Winning Teachers 2006
Yvonne Dufault
French Immersion, ESL, Special Education Teacher
Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School
Markham
Yvonne Dufault, an extraordinary teacher of French immersion, ESL and Special Education at Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School in Markham is honoured in the category of secondary teacher.
Pierre Elliott Trudeau graduated its first students in 2005. Many of them had the privilege of being guided not just in academics but in citizenship by Madame Dufault.
As part of the call for 40 hours of community service from high school students, Madame Dufault set up chapters of the Octagon Club. It’s the youth wing of Optimist International. Her students have flipped hamburgers at charity events, assembled gift bags for a women’s shelter and learned to tutor and train younger students.
She sees the results in students who develop such a passion for giving that it becomes part of who they are. They may forget about the marks they got in high school but they will remember the feeling they got when they did something that touched someone’s life in a good way.
Yvonne also organizes conferences for students in the area of race relations. She also particpates in her community through involvement with the public libraries and runs reading programs there for her students. In her classes she integrates story telling, music, arts and technology.
She considers French a language with great heart and communicates her passion for the language to her students.
As a colleague, Yvonne Dufault is a multi-faceted teacher who demonstrates innovation and altruism. Her generosity and dynamism inspire and motivate many who have worked with her. But nothing is as important to her as her students.
Back to Top
