s The exogamous families page

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What? Me, learn French?

By Glen Taylor

So you're the non-francophone
parent in your household, are
you? Or should that be “the
non-French-speaking parent?” Learning
the language of Moliére {and of many
NHL stars) is a worthy undertaking at any
time, and all the more so when you child
is enrolled in a francophone school.

Glen Taylor, author
of I’m with you!

“Okay, so when, where and how am! supposed fo learn French,”
you ask? Hey, don't look at me - ask your school's Parent Advisory
Council instead. After all, part of their mandate is to enrich the
students’ educational experience, right? Well, statistics show that
children of exogamous couples are much more likely to develop
their French-language potential when their non-francophone par-
ent speaks the language foo. Helping these parents learn French,
then, helps enrich their youngsters’ education as well.

So what exactly do the stats say?

We all know that statistics can be used fo prove almost any point.
Maybe that's why, when confronted with numbers that touch us

personally, we like to think we're the exception. Sure beats feeling
obliged to act on the information we receive, doesn't it!

Buf you might tell me this sounds like the beginning of a rant, and
you'd be right. So let’s have a look at fhe following table which
speaks volumes... about the importance of speaking French. As
you sear fhe numbers into your memory, here's something worth
keeping in mind: children are perfectly capable of having more
than one mother tongue. Why aim for your kids merely to be able
to speak French (category 2) when they can have French as one
of their mother tongues (category 3)? Isn’t that like filling a glass
only half-full?

This table, taken from Michael O'Keefe's Francophone Minorities:
Assimilation and Community Vitality, 2nd ed., illustrates how suc-
cessfully - or not - exogamous couples outside Québec pass on
French fo their children.

As you can see, if you speak French, your child is almost five times
more likely fo speak French at home, over twice as likely to be
able to speak French, and almost four times more likely to have
French as a mother tongue than if you don't.

Parenthése

Only parents reporting a single mother tongue.
Includes single and multiple responses.

Source: 1996 Census of Canada

Child is able to speak French 34.8% 73.3%

ouses are inevitably delighted when their
ie partner decides to take a French course!
eason to fake the plunge, n'est-ce pas?

another fact:

=r language is as richly rewarding and inevitably
ferprise as you're ever likely to embark on. It’s
at first you'll understand more than you can
w we learn. Just think of your kids: they had
r people speaking French and English be-
aking themselves. So don't expect results
ve up! The learning curve rises dramat-
w basics under your belt - or rather,