La garderie Les randonneurs Promotes Francophone Language and Culture in Rossland

In 2021, the first Francophone child care centre in Rossland was opened by the Fédération des parents, thanks to its team at le Phare C.-B., with the aim of meeting the needs of parents in the community. Today, la garderie Les randonneurs is recognized as a success story for its positive impact on the community in Rossland.

Sabrina Serrette, an outstanding educator responsible for the young children since the opening of the child care centre, conveyed the feeling of pride in speaking French to them by applying the pedagogical approach of le Phare C.-B. She clarifies this: “children construct meaning by interacting with objects, other children, adults, the environment, the community, and the world. The construction of the child's identity is enriched by all the experiences they’ve acquired in the various environments they’ve been in. The child's development and self-esteem are therefore dependent on collaboration, cooperation, and the co-construction of knowledge between each actor in the child's life.”

Sabrina has therefore developed unique strategies to create a French language learning environment that includes the Rossland community. To do this, she decided to meet locals during daily outings to the neighbourhood café for a hot chocolate, to the market, or to the library.

The magic happens naturally when people hear Sabrina and the children speaking or singing in French. They become curious, wanting to get to know them and talk to the group; some of them recalled with nostalgia that they grew up in Francophone families. These meetings are an opportunity to raise awareness about the child care centre, to remind people that the Francophone community is well represented in the region, and to create positive moments of exchange and rapprochement between communities.

All this attention and these moments of learning for the children create a feeling of pride about French. A contagious pride that leads even non-Francophone parents to learn at the children's pace, in order to converse with them in French, in turn.

To better understand the story of la garderie Les randonneurs, view Sabrina's presentation at the Summit on the Transmission of French Language, by clicking on the video below.

Curious to see what a day at la garderie Les randonneurs looks like? Click on the video below!