Teachers' Experiences of Including Gender and Sexual Diversity Topics in French as a Second Language in Classrooms in Ontario

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of French as a second language (FSL) teachers in Ontario who are including topics related to gender and sexual diversity in their classrooms. Semi-structured interviews with two Ontario FSL teachers who reported including these topics in their lessons provided significant insights into this unique teaching experience. First, the normalization of queer people and queer issues was the primary objective of teachers when including these topics in their French as a second language classrooms. Moreover, teachers perceived that the introduction of these topics in their classrooms presented a benefit to their students’ language learning. Nevertheless, teachers reported it to be difficult to locate French language resources to support their inclusion of these topics in their lessons and reported both negative and positive responses to their work from various stakeholders in their school communities. Findings suggest that the normalization of queer people in Ontario schools has still not been achieved and that the work of teachers who include gender and sexual diversity topics in their classrooms is still necessary. Recommendations are offered for teachers and administrators regarding equity in extracurricular activities, professional development and accountability with respect to existing policy