dations of an advisory committee
convened by Brian Smith in Novem-
ber, 1980. The six members included
a representative of B.C. Parents for
French.

While most clauses in the final
document are identical to the com-
mittee’s draft, at least one of the
changes is very significant. The draft
stated that an Early or Late Immer-
sion class ‘‘shall be established”’
when the minimumnumber of
students (20 and 24 respectively ap-

plied; the final document uses the
word ‘‘may”’.

In a letter to Mr. Smith, BCPF has
expressed concern over this and
other aspects of the policies. As this
newletter is printed no reply has yet
been received. BCPF is also awaiting
information on several of the advisory
committee’s related recommen-
dations. Included is a request that
the policies be extended to include
the secondary grades (8 - 12)

by J. Gibson

ENGLISH CONTENT OF E.F.I. PROGRAM

Richmond Parents for French held
their Annual General Meeting on April
29, 1981 at the Richmond Inn.
Following the business aspects of
the meeting, a very informative panel
discussion was held on_ the
wide ranging topic ‘‘The Quality and
Quantity of English Language Arts in
Early French Immersion Programs.”
Panel members included; Judy Gib-
son, B.C. Director, C.P.F.; Dr. Geof-
frey Mills, Consultant, Victoria
School Board; Peter Welton, Vice-
Principal, Ecole Cook, Richmond; and
John Rance, Secondary School
English Teacher, Richmond.

Judy Gibson presented _ infor-
mation on the English content of
Early French Immersion as contained
in the B.C. Ministry of Education
guidelines plus data from a variety of
Immersion programs across Canada.
She also discussed the Immersion
situation in Coquitlam and some of
the concerns felt by parents there.

Dr. Mill’s presentation covered the
English-French content in both the
Partial Immersion and Total Immer-
sion programs in Victoria. In Grades
4-7, the French content comprises 70
percent of the time allotment and, as
this figure is greater than the Ministry
of Education guidelines, Dr. Mills
discussed the factors involved in the
Victoria policy. He stated that ‘‘the
stronger the students are in French,
the more the students are able to
cope with the material offered in
French, especially in Social Studies

and Sciences.” Also, the fact that
there is very little opportunity to rein-
force French-speaking skills in the
community, plus indications that
English Language Arts skills do not
suffer with an increased French con-
tent, prompted him to promote the
higher percentage.

Dr. Mills also stressed other aspec-
ts that should be considered in plan-
ning the program — namely, the
choice of subjects which are to be
presented in English (Mathematics
would be his choice); staffing witha
view to having a different teacher for
each language, rather than having
one teacher teach both English and
French content; possibly the need for
Immersion “booster shots” (periods
of 100 percent French) to be given in
the later elementary years. This latter
type of a program would aim to help
overcome the French Immersion
“dialect” that emerges with children
in the program.

Peter Welton reviewed the newly
released Ministry of Education guide-
lines for teachers of English in the
E.F.l. program. His remarks gave us
much insight into the difficulties en-
countered in teaching English
Language Arts in a limited time
frame. John Rance, presented his
methods of teaching English
Language Arts to his students. He
stressed the vital importance of
reading in the home — Parents
reading for their own pleasure, using
libraries and having reading materials
available for children.