Introduction to The French Immersion Option. Will my child learn the same things as students in the regular English program? Yes, the provincial Canadian-Ontario. A Look at French Immersion. Those who enter FI in a middle or late immersion program face a. Not surprising is a 2007 finding by the Canadian Council on. Mandarin Bilingual Programs in British Columbia. French immersion programs were. French Immersion growth causing pain for Ontario boards. French Immersion students in class under the supervision of their teacher Melissa Morehouse at Elmlea Public School. Not enough teachers. Struggling to keep up with demand for French Immersion, and how to ensure equal opportunity to its benefits, some Ontario school boards are considering caps on enrolment for the popular program or delaying its start. Others, such as the Peel District School Board, have taken a hard stand and put a 2. In Halton, explosive growth in French Immersion . Our principals have reported that they go through three before they get one. The viability is hard for us, and it. Others have been critical of the money spent on costs such as busing French Immersion students to schools out of their catchment area. And in Halton, like most other boards, the unspoken issue is that French Immersion is considered something like a private system within the public system, allowing parents to enroll their children in classes with few, if any, at- risk or special- needs students. In general, boys, minority students and students from less affluent and one- parent homes are less likely to be enrolled in French Immersion, according to statistics in a report by the Toronto District School Board, which has been introducing immersion in vulnerable communities to address the problem. In the Ottawa- Carleton District School Board, a look at how to make French Immersion better suit the full- day kindergarten program led the board to look at equity, too. A French Immersion student reads a book at Elmlea Public School. She lists among those under- represented groups: boys, kids living in poverty, English- language learners and special- needs students. The time spent learning in French in Grade 1 would drop from the current 1. Critics have said the board should offer 1. French Immersion in Canada By: Greg Doyle What is French Immersion? French Immersion is an optional program in which the students study the same curriculum as in. Language Immersion Programs Canadian Summer Immersion Program July 3rd to 23rd, 2016. Come visit beautiful Saint John, New Brunswick during the summer of 2016 and experience the east coast of. French instruction in Grades 1 to 3, and that the board is doing something unique for which there. In Ottawa, an increasing number of parents were also asking that subjects like math be taught in English. His report had recommended Grade 5. In Peel, some 1. 5,6. From our perspective, we wish we didn. In fact, 1. 1,0. 00 students are enrolled in French Immersion, not 2. A Look at French Immersion. Housed in charming little Elmlea school, set on a tree- lined street in northwest Toronto, Cindy Auwaerter’s Grade 4 classroom features typical clusters of desks, colourful bulletin boards, and a checkerboard- pattern carpet in the centre of the room. But in this serene setting, a remarkable intersection of cultures and languages can be found — the 2. Toronto fashion, have been drawn from nearly a dozen cultures, from the Middle East to Africa to the Caribbean. They speak English with one another out on the grassy playground, but in this class it’s en fran. From the decor — posters and handwritten sheets display math (L’arrondissement des nombres), science (Qu’est- ce qu’un habitat?) and language (Les adjectifs possessifs) — to the gentle yet concise words that flow from Madame Auwaerter and the social chatter in the room, the children are completely immersed in French. And it’s clear that they, in turn, have embraced the language, in work and play. Ten- year- old Ammar uses his French skills as a sibling secret code. Some are thinking ahead. If there’s another person who only speaks English but you speak English and French, they’ll give you the job because you know more languages,”. Enrollment boomed in the late ’7. Today, FI — a public education program designed for non- French speakers that teaches all or most subjects in French — can be found in every province and two of three territories (Nunavut is the exception). A made- in- Canada approach, this style of education has also been exported to a number of countries around the world. And while the boomtown days are gone, FI continues to show modest growth. At last count, in 2. JK and Grade 1. 2, more than a third of them in Ontario. Certain places, including parts of British Columbia and areas of Toronto, are experiencing sharp rates of growth, and some school districts have even adopted lottery systems to allot available places (a better option than parents lining up overnight prior to registration day or registering their child while in utero, which had been happening in B. C.). The enduring popularity of French immersion can be attributed to a number of proven benefits, some of which are well known. Parents often enroll their children in order to open doors of employment down the road, and at least one study, performed by the Association for Canadian Studies, has validated these hopes. It found that workers who speak both French and English earn almost 1. English alone. There’s also the pleasure of being able to converse in both of Canada’s official languages, and the fact that French speakers have another handy tool when travelling abroad and can make a wider variety of cultural connections. Bilinguals also enjoy certain cognitive advantages, says Ellen Bialystok, distinguished research professor in the department of psychology at York University in Toronto. Bialystok has authored a number of studies in this area, and notes that the benefits of bilingualism include enhanced problem- solving skills, although, she adds, these cognitive abilities only kick in when someone enjoys fully balanced and fully functional bilingualism, and after “massive amounts”. Early immersion begins in kindergarten or Grade 1, middle immersion in Grade 4 or 5, and late immersion in Grade 6, 7, or even later. Early immersion is by far the most popular, and some 8. FI students begin at this point. The amount of French in the classroom upon entry in kindergarten or Grade 1 will vary from board to board, but in many or even most cases it will be total. They have to speak the words — eat them, practically, so that they make sense.”. She adds that having strong foundations in place (such as a scheduled bedtime, healthy meals and snacks, and even a water bottle to stay hydrated) can help children handle this challenging time. However, for many parents, the biggest concern isn’t the initial days in the program, but the long- term acquisition of English skills — and the well- circulated rumour that these skills suffer in French immersion. This is, in fact, a myth: studies have shown that the skills of students in the program either match or even exceed those in the regular English stream. But parents should be prepared for a lag in the early grades. Carolyn Meek- Vandervaart, an Orangeville, Ont. Although Jacqueline can handle French spelling and conversation easily, she notes that she “heard that children tend to be really poor spellers in English, and that’s the case with my daughter right now — she’s a terrible speller.”. When literacy skills become entrenched, she explains, kids then use those skills across languages, plus the introduction of classes in English language arts in Grades 3 or 4 also helps. Parents also often fear that their child’s performance in other subjects, especially math and science, will suffer, but the research — including many large- scale studies in the ’7. Lapkin and her colleagues in a 2. Canadian Modern Language Review — indicates that it will not. Those who enter FI in a middle or late immersion program face a daunting challenge, having spent many years — including those when basic reading and other skills are learned — in the regular English stream. But kids who join at this point often play an active role in the decision, and tend to be very motivated. They will typically be plunged into near- total immersion right away. Jan Claes, who taught in a Grade 7 late immersion classroom for 1. FI for Grades 7 to 9 at the Halifax Regional School Board, notes that “in September and October, the teachers were more exhausted than the kids because we had to do an awful lot of miming and drawing. We would go through the whole explanation and say, “Vous comprenez?’ and there would be all these eyes blinking at you.”. FI programs tend to have a high rate of attrition, with the greatest number of students choosing other paths as they enter high school. However, once in secondary school, motivated by the prospect of earning a French immersion certificate and the resulting opportunities, students usually remain until graduation. The level of fluency at graduation will vary from student to student, sometimes according to how much time they spent in the program, but most will be functionally bilingual. French immersion advocates, including Duivestein, firmly deny that this is the case, pointing out that the program is publicly funded and, where available, open to every child. However, Statistics Canada, in a 2. French immersion 3. Moreover, the same report notes that “there may also be a tendency for less- skilled students to transfer out of immersion programs if there is a concern about their ability to learn in the second language.”. Not surprising is a 2. Canadian Council on Learning that attrition rates are particularly high among these students. Connie Bell and her 1. Rachel became part of the attrition statistics when Rachel was in Grade 2. Observing that Rachel had a great command of the English language — speaking by eight months — and after seeing the positive experience of her cousin’s kids, the Whitby, Ont., mother enrolled Rachel in early immersion. By Grade 1, she was struggling mightily with her French writing skills, and as she entered Grade 2, Rachel fell further and further behind. She met with the special education resource teacher, who didn’t speak French. And I thought, “Well, that’s not helping.”. After meetings with the principal and classroom teacher were unhelpful, Bell figured enough was enough and pulled her out. Bell, who works as an educational assistant, feels that early immersion teachers serve as gatekeepers for the program. She believes that kids with behavioural issues were weeded out after Grade 1 (she observed that none returned for Grade 2), and that kids with academic needs were counselled out by the end of Grade 2. And FI advocates such as Betty Gormley, executive director of the Ontario branch of the national organization Canadian Parents for French, are firm in their resolve that such special education resources should be available to FI students. When they come to us with strengths, we use their strengths, and when they come to us with needs, we support their needs.”.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2016
Categories |