Okotoks students may have the chance to take French Immersion starting in Grade 5 rather than the traditional kindergarten.
Okotoks students may have the chance to take French Immersion starting in Grade 5 rather than the traditional kindergarten.
Foothills School Division is conducting a parent-survey to see if there is interest in starting a Grade 5 late entry French Immersion program at école Percy Pegler School at the start of the 2018-19 school year.
The proposal would have students take all their courses in French, except for English and physical education, for Grade 5 and 6. They would then continue late entry in junior high school, likely at Okotoks Junior High.
“We have a strong English programming and French programming,” said Pegler principal Dinah VanDonzel. “We can provide another late entry point for students in language learning — we have English and French teachers and students who can work together to do this.”
It's an impressive display of catch-up. The late entry students are at the same level as those students who began the French Immersion program in kindergarten when both streams are combined in Grade 9 or high school.
“They end up being at the high school able to finish out in full immersion with the other kids who have been there since kindergarten,” VanDonzel said. “It works — early immersion works and late immersion works and it is great to have it in our building.”
She knows of what she speaks. Her background is in second language learning and late immersion.
“I am a proponent for late immersion,” she said. “It works. It's a bit daunting at first, the kids are coming in with English-only backgrounds and the parents are kind of worried at the start of the year. But after three months, it's unbelievable what the outcomes are by the kids — it's pretty motivating.”
The teacher is talking French 100 per cent of the time.
“The teachers are standing on their head, waving their arms to get the kids to understand,” she said.
Lesley Doell, division French Immersion facilitator, stressed the proposal it is at the exploratory stage, but called it “very exciting news.”
Grade 5 was a logical entry point for students.
“After the research we had done we saw that Grade 5 was one of the best entry points, obviously beyond early French Immersion Kindergarten entry,” Doell said. “Grade 5 will give them sufficient time in the language before we roll them in with the high school students.”
She said recently a late entry program in Ottawa was moved back from Grade 7 to Grade 4 because it was determined to be a better fit for students.
Late entry French Immersion has been around for decades, there has been one with Calgary Board of Education since the 1970s. She said the data shows students don't fall behind in their studies, in fact they often improve.
“Within a short-period of time they are at the same level as their counterparts or ahead of them,” Doell said. “It often improves their first language literacy skills.”
She urges parents to attend the late entry French Immersion information meeting sometime in the future.
VanDonzel said while it would like to have approximately 25 students, 20 students would likely be sufficient to make the program viable.
At present, Pegler has an enrolment of around 600 students, with slightly more than half in the English stream. She said the school has the physical classroom space to accommodate the program. It is also not expected to effect teacher-to-student ratios at the school. For more information about the program and to participate in the survey go to fsd38.ab.ca or percypegler.fsd38.ab.ca
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