SAGE Coffee Talk: CEGEP Overview
By Andrew Burton (andrewelburton@hotmail.com)
October 15, 2014
My background
 Business degree with an English minor, corporate work
 QP, MA (Academic) at Concordia
 1 year at Champlain Lennoxville
 3.5 years at Marianopolis
History of CEGEP system
 CEGEP: collèges d’enseignement général et professionnel
 Started in the late 60s
 English language CEGEPs
o Montreal: Dawson, Marianopolis, Vanier, John Abbott, Lasalle (there are
some other small quasi-CEGEPs, e.g. Centennial)
o South Shore: Champlain Saint-Lambert
o Eastern Townships: Champlain Lennoxville
o Quebec City: Champlain St. Lawrence
o Hull: Heritage
 Major educational reform conducted in the late 90s (?); imposition of
competency-based, student-centered pedagogy
CEGEP English Departments
 Common features: strong union culture, antagonism towards the administration,
protective of teacher independence, sense of entitlement, rarely good support
systems for teachers/teaching
 Dawson: large (roughly 80), department culture not particularly
supportive/coherent, large recent influx of young teachers, a very popular choice
among students
 John Abbott: medium (roughly 40) and supportive, large recent influx of young
teachers, student body not as white as it was
 Vanier: large (roughly 60) and supportive, more than 50% ESL students
 Marianopolis: small (roughly 20), private (no union), emphasis on academic
achievement
 Champlain St. Lawrence: small, located in Quebec City, highly motivated
students (many francophones)
 Champlain St. Lambert: small (roughly 20), located on the South Shore (easily
reached by metro), has some strong academic programs
 Champlain Lennoxville: tiny (10-11 teachers), located in Sherbrooke
 Lasalle: private (no union), not a place to have a career, but a great place to start:
hires new teachers often
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Course Structure in English CEGEPs
 Preparatory non-credit English courses (e.g. 002) for weak students
 All students are required to take four English courses: 101 (sometimes streamed),
102 (genre), 103 (theme) and a Block B (either program specific or a weird hybrid
of various things)
 Competencies are the only things that are imposed (see Appendix A for English
101 objectives; others are available on college or the Ministry of Education
website); teachers choose the texts and teaching methods
Job overview
 Teach English courses
o Roughly 12 hours of classroom time per week
o English courses are 4 hours each (100 minutes twice a week), so 3 courses
o Class sizes can be as high as 40; average in the low 30s
o English is a general education department, not a program: students are
required to take English courses whether they want to or not
 At Dawson/John Abbott, you’ll start teaching in the Continuing Education
department: night courses for less pay. Seniority will largely determine when you
begin receiving day courses
 Office hours (4-8 depending on the CEGEP)
 Participate in department administration
 Huge quantities of marking
 Good compensation: pay starts between $40,000-50,000, tops out at roughly
$70,000, great benefits/pension
 Possibility of unpaid leaves
 Eventual tenure (permanence)
Who should want to be a CEGEP teacher
 You love people/teenagers and helping them succeed
 You love literature
 You love communicating
Who should not want to be a CEGEP teacher
 People who just want good compensation/summers off
 People who really want to do serious research/writing
 People who aren’t interested in teaching composition/the five paragraph essay
 People who can’t tolerate marking lots and lots of bad essays
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Job prospects
 Island of Montreal CEGEPs: about 200 jobs total (Dawson + Vanier + John
Abbott + Marianopolis), only become available due to illness/mat
leave/retirement/death
 Employment in the first year(s) you start applying uncertain
 Big renewals due to the first generation of teachers retiring have already happened
 Likelihood of spending years working part time and at various institutions
 Even if hired at a CEGEP, likelihood of unemployment in the winter for years
 Competition: people with PhDs, lots of teaching experience; hundreds (!) of
applicants per job
 Seniority is CEGEP-specific: seniority at Dawson doesn’t help you at Vanier etc.
 Rumblings about eliminating the CEGEP system, PQ wanting to apply Bill 101 to
English CEGEPs (i.e. the exclusion of francophone and allophone students)
 Demographic decline: predictions are that numbers of CEGEP students will
decrease for the next five years before beginning to increase again
Critical skills, experiences and traits
 MA in English minimum requirement; PhD sometimes preferred/sometimes
dismissed
 Academic excellence (grades, scholarships, etc.) is appreciated, but not essential
 Very important: ESL/literature/composition teaching experience, preferably at the
CEGEP level/with teenagers in a non-CEGEP context
 Awareness of the level of CEGEP students and how to teach to that level
o How much reading to assign (some rules of thumb: three 200 page novels
per semester or one 4-6 page short story per class or equivalent in poetry)
o How to teach the essay
o How to manage a classroom
 Ability to work hard, adapt (i.e. last minute course changes/assignments)
 Breadth of literary knowledge
 Enjoyment of the age group
 Willingness to contribute to department administration
 Long-term commitment to a CEGEP teaching career
o Regional colleges: willingness to live/work in the area long-term
Networking: how to gain information and build alliances
 Sources of contacts
 Concordia professors
 Exit exam marking
 Work in CEGEPs
 Friends
 Informational interviewing
 Try to speak to anyone in a CEGEP, even people other than English teachers
 Remember that every encounter is an interview
 Be careful not to offend by being too insistent/persistent; approach department
chairs with caution
 Put yourself at the other person’s disposal, always pay for lunch/coffee
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
Put the universe to work for you – tell EVERYONE that you want to teach
English in the CEGEP system
Formal hiring process
 Job postings for summer work go up on college websites in April-ish
 Job postings for fall work go up in May-ish
 Must formally apply to a job posting in order to be considered
 HR departments often keep a bank of resumes – this is nearly useless
 Invitation for an interview
 If successful in the interview, you may get called if/when work becomes available
Informal hiring process
 Just because there’s a job posting doesn’t mean there will be hiring
 Disconnect between HR departments and English departments
 Due to hundreds of candidates applying, it helps to be known by teachers in the
CEGEP, preferably on the hiring committee, or your resume may never see the
light of day
 Frequently CEGEPs will have unexpected needs immediately before or just after
the start of a semester and call candidates out of the blue; someone who seriously
wants to be a CEGEP teacher needs to be available for these calls
 If you have no advocates in a position of influence and/or all you have is an MA
and no teaching experience, your application will likely be dismissed out of hand
CV design
 Highlight what is relevant to your audience
o Structure the CV accordingly (section order, what words get highlighted,
etc.)
o Think about what to include/exclude
 Make it beautiful/distinctive – show you put work into it
 Get feedback, from people in the CEGEP system if possible
Cover letter
 Hook your reader: this is usually the first thing they’ll read
 Generally raise points your CV doesn’t/can’t convey
 Don’t be modest, but don’t be arrogant
 Never exceed one page, never go lower than an 11pt font
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How to gain experience relevant to a CEGEP application
 Work in a CEGEP learning or academic skills center
 Mark the CEGEP Exit Exam (apply in September/October, write an exit exam,
marking in early January, late May/early June and August):
http://www.mesrst.gouv.qc.ca/en/commun/epreuve-uniforme-danglais-en-anglaisseulement/invitation-for-applications-marker/
 ESL teaching
 Pedagogy certificates (Concordia, CEGEP, TESL Canada approved ESL
certificates)
 Apply to CEGEPs that are likely to hire: e.g. Lasalle
The interview
 Conducted by a panel of English teachers and others (management & union
types); the English teachers’ opinions count the most
 Sometimes friendly, sometimes hostile
 Typically involves teaching a 15 minute lesson
 Typically involves discussion of the 1-2 syllabi you already submitted with your
cover letter and CV (note: check whether or not the syllabi have to conform to the
departments standards and if so to what degree; see Dawson’s library for that
college’s syllabi if you want examples)
 Be ready to talk seriously about literature across genres/periods
Typical interview questions
 When answering questions, think in terms of the five paragraph essay…
 Why do you want to be a CEGEP teacher?
 Why do you want to teach at our college?
 Relevance of your work experience?
 How would you teach to diversity (strong + weak students)?
 How would you deal with misbehaviour and plagiarism?
 How would you mark an essay?
 What courses would you like to teach?
 Would you be interested in committee work?
 How would you concretely teach a text (likely an example from your syllabus) in
class?
 What challenges do you anticipate if you were as to start teaching here?
Decision-makers, their power and their prejudices
 English teachers call the shots
 English department/admin antagonism
 Debate over MA versus PhD: some like one, some like the other, some don’t care
 Debate over level of courses: how academic they should be
 Sensitivity to being compared to universities
 Interviewers often look to hire themselves
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Appendix A
603-101-MQ Introduction to College English (i.e. English 101)
Objectives and Standards
The objective of this course is to enable students to analyze and produce written and oral
work. Students will learn to read literature critically. Students will also learn to write an
analytical essay containing a thesis statement which is clearly supported and developed.
On successful completion of this course, students, with the aid of reference material, will
be able to produce a 750-word essay analyzing a literary text. This essay will demonstrate
the following: correct grammar, syntax, and spelling; appropriate tone and diction; and
effective sentences and paragraphs. This essay will also demonstrate thorough revision of
form and content.
Competency: To analyze and produce various forms of discourse.
Elements of the Competency
Performance
1. To identify the characteristics and functions of the
components of literary works.
1.1 Accurate explanation of the denotation of words.
1.2 Adequate recognition of the appropriate connotation of words.
1.3 Accurate definition of the characteristics and function of each
component.
2. To determine the organization of facts and
arguments of a given literary work.
2.1 Clear and accurate recognition of the main idea and structure.
2.2 Clear presentation of the strategies employed to develop an
argument or thesis.
3. To prepare ideas and strategies for a projected
discourse.
3.1 Appropriate identification of topics and ideas.
3.2 Adequate gathering of pertinent information.
3.3 Clear formulation of a thesis.
3.4 Coherent ordering of supporting material.
4. To formulate a discourse.
4.1 Appropriate choice of tone and diction.
4.2 Correct development of sentences.
4.3 Clear and coherent development of paragraphs.
4.4 Formulation of a 750-word discourse.
5. To edit the discourse.
5.1 Thorough revision of form and content.
5.2 Accurate correction of the discourse.
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Appendix B
603-101-MQ Introduction to College English: Literature
Course Schedule Fall 2013
Class
Week
1
Date
Units
Tues Aug 20
3
Tues Aug 27
2
4
Thurs Aug 29
Tues Sept 3
5
3
6
7
Thurs Sept 5
Tues Sept 10
4
8
Thurs Sept 12
Tues Sept 17
9
Thurs Sept 19
10
Tues Sept 24
6
11
Thurs Sept 26
12
Tues Oct 1
7
13
14
15
16
Thurs Oct 3
8
9
Tues Oct 8
Thurs Oct 10
Tues Oct 15
Thurs Oct 17
Genre: Short Fiction
5
Composition: The Essay
Thurs Aug 22
Genre: The Persuasive Essay/Speech
1
2
Topics, Readings & Assignments
Introduction to the course
Writing sample
Library Orientation (presented by the Library)
Figurative language
Active reading
Reading due: Gillard’s “Anti-Misogyny Speech”
Subject and theme
Reading due: Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language”
The body paragraph: unity and coherence
Clear writing
Monday schedule – no class
In computer lab I-414
Reading due: quotation integration (to be posted online)
The literary present and academic tone
The body paragraph: structural overview
In-class production of Practice Body Paragraph #1 (ungraded)
Logical thinking and writing
In computer lab I-414
In-class revision of Practice Body Paragraph #1
Reading due: Wolven’s “News about Yourself”
The introduction
Practice Body Paragraph #2 (ungraded) assigned
Oral presentation skills
Oral Presentations assigned
Practice Body Paragraph #2 due
Reading due: Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants”
Academic Integrity (presented by the Library)
Reading due: Srigley’s “Misguidelines”
Metaphor/simile/personification practice
Body Paragraph Analysis assigned
Reading due: Orozco’s “Orientation”
The conclusion
Body Paragraph Analysis (5%) due
Reading due: Job 1-2, 9.15-24, 11, 13.20-28, 15.17-35, 19.23-29, 21, 38-42
Outlining
Oral Presentation #1 (10%) due
Revision/editing
Presentation of Practice Body Paragraph #2 Analysis to the other student
MLA citation and essay format
Writing Workshop
Essay #1 Outline and Rough Draft (15%) handwritten in class
Essay #1 Outline and Rough Draft (15%) handwritten in class
Monday schedule – no class
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Tues Oct 22
18
Thurs Oct 24
19
Tues Oct 29
11
20
Thurs Oct 31
21
Tues Nov 5
12
22
13
24
25
Tues Nov 12
Thurs Nov 14
14
Tues Nov 19
26
Thurs Nov 21
27
Tues Nov 26
15
28
29
30
Thurs Nov 28
16
Tues Dec 3
Thurs Dec 5
Fri Dec 6
Fri Dec 20
Genre: The Movie
23
Thurs Nov 7
Composition: Language & Grammar
10
Genre: Poetry
17
Oral Presentation #2 (10%) due
Reading due: haikus, limericks and epigrams
The sentence
The active and the passive voice
Essay #1 Final Draft assigned
Oral Presentation #3 (10%) due
Reading due: Shakespeare’s “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer Day?”
Reading due: Shakespeare’s “My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun”
Sentence fragments and run-on sentences
Essay #1 Final Draft (10%) due
Oral Presentation #4 (10%) due
Reading due: Shelley’s “Ozymandias”
Modifiers
Essay #2 assigned
Oral Presentation #5 (10%) due
Reading due: Brooks’ “We Real Cool”
Reading due: Nichol’s “landscape: 1”
Reading due: Brautigan’s “Gee, You’re So Beautiful That It’s Starting to Rain”
Reading due: Webb’s “Treblinka Gas Chamber”
Pronouns
In computer lab A-366
Oral Presentation #6 (10%) due
Poetry citation
In-class work on Essay #2
Essay #2 (25%) due
Oral Presentation #7 (10%) due
Reading due: Lalonde’s “Speak White”
The comma, colon and semi-colon
Grammar Quiz (5%)
In-class reading to be determined
In-class viewing: a film chosen by students
Oral Presentation #8 (10%) due
Analysis of the preceding film
In-class viewing: Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom
Oral Presentation #9 (10%) due
Analysis of Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom
Oral Presentation #10 (10%) due
Essay #3 instructions distributed
Review for Essay #3
Writing essays in English 102 and beyond
Essay #3 (25%) handwritten in class
Essay #3 (25%) handwritten in class
Teacher-Student Day – office hours to be announced
Teacher-Student Day – office hours to be announced
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Appendix C
Lesson Plan: Class 8 The Introduction and Wolven’s “News about Yourself”
Materials
 Lesson plan, attendance sheet, remote, water, laptop, coursepack, PPT slide notes re:
Cooper’s split character
 On USB: PPT, attn.-getter class feedback doc, subject/theme class feedback doc
 Print jobs: reading quiz, introduction handout
Students get into their random groups before class starts
Reading quiz (5 min)
The title and introduction (30 min)
 Lecture (PPT)
 Distribute the intro handout at the start of the lesson
 When the point about bland generalizations is raised, have students give some
examples
 For the attention-getter, students generate versions, I type them up in the Word doc
and we discuss
Lady Gaga debate warmup (15-20 min)
 Review pics of Lady Gaga and discuss her life/art; require students to vote for one
side of two poll questions (PPT) and then invite them to defend their vote, pushing
them to back up their opinions with evidence (ask them “why”); don’t make this a
formal debate to save time
Wolven’s “News about Yourself” (40 min)
 Define characterization and then debate Ray’s character using poll questions; dividing
the class into ten groups, have half of the groups work on points in support of each
question. Have groups on one side formally give arguments (each group gives only
one argument before passing on to the next group), then the other side, then allow
them a free exchange (25 min)
 Review other devices (setting and foreshadowing) through a lecture and then students
discussing questions in groups (20 min)
 Discuss the significance of the title (5 min)
Subject and theme (5-10 min)
 Students individually brainstorm subjects and then I record them in the feedback
document
 Students individually brainstorm themes and then I record them in the feedback
document
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