Alice Desormeaux says she has the best job in the world.
The French immersion early learning (previously known as kindergarten) teacher at St. Anne Catholic Elementary School said she loves watching the three, four and five-year-old children she teaches make discoveries about the world around them.
“(The children) are like sponges,” she said.“They’re so eager to learn. The world is open to them.”
Desormeaux, who has been teaching at St. Anne for her entire 20-year career, received the “teacher of the year” award from the Ontario Teachers’ Federation at a ceremony in Toronto Sept. 30.
Only three teachers receive the award each year — a new teacher, an elementary school teacher and a secondary school teacher.
She was nominated by the two Grade 8 teachers at St. Anne, Julie Caissie and Jody O’Daiskey.
What does she do that’s different? I think it boils down to the genuine love and care she has for kids.
Guy Mathieu,
St. Anne principal
“I still think it’s a little surreal,” she said. “I found out in June, and I was actually rendered speechless for once in my life ... It’s a true honour, when you think about all the educators that are across Ontario, and they’ve chosen me.”
At the same time, Desormeaux said winning the award is also “a little daunting” because she feels she now has to live up to a higher professional standard.
With the introduction of the province’s new early learning program, Desormeaux now works alongside an early childhood educator, whom she calls “a gift from God.” She said the curriculum is now a bit more “exploratory based” than it used to be.
“We have time where they go to different centres — like a kitchen centre and a sand table,” she said.
“Within those centres, there’s kind of exploration happening. They’re going to measure things at the sand table and look for quantity and mass.”
As a French immersion teacher, Desormeaux also introduces her students to the French language.
She said she uses a gradual method, where she says a word in English, and then in French. Most of the vocabulary she teaches them is about the children’s basic needs, such as going to the bathroom or getting dressed.
The students tend to pick up French quite rapidly, she said. “Sometimes we don’t give them credit for how much they can actually learn,” Desormeaux said.
She said she enjoys working at St. Anne, a 329-student dual-track French Immersion and English school located in Hanmer, because of its strong “family” atmosphere.
“When you’ve been teaching for a long time at the same school, you get to know the families in the area,” Desormeaux said. “This year, I’m actually teaching one of the children of a student I taught in my first years of teaching. That’s a little weird, but it’s kind of nice.”
St. Anne principal Guy Mathieu said he is “thrilled” Desormeaux won the award. Along with the teacher’s family, he travelled to Toronto to attend the awards ceremony.
Mathieu said Desormeaux has told him she thinks about what she’d want for her own children before making decisions about what to do in the classroom.
“Alice is an absolutely incredible teacher,” he said. “What does she do that’s different? I think it boils down to the genuine love and care she has for kids.”
