To prepare young people for responsible citizenship in our global community

Our goal at Lac du Bois is not only to teach our villagers how to communicate in French, but more importantly how to be responsible citizens in our ever-expanding global community.

A responsible world citizen is one who:

* understands and appreciates cultural diversity.
* communicates with confidence and cultural sensitivity in more than one language.
* responds creatively and critically to issues which transcend national boundaries.
* expresses empathy for neighbors in the global village.
* promotes a world view of peace, justice and sustainability for all.

Concordia Language Villages provides a wonderful opportunity for people of all ages and backgrounds. CLV creates a community of learners in which opportunities to interact in French and experience the culture of the Francophone world permeate life here at the village. The ultimate goal of all programming is an immersion experience in language and culture that motivates participants to be life-long learners and responsible citizens in a global community.

Concordia's unique approach to the language learning experience, gives each villager skills that they would not otherwise learn through a normal program. Concordia has developed a set of language learning principles that are used to implement these goals. Here at Lac du Bois, we strongly uphold these language learning principles, and they influence everything that we do.

These are just a few of the main principles that we incorporate into the everyday lives of our villagers. Lac du Bois provides a unique and fantastic opportunity for children to learn French, in a way helps develop not only their language but also their awareness as a global citizen.

1. An environment is created where the target language is continually used by staff, to ensure villagers are constantly hearing the target language in a variety of contexts.

2. Situations where the villagers need to use the target language to complete tasks and meet personal needs are built into the daily routine.

3. Lac du Bois offers a myriad of activities and experiences relevant to the target cultures in which the use of the target language is encouraged through active participation in these activities and experiences.

4. Culture is an integral part of a daily routine. Cultural information is actively taught in evening programs and thematic presentations and is modeled through authentic experiences throughout the day. The cultures' temporal, spatial and aesthetic concepts are reflected in many aspects of the program.