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International & Heritage Languages Association
  • Home
  • About Us
  • IHLA Schools
  • Register with us!
  • Prof Dev't
  • MLD
  • Newsletters
  • Media
  • Sister Organizations
  • Contact Us
  • COVID-19 UPDATES

Serving and Promoting Heritage Language Schools

About Us

IHLA's Beginnings

 Prior to 1977, heritage language schools operated in isolation. Thanks to a grant offered by the Canadian Consultative Council on Multiculturalism, heritage language schools participated in a conference attended uniquely by and for heritage language school teachers. Once teachers in schools discovered that their challenges and rewards were similar across schools regardless of the languages they taught, they decided to continue to learn from one another and the organization was born. The tradition of learning from each other continues to this day.  

What IHLA offers its Members

 IHLA supports heritage language students with our annual MLD and our annual MLD Book
IHLA supports our volunteer, internationally-trained, and Canadian-trained teachers with professional development opportunities, curriculum support,  the IHLA Newsletter, and career support and advice.
IHLA supports language school leaders by offering the mentorship programme, professional development and  networking, advertisement,  and support with developing a locally-developed curriculum,.
 

The IHLA Board

 * IHLA  Executive Board: Antonella Cortese (Comitato Promotore della Lingua Italiana); Anupama Deshpande (Edmonton Marathi Shala); Krishna Gupta (Alberta Hindi Parishad); Sylvia Pozorek (Henryk Sienkiewicz Polish School);  Kuljeet  Kaur: Ramgarhia Khalsa School;  Krystyna Dembowski:  Henryk Sienkiewicz Polish School ; Lilya Sukhy: Ivan Franko School of Ukrainian Studies
Amit Aery: Alberta Hindi Parishad; Jitka Storoschuk: Czech Heritage Language Society; Nina Paulovicova: Slovak Heritage School in Edmonton


* Members Emeritus: Josephine Pallard: Edmonton Filipino Language & Culture School  of Edmonton ; Jaspal  Bansal: Ramgarhia Khalsa School
* Program Coordinator: Grace Alarcon-Isla: Filipino Language & Culture School of Edmonton
* IT Coordinator: Marina Castro: Comitato Promotore della Lingua Italiana


** The election of directors will be posted after the first IHLA  board of Directors  meeting on September 14, 2022

Ongoing Research Projects on Heritage Language Schools

Reference List about IHLA and its communities

International Guidelines for Professional Practices in Community - Based Schools

International Guidelines for Professional Practices in Community - Based Schools

Download PDF

International Guidelines for Professional Practices in Community - Based Schools

International Guidelines for Professional Practices in Community - Based Schools

International Guidelines for Professional Practices in Community - Based Schools

Download PDF

HL Schools adapting to the COVID-19 Pandemic

International Guidelines for Professional Practices in Community - Based Schools

International Professional Standards Working Group

IHLA is studying how heritage language schools have coped during the COVID-19 criss. This qualitative research project examines how schools coped through community-closures and how some schools have managed to transition to online teaching. This project is possible through funding of Athabasca University. 

International Professional Standards Working Group

International Professional Standards Working Group

International Professional Standards Working Group

IHLA is part of an international coalition of umbrella organizations in Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the USA working towards developing professional standards for heritage language schools and their members.

The Impact of Multiculturalism on Public Education

International Professional Standards Working Group

The Impact of Multiculturalism on Public Education

IHLA is participating in the Symposium on the Impact of Multiculturalism on Public Education hosted by the University of Alberta. 


Find out more about this symposium at the link below:

Symposium Information

Important IHLA Documents

IHLA Professional Standards (pdf)Download
IHLA Constitution and Bylaws (pdf)Download

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