Randi Brooks

Blog #4

Chapter 4 of the textbook discusses how the structure of education is set up within Canada. I was particularly interested in the French Immersion section, being as I attended a French immersion school from K-9. 

What struck me when I first started reading this section was when Robson states, "French- language schools are present in every province and territory, and in order to attend a child must have at least one parent who is a native French speaker" (107). This really baffled me because like I previously mentioned, I attended a French immersion school, except neither of my parents went to a French immersion school or even speak the language. I remember when I was a kid and had trouble with my homework, it was hard because every subject of mine was in French, so my parents couldn't help me with me (unless it was math and dealt with numbers..but even then, they couldn't read the question!) So now I'm wondering how that worked for me, if it's stated that a parent has to be a native French speaker.. When neither of mine spoke French? 

Next, the author begins describing the type of children who are usually enrolled in the French immersion program and I found it to be dead on. She describes them as "students tend to be from significantly higher socioeconomic backgrounds, less likely to be male, less likely to have a learning disability ( or be in special education), and have better performance on standard-ized tests" (107). When I look at this description and compare it to myself, I find that that is me, except I wouldn't say "significantly higher" socioeconomic backgrounds, I would say moderate. My mother has lots of university degrees and is currently working as a BN, but my father has no university degrees and owns his own business. Robson also describes this as it "promotes bilingualism" (107). I love this because I loved being in the French immersion program and I believe that I have really benefited from it. We live in a bilingual country so I personally believe it is important to at least understand the basics on French  if you're not from a French decent. My only regret is my school division only offered the program until Grade 9. Once I entered high school, there was only one French immersion class, so I was unable to complete the program to Grade 12. Since then, the high school I attended has added more French class (such as a Science Humaines class) and I wish they had done so when I was in high school!

Discussion question: Do you agree that enrolling children into a French immersion school promotes bilingualism and can benefit children in the future?