The Making of a Foreign Language Teacher — Regina Style

Abstract

It is the purpose of this paper to explore a specialist conceptualization of a teacher education program leading to certification as a foreign language teacher. The particular program under examination is the four year Bachelor of Education (R Ed.) program that offers a specialization in secondary French teacher education at the University of Regina's Faculty of Education.The first part of the article focuses on the four basic components that comprise the program: a) the pedagogical component, b) the generic teacher education component, c) the foreign language and communication component, and d) the meta‐linguistic and meta‐cogmtive componentThe second part explains how these elements of the program have been structured in a way that allows both formal and experiental learning, thereby contributing to the personal and professional development of future language teachers. The ACTFL provisional program guidelines for foreign language teacher education are examined and lead the discussion on the merits of the Regina model