The FHIS Learning Centre

The FHIS Learning Centre is a volunteer-based centre, staffed by students enrolled in FHIS undergraduate or graduate courses.  It services students in all of the languages taught in the FHIS Department – French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish – and at all levels of our curricula (from novice language courses to advanced language and literature ones).

A Holistic and Community-Oriented Approach to Student Engagement

The FHIS Learning Centre is informed by an integrative holistic approach to the teaching of foreign language sand literatures that hones in on key skills needed for effective communication in classroom-created and real-life contexts.  This communicative and community-oriented focus of the operation has been successful at creating an open and interactive learning community for students that is closely aligned with specific course learning objectives and abilities needed for effective and authentic communication in the target language.

The Director’s Role

I currently serve as Director of the FHIS Learning Centre.  As director, I collaborate with the Learning Centre Coordinator to train and provide professional development for tutors and lead the recruitment and selection process of student volunteers.  I routinely collect data on student experiences through participation counters, session reflections, tutor surveys, and focus groups to ensure that student, tutor, and faculty  feedback is taken into account for upcoming sessions and programming. The centre, as promoted in national and international standards for teaching and learning additional languages (i.e. ACTFL and CEFR) strives to innovate approaches to additional language instruction in small-group settings and to increase student confidence, proficiency, and readiness for applying knowledge to a real-world context in a way that is also aligned with FHIS course and program learning outcomes.

Go here to learn more about this service and what we do.