Professional Development of Heritage Language Instructors: Profiles, Needs, and Course Evaluation

Abstract

This study examines the professional development needs of heritage language (HL) teachers as part of a community-based investigation about the status of Greek language education in Canada. A series of community initiatives aimed at assessing and improving the level of teaching and learning of Modern Greek has included (a) the profile of HL teachers who currently work at the elementary and secondary levels and (b) the implementation of a pilot professional development course for noncertified instructors. Using data collected through targeted questionnaires at different times, this chapter sheds light on the conditions faced by HL practitioners and reveals that both teachers and administrators understand the need to facilitate the teaching of HL programs through carefully designed professional development courses. In order to address the main challenges of HL education and to support different categories of instructors, we claim that such courses require a focus not only on language learning principles but also on promoting community collaboration and on improving the pedagogical conditions for HL classes, most of which are held on the edges of mainstream education.