[ rN Parenthése | La voix des parents de Colombie-Britannique

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FPFCB annual conference, November We at the FPFCB are here fo assist

Seventeen years ago, when! wasa_ 19 and 20, when the inaugural address and guide your actions, as parents and
young mother, we did not know much — and Saturday morning workshop will as parents’ association members, from
about how fo facilitate learning in a deal with this subject. As a participant preschool through high school. Do not
minority environment. Since then, there in the November conference, you will | hesitate to contact FPFCB staff. We are
have been numerous studies whose — also be able to share and discuss ideas here for you!
findings have guided us in the best and expand your resources among In closing, | wish you all an outstana-
ways to encourage identity building in other BC parents. One thing is certain, ing school year and! hope to meef you
our children. What exactly is “identity all of the studies prove that the par- this November @
building”? You will have the answers to — ent’s involvement, at every level, is vital
all your questions during the upcoming _ to the success of identity building. Pauline

i

. ° that they will master the French lan-

What do | Wa nt for MY C hild ° guage. Parents, francophone and
non-francophone alike, have a sig-

At the start of the school year, — tools, and knowledge. !am convinced, _ nificant role to play, starting with the
sj | met one of my son's class- for example, that Alex would still be at birth of the child...and even before!
mates (I will call him Alex, a fictitious the francophone school today if his Research shows that the ability to learn
name) and his mother. Alex’s mother is — mother had had the knowledge and a language is optimum between the
originally from France and her son was _ tools she needed to help her transmit 36th week of pregnancy and the age
new to the school. She knew very few — her mother tongue to her son from his — of two (2). This ability then decreases
francophone families. She confided to _ birth onwards, even in an anglophone _ rapidly up to the age of six (6). In other
me that Alex, who is 6 years old, didn't environment. words, if we want our child's mother
speak much French and she was find- Identity building is having the tongue, the language of the heart,
ing it difficult fo raise hersoninaminor- capacity to transmit to children their to be French, we have to teach him
ity environment. We planned to make _ francophone identity. It’s an entirely — this language before he starts school.
a play date to give our children an op- conscious effort. You have fo want fo _ If not, the child will consider French to

portunity to socialize in French. do it and to find the means (for ex- be a second language aft best. A lan-
My son has just told me that Alex ample, join a francophone play group, guage of education.
has left the school. He found it too diffi- attend a francophone preschool, take Identity building can be learned. It

cult to adapt to the new, francophone advantage of access fo French-lan- takes effort and it is present at every
school. | must admit that this bothered guage books and cultural events, etc. stage of the child’s development.
me. | thought, “Here's another child _ It’s extremely easy to fall into the trap Identity building is the theme of this
that will quite likely be assimilated.” As- — of assimilation. More often than not, we — year's FPFCB annual conference (see
similation affects four out of five British don't even realize what's happening! pages 8 and 9).

Columbia children. From another per- We encourage the use of English-lan- | would like to invite Alex's mother
spective, it means that we are passing guage products (DVDs, books, etc.).... to this year’s conference—to show here
on our francophone heritage to only they are so much more available! And _ that she is not alone in experiencing
one child in five! One in five... our children end up statistically among _ difficulties as a francophone mother
the four in five who assimilate! in British Columbia. That we have to

Yes, we can! keep going. That it’s never too late to
It's not easy to ensure that your French from Pregnancy On ask ourselves, “What do | really want for
child grows up in his mother tongue, Having the right to a French-lan- my child”? And, most importantly, that

French, when you live in a predomin- guage education provides unpreced- there are ways to achieve your goals @
ately anglophone environment, espe- ented support for francophone parents

cially when your spouse does not speak _ in British Columbia. However, there'sno Marie-Andrée Asselin,

French. True, it’s not easy, but if is pos- guarantee that these young people Executive Director, FPFCB

sible, with considerable effort, tenacity, — will self-identify as francophones or