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News around B.C.

PENTICTON CHILDREN DENIED IMMERSION

On November 17th the Pentic-
ton School Board voted by a
margin of five to two not to offer
French Immersion in September,
1981.

Superintendent A.P. McKay
presented to the trustees a sum-
mary of research findings on
French immersion and possible
Implications of offering such a
program. If immersion were to be
Introduced, he suggested a pro-
gram beginning in grade 5.

The Penticton administration’s
brief also dealt with funding.
Both federal and provincial assis-
tance in establishing an immer-
sion programme were viewed as
‘‘possibilities’’ and the school
board was warned to ‘‘be pre-
pared to fund the programmes
from local resources.’’

CPF district representative Syl-
via Ghaed expressed her concern
about the Superintendant’s re-
commendations In a letter to the
board: ‘‘Late immersion should
be seen as a second chance for
those who missed early immer-
sion, not as a substitute.”

In summary, Mrs. Ghaed
stated, ‘‘l think the success or
failure of an Immersion (or Im-
mersion-like) program in Pentic-
ton depends on the basic pre-
mises—if immersion is under-
stood as a beneficial educational
approach, the problems will be
solved. If It Is thought of In a
negative way, the problems will
be monumental and Insurmoun-
table. However, whichever Is the
case, please be aware that Pa-
rents for French will not easily

give up the pursuit of Improved
French language Instruction for
our children."’

In voting against Implementing
an Immersion program, the trus-
tees expressed concern that the
program was too expensive to be
offered for the benefit of very few
children. Other comments cen-
tered around the irrelevance of
bilingualism in Western Canada:
there Is no need to speak French
In this part of the country.

During the past summer the
Penticton trustees had decided
not to offer the Programme Cadre
de Francals to the over one hun-
dred students Interested In en-
rolling because too few were from
Francophone familles. This was
In spite of Ministry of Education
statements that the program ‘‘Is
not limited to the children of
Francophone parents.'' The Pro-
gramme Cadre features 80% iIn-
struction in French (all subjects
except English) from Kindergar-
ten through Grade 7. The provin-
clal government provides finan-
clal assistance for all Incremental
costs assoclated with Imple-
menting the Programme Cadre
(French Language Core Currl-
culum).

In an October 7 article dis-
cussing this issue, the Penticton
Herald reports Deputy Minister
of Education Jim Carter as saying
that the provincial government
“Ig now giving consideration to
funding an immersion pro-
gramme, rather than only the full
French Instructlon programme
designed for Francophones.”’

This newsletter was made possible by a grant from the Department of the

Secretary of State, Canada.