Letter to the editor | Grounding in English is necessary
I feel compelled to comment on the topic of French immersion. I have a strong interest in this issue as I have five children and five grandchildren who have, or will be, affected by the way this issue turns out.
Of my five children one was in English, one in Early Immersion and three were in Late Immersion. Of my five grandchildren who will be affected by this issue, only two are in school and these children are in the English program. I state these facts to emphasize I have been personally involved in this issue.
At this point in time we should be looking at facts instead of expressing our emotions. It is the children who should come first. What is best for them is what we must strive for. Our responsibility is to give them the best education we can and to do this we must look at their complete education and not just one part of it.
Further we have to keep in mind this is an issue for English parents to resolve.
I now wish to take you back to the mid-1970s. My wife and I had to make a decision in the very early days of Early Immersion. To become informed, we attended a meeting of parents, teachers and school board representatives at our local school. A member of the school district staff was the guest for this meeting and the topic was Early French Immersion. After the presentation, the floor was opened for questions. The person from the district was French. A parent asked him if his children were in an English Immersion course. He replied they were not, as both he and his wife felt they must get a good start in their own language.
I then asked why this would apply to his children and not ours. A member of the school board who was sitting in front of me turned to me and said, "shut up," and to the district representative, the member said, "You don't have to answer that."
Now here we are, more than 30 years later and the same issue is on the table.
Did we learn anything in this time? Opinions differ. I do know what formed the basis for my opinion, which is that it is very important for a child to get a good grounding in his or her own language before tackling a second language. What really drove this home to me was reading the report cards of two of my grandchildren. What they are learning in kindergarten and grades 1-2 is awesome. Now if they were not studying in an English classroom, just where would they learn this? Do the parents have the ability and time? No way! French-speaking children study in French in their early years. Why should this not apply to English children?
Darryl Innes
Moncton
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Comments (4)
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All studies show that:
a)EFI courses are not more expensive than the normal English Program
b)EFI students perform at the same level (or slightly higher in later grades) on standardized English Literacy tests as their counterparts in the English only program.
The reason why French students do not take an English Immersion program is obvious to anyone who doesn't have an axe to grind...for the minority culture life in general is an immersion program.
Liberals should take note that of the anti-French bias of those supporting them on this issue. They should be embarassed.
Exactly. And by most admissions, the best education is obtained by providing each child with the proper resources for their unique set of circumstances.
We can do this within the existing framework and, if we put a little effort into refining it, we could even do it well. The new plan tries to fit everyone into the same mould in the hope that the "best" will support the rest.
"We want our children to have the EFI because we all know they need it if they want to live and work in this province later in life"
We all have our reasons. Some more pure than others, but even your comment speaks to the fact that the new plan will take us somewhere we don't want to be. We have to face the fact that we share the province with another culture. We can feel threatened by that or, we can embrace it, and use it to the advantage of our children.