Enrolment reaches new high in West Vancouver
French immersion students Ross Pringle and Lucy Oishi practise reading with teacher Lindsay Storry in their Grade 2 class at Ecole Pauline Johnson, a single-track French Immersion school in West Vancouver. photo Mike Wakefield, North Shore News, story by Jane Seyd.
French immersion students Ross Pringle and Lucy Oishi practise reading with teacher Lindsay Storry in their Grade 2 class at Ecole Pauline Johnson, a single-track French Immersion school in West Vancouver. photo Mike Wakefield, North Shore News
When Annabel Pringle’s family moved from the U.S. to West Vancouver, she was looking for a program that would keep her older son challenged and interested at school.
He had been an A student at an academically rigorous school prior to the move, she said. “We felt we needed something extra to keep him engaged.”
Pringle decided to try French immersion. She admits both she and her son were slightly nervous at first – the family doesn’t speak French at home and her son was entering the program in Grade 6 rather than kindergarten.
But four years later, now with all three children of her children enrolled in French immersion in West Vancouver, Pringle says the decision was a good one.
Early fears that her younger children would struggle to read in English proved unfounded.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “Suddenly these children are bilingual.”
The family is one of a growing number opting to enrol their children in French immersion programs on the North Shore.
About 15 per cent of all public school students are enrolled in French immersion in both North Vancouver and West Vancouver schools – one of the higher participation rates in the province, on par with areas like the Sea to Sky, Campbell River and Comox Valley school districts, which are all well above the provincial average of about 10 per cent.
This September, West Vancouver registered more than 1,000 students in French immersion for the first time ever. The two elementary schools dedicated to French immersion – Ecole Cedardale and Ecole Pauline Johnson – are operating at capacity, as is Sentinel secondary, where French immersion students attend high school.
“We’re certainly seeing very healthy trends in demand for French immersion in West Vancouver,” said Sean Nosek, director of instruction with the West Vancouver School District.
One newer trend is an increasingly diverse group of families – including those whose first language isn’t English – signing up for French immersion, said Nosek.
There are some common reasons families seek to enrol their kids in French immersion. Many of them see that “bilingualism and multi-lingualism is an advantage in an increasingly global world,” said Nosek, “whether that’s cultural, social or economic.”
Many, like Pringle, are also looking for a way to challenge their children. “They like the idea of that rigour and something tangible at the end,” he said. “Learning a second language is good for the brain.”
French immersion is also popular in North Vancouver, where 2,540 students are registered in the program this year. “It’s a very popular program,” said Joanne Robertson, director of instruction for the North Vancouver School District.
Both school districts allow students to enter at either the kindergarten level (for early immersion) or Grade 6 (for later immersion.) North Vancouver offers its French immersion at six “dual track” elementary schools, meaning the French immersion program runs alongside a regular English program.
In both school districts, French immersion numbers tend to be highest in elementary school, with about twice as many students enrolled in French immersion at the elementary level as at the high school level. That’s something that’s seen in all school districts with French immersion, said Robertson.
Reasons for that can be social, or revolve around students’ desire to get involved in other kinds of specialty academies at the high school level. Concern students may be at a disadvantage when taking more advanced science and math courses in French can also play a part.
Nosek said that’s not necessary borne out. When provincial exam scores of French immersion students are compared to scores of regular West Vancouver high school students, “the French Immersion students typically outperform the non-French immersion students,” he said.
To address some of those concerns, however, the North Vancouver School District is in the midst of a review of its French immersion program. Among the changes being contemplated – allowing French immersion students to take sciences in English, while introducing new French-only courses including a leadership course, PE course with an emphasis on outdoors, and a culture course that will focus more on verbal proficiency in the language, said Robertson.
The district is also working to make it easier for French immersion students to take part in specialty academies.
Pringle said of the students in her son’s French immersion class at Pauline Johnson, many did continue the program into high school at Sentinel. Her own oldest son – now in Grade 10 – hopes the language will help with goals of travelling in Europe and attending McGill University in Montreal, she said.
“All of them are very proud to be bilingual.”
© 2016 North Shore News