacher Candidate Perceptions of Francophone Homestay Community Leadership Experiences
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1204.02Keywords:
teacher education, immersion, homestay, French second language, community leadership experienceAbstract
This study examines the perceptions of two groups of teacher candidates (TCs) who had participated in a 2-week, French immersion homestay Community Leadership Experience (CLE) in rural Trois-Pistoles, Quebec, Canada. Based on individual participant interviews, the co-authors, who also each served as a Faculty Facilitator for several of these CLE trips (2015-2020), present thematic findings surrounding the five components (homestay, school placements, community volunteering, cultural workshops/events, and Quebec City trip), and perceived benefits of the program including accessibility, language acquisition and improvement, cultural awareness, self-confidence, career planning re-assessment (division/program), and future employability advantages.
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