Comments on: Immersed in New Brunswick

By: A. Conde

A. Conde — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:54:42 +0000

Another nail in the coffin for Mr Graham’s self-sufficiency rainbow coloured fantasy. I knew french immersion was on the block 4 years ago before my daughter entered the system. She was enrolled in a french school and today there’s one more bilingual NBer. No problems.

By: Harold Jarche

Harold Jarche — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:48:41 +0000

Disagreement is encouraged here, Jeff. One of the core issues is that we can’t agree as a society on what our education system should be, so we keep tinkering with it. If the desired outcome is better ability in a second language, then starting earlier is better according to the preponderance of research. Optional immersion is a problem too, because people opt in (based on parents’ perceptions) and the system can push students out. If immersion for all was the norm, then we would support all students and teachers, as we do for English, Math, etc.

As you admit, there are not enough resources. Isn’t that the way to ensure that a program fails – by not giving it adequate resources?

By making immersion optional, we say that second language abilities are not up to par with other, more important, subjects. In my experience, a second language is one of the few things that you can take with you into any endeavour. My ability to work in French has made the difference on several occasions on whether I get a contract or not.

By: jeff white

jeff white — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:31:15 +0000

Harold, I’m going to respectfully disagree. This is *exactly* how french immersion should be. My wife has taught in both NB and NS and in Immersion and English. I graduated from the very first late immersion program in NS, so I’m well versed in these programs.

The current situation of Primary entry is a bad move all around. My wife sees it every year. Kids entering at age 5 are not grounded enough in their first language. They need a better foundation in english before moving to french. Your new system does this. By the time grade three rolls around in the current system at least 10-15% of kids flunk out and need to switch to english. This has a *devastating* effect on them. They lose the friends they have been with for four years, they feel like failures and worse still, they are now completely useless in both languages. Most will catch up but it will take them until Junior High or even later.

As a parent of three pre-schoolers, it will be very hard to make the decision to put our children into French Immersion. The current system is broken. There are no resources for teachers. None. My wife translated everything.

Intensive French is a better choice. See what the kids can do first, switch them later. They will perform better. I can almost guarantee it. I wouldn’t be surprised to see all other provinces following NB’s lead on this. There are lots of teachers here who would push for this kind of system.

By: Miriam Jones

Miriam Jones — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:34:51 +0000

Agreed. We are left worse off than before with none of the real problems — underfunding; lack of resources — addressed.