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20 comment(s)

Feels betrayed by Immersion decision

To The Editor:

I am writing in response to Mr. Kelly Lamrock's decision to scrap the Early Immersion program in New Brunswick and the many letters I have read in the Times & Transcript regarding this subject over the past couple of weeks.

To those that wrote in saying they went through the program and cannot speak French, I would like to know what steps they took to keep up their second language. I went through French Immersion and after graduating from high school continued to take French in university.

Since that time I have worked jobs where I have had the opportunity to converse in French with co-workers. This all helped me when the opportunity arose for a promotion to my company's Montreal office where bilingualism was required.

Now that I have moved back to New Brunswick I was looking forward to my two children enrolling in the French Immersion program when they started school so that they would have the same opportunities that I did. It looks like I will now have to consider moving back to Montreal if I want my children to be educated in both languages.

As I am writing this it occurs to me that I took mathematics throughout my schooling as well but could not solve an algebra or trigonometry problem today to save my life. Perhaps Mr. Lamrock should consider eliminating math from the curriculum as well.

Scott Grant,

Riverview

Strengthen Immersion

To The Editor:

As the parents of a Kindergarten student in Salem Elementary School in Sackville we are writing to express our extreme unhappiness about the decision of the New Brunswick government not to offer Early French Immersion (EFI) in Grade 1 to our son next year.

We are originally from India where we are on average exposed to three to four languages from birth. We immigrated to N.B. in 1999 and one of the reasons we decided to settle here was that our children would be exposed to French as a second language at school. Now without any notice to us as parents the government has decided to take away this option.

We have lived and paid taxes in this province that has come to be our home for over eight years. It is too late for us to uproot ourselves and move to another place where our children can be exposed to a second language. Yet we find ourselves in what we think is a very unjust situation. In short, we feel cheated.

The only information available to us regarding this decision is through the media and the Internet. We have read this information and think that the government has made the decision to discontinue the program on grounds that do not directly pertain to the effectiveness of the program. Between the two of us we speak seven languages -- these were the languages we learned from birth to age six.

We have an intuitive understanding of how language is learned, and it is certainly not learned most effectively after the age of 10 as our government is proposing for our children. Moreover most research shows that the earlier children are exposed to a second language the better.

But the N.B. government has decided to ignore this vast body of research in favour of offering the second language option to our children later. If the current program is not effective then it should be strengthened, not eliminated.

Roopen and

Pronoti Majithia.

Sackville

Languages learned early

To The Editor:

I was pleased to read Aloma Jardine's article of March 18, describing the decisions and options available to parents who want their children to learn a second language.

Parents can do much to expose their preschoolers to two languages. If the parents have different mother tongues, each can speak his first language to the child from birth. The child will develop at the same rate as unilingual children and will learn when and where each language is to be spoken. He will have a dominant language which will change over time depending on the amount of exposure to the language.

If the home is unilingual, child care provided in the second language will provide comparable results. Once again exposure is the key. The younger the child and the more intensive the exposure to French, the more fluent he will be by the time he starts school.

If your child hears French spoken all day, you must talk with him and read to him in English often. Once again he will have a dominant language, but he will be able to communicate in the other language he has been exposed to.

Parents should be aware that an anglophone child attending a bilingual childcare facility, will possibly learn very little French, given that English is the majority language and adults and children will likely speak to him in his preferred language. The child must be spoken to in both languages if he is to learn to use both.

What if exposure to a second language cannot be provided at home or in a child-care facility? Parents can consider other options such as watching movies or attending events in the second language. Mom or Dad can help the child understand by translating when necessary. Activities such as sports, story hour, parents and tots, church and concerts or plays for children can all provide a bit of exposure to a new language. But be careful that adults do not switch to the child's language to make it easier for him to understand. He learns language, all languages, by hearing it spoken often.

Some research indicates that there can be advantages to becoming bilingual before going to school. Bilingual speakers have learned to inhibit one language when speaking the other, which may help them switch from one task to another rapidly.

They understand how languages work and this understanding can help them when learning to read and write. It is important to note that we do not see the same benefits when a child learns to read in a language that he is only beginning to learn.

Compared to learning two languages as a preschooler, French Immersion at any grade level is "late". If parents, communities and schools work together, we can create a truly bilingual environment for children to learn.

Noëlla Basque,

Speech-Language Pathologist,

Bathurst

Politicians should pay the price

To The Editor:

I am writing to express my shock and anger at the recent announcement by the Minister of Education of his plans to cancel the Early French Immersion program.

The report cited by the Minister of Education to justify this decision is deeply flawed, and its conclusions contrary to the body of expert opinion. I urge everyone interested in this issue to consult the responses by Hamilton and Litvak and Dicks and Kristmansen.

Research overwhelmingly shows that Early Immersion is the best way to learn a second language. It is also the most cost-efficient way to do so. The government's decision is irresponsible and shortsighted. It betrays a generation of New Brunswick children in the hope of short-term political gains.

New Brunswick voters should ensure that there are no political gains for Mr. Lamrock or for Mr. Graham.

Karen Bamford, PhD

Associate Professor,

English Literatures,

Mt. Allison Unviersity