14: Lanaudière

PROJECT TITLE

English-language training for an English-speaking healthcare community

AGENCY

Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de Lanaudière

PARTNERS

CHSLD Heather, Centres jeunesse de Lanaudière, CSSS du Sud de Lanaudière, CSSS du Nord de Lanaudière, CRDP Le Bouclier, CR La Myriade and Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de Lanaudière.

OBJECTIVES

The project concerns the development and maintenance of professional English-language skills among French-speaking staff for intake, case management, follow-up and guidance of the English-speaking population.

The project’s objectives for 2010-2011 are as follows:

• Continue the development of the participants’ language skills begun before 2010 in order to achieve the desired skill level;
• Target institutions or fields of activity not yet integrated into the program to date;
• Offer private or semi-private courses to workers whose mastery of the English language is really insufficient.

NEEDS AND PRIORITIES

Regarding access to services, the priority needs are:

• For the Intake section: Improve the response time to users, direct users to the right place on the first request, reduce the number of transfers of users to English-speaking staff, and improve general user satisfaction.
• For the Health and Social sections: Improve the problem resolution rate, respond adequately to emergencies, improve general user satisfaction.

Regarding development of staff skills, the priority needs are as follows:

• Induce staff to offer services in English more confidently, increase motivation and pleasure in using the English language.
• Improve comprehension of the English language, improve the level of oral communication in English, improve the effectiveness of communication in English, improve relations between the staff and English-speaking users.

All the institutions can participate in the program; however, the priority will be given to staff of CHSLD Heather.

STAFF TARGETED FOR 2010-2013

Intake (52), Health (44), Social (44)  
Total: 140          

DESCRIPTION OF PLANNED ACTIVITIES

• Training activities: Face-to-face teaching. The training will be delivered in small groups in the trainer’s presence. For critical situations, private or semi-private courses could be considered.
• Learner evaluation: There will be a grading test before the session begins: written test, oral test, self-evaluation of the confidence level and needs analysis. The learner will be followed throughout the session by means of written examinations and oral presentations. The conditions planned for the end-of-session evaluation are: for oral expression, questions/conversations and evaluation according to the headings defined by the MELS; for oral comprehension, evaluation according to the criteria and headings defined by the MELS; for written expression, revision and examination, grammar, sentence structure; and for written comprehension, text questions and discussions, evaluation according to the headings defined by the MELS. The evaluation allows measurement of the learner’s progress between levels.
• Training materials:
     CLIC workbooks for the beginner, intermediate or advanced levels.
     Bilingual language assistance booklets intended for medical staff.

The courses will take place on the institutions’ premises.

PARTICIPATION INCENTIVES

The courses will be offered during working hours with reimbursement of staff replacement costs (between 50% and 100% of the participants’ salaries and benefits, based on actual attendance).

TRAINING ORGANIZATION

Le Centre de langues internationales Charpentier (CLIC)

BUDGET ALLOCATED FOR 2010-2013: $270,000