French Immersion – Why and How
The Canadian government has just released an action plan to protect and promote Canada’s two official languages – English and French. Entitled “Action Plan for Official Languages: Protection-Promotion-Collaboration” it is a 5-year plan to address the precarious nature of French both within and outside of Quebec. The plan includes investments of $4.1 billion over the next five years focused in 4 themes: Francophone immigration, lifelong learning, supporting the vitality of official language minority communities, building on positive government action to support these communities. The federal government called this investment “the largest amount ever provided by a government in the area of official languages”.
The reasons prompting this investment are clear. In 1969 Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau passed the Official Languages Act with a vision for a bilingual country. However, many Canadians do not know how to converse in both official languages.
In the 2020 speech from the throne, the federal government acknowledged that the French language is in a weak position in Canada. Census information released by Statistics Canada in 2022 confirmed this and indicated that the proportion of Canadians who spoke predominantly French at home declined in all provinces and territories except Yukon since 2016.
The situation needs to be looked at over many years. In the 1901 Canadian census 32.0% of the population was able to speak French. In 2016 just under 30% of Canadians could have a conversation in French.
The 2021 Census found that “the proportion of the Canadian population whose first official language spoken is French decreased from 22.2% in 2016 to 21.4% in 2021, continuing the downward trend seen in recent decades. In 1971, French was the first official language spoken by 27.2% of Canadians.”
The situation outside Quebec needs to be pondered over. In Ontario only about 11% of the population can speak both official languages. This is making it hard for high quality public services to be offered in the French language in this province – as required by the federal Official Languages Act. This situation is not much better in other provinces. Aside from Quebec and New Brunswick the rate of bilingualism is less then 15% in other provinces. Also, bilingualism is declining outside of Quebec according to the 2021 census.
Why The French Language Needs to be Strengthened in Canada
There are many benefits to being able to communicate in both English and French. This includes more job opportunities and better salaries. Census data has shown that the average income in Canada for a unilingual English-speaker is $55,250 while a bilingual person has an income of $60,550. This wage gap is also widening.
There are also cognitive advantages. A recent report from the BBC summarized research indicating brain and health-related advantages to bilingualism including “A superior ability to concentrate, solve problems and focus, better mental flexibility and multitasking skills”. In addition, they cite research which shows that “the most exciting benefit of bilingualism occurs in ageing, when executive function typically declines: bilingualism seems to protect against dementia.” Being bilingual also enables an individual to understand different cultures and ways of seeing the world.
How to Increase Bilingualism – Through French Immersion in Schools
There is a simple solution to strengthening the French language and ensuring that both official languages of Canada are well known. This solution is requiring that all students – not merely those who are interested in studying French – spend 50% of their school day studying in English and the remaining 50% in French in grade school. This 50-50 split approach is used in the Peel District School Board French Immersion program for grades 1 to 8. Recent research which reviewed this immersion program notes that there has been an increased interest in the program with the presence of waitlists due to high demand. A lottery system is currently being used to determine which students gain entrance into Grade 1 French Immersion and spots are not assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. In York Region French Immersion students have all their classes from Grade 1 to 3 are taught in French. In grades 4 to 8 half of all courses are thought in English while the remaining half are thought in French. In the Toronto District School Board’s Early French Immersion program most of the classes from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 3 are though in French. This shifts to a 50-50 split for grades 4 to 8. School districts typically also offer French Immersion in high school where a certain number of hours of French learning is required. The success of this French Immersion approach has been well documented with French Immersion learning being introduced in Ontario in the 1960s.
What About English Learning
Recent research performed by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) studied the performance of French Immersion students in Grade 6 provincial English reading, English writing and Mathematics tests. The results showed that “Students in the Grade 6 French Immersion program showed higher achievement on the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) assessments in Reading, Writing, and Mathematics even when tested in English than the Grade 6 TDSB students in general.” French Immersion students who only started studying English in Grade 4 were thus able to pick up English quickly and perform better then regular students even on English tests.
Earlier Ontario-wide research published in 2003 – but decades after the introduction of French Immersion schooling in Ontario – confirms the above TDSB result that any lag in reading, writing, and mathematics skills of French immersion students disappears by grade 6. The study states “that French immersion does not have a negative effect on students’ reading, writing, and mathematics skills in English”. The study also states that “French immersion students are not disadvantaged in English in the medium to long term.”
Problems and Solutions
French teachers are in high demand as there aren’t enough teacher graduates to fill the vacancies. Requiring 50% French immersion would mean that more French-speaking teachers are needed for the many different all subjects offered to students. A step-by-step transition towards 50% French education is thus required with current requirements met by bringing French teachers from other countries.
A recent report from the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) stated that the majority of students enrolled in French as a Second Language programs such as French Immersion “came from a two-parent household; had parents with a higher level of education; and came from a family with a higher socio-economic status (SES) compared to TDSB students in general.”
In addition, a study commissioned by Canadian Parents for French found that a disproportionate number of children of immigrants whose mother tongue is neither English nor French are discouraged from entering French Immersion programs.
Another complaint is that school districts spend extra resources on French Immersion programs leaving the English-only schools with less. Also, some parent wish to have their children educated in an English but find that their local school only offers full French immersion program. This means that their child will not be able to attend their community school due to a lack of subjects taught in English.
Given the above programs we need to ensure that all students have a good chance to learn both of Canada’s official languages. A 50-50 split approach will address all the above complaints. It will also ensure a truly bilingual country and being bilingual will not just be for the lucky ones.
Learning two languages at the same time has been found to be good for your brain and also gives students the opportunity to understand similarities and differences between these languages – adding to their education. Over 40 years of research shows that learning a second language through a program like French Immersion has no detrimental affect on first language proficiency.
French Immersion in Richmond Hill
According to the York Region District School Board (YRDSB), about 14% of all grades 1 to 8 students in the board are enrolled in the French Immersion program. This figure is about 7% for high school students. Due to space restrictions, however, students might begin French Immersion in one school and continue in another. In addition, communication from the schools to the parents/guardians is in English. This includes report cards, newsletters, and parent-teacher interviews. The French Immersion program for schools in Richmond Hill is designed for children of non-French speaking families so families do not need to speak French at home. In addition, there does not need to be French speaking parents at home to assist in doing homework as resources exist to help these parents with their child’s homework. According to the YRDSB additional issues with homework should be directed to the teacher. A YRDSB online school locator can be used to find the correct French Immersion school in Richmond Hill for the board’s potential students.
The European Union’s Language Education Policy
Other jurisdictions are encouraging multiple language learning in schools to gain all the advantages that this provides. Take the case of the European Union’s (EU) “mother tongue plus two” system. According to a EU government website, in order “to promote mobility and intercultural understanding, the European Union (EU) has designated language learning as an important priority, and funds numerous programmes and projects in this area. Multilingualism, in the EU’s view, is an important element of Europe’s competitiveness. One of the objectives of the EU’s language policy is therefore for every EU citizen to master two other languages in addition to their mother tongue.” This approach is being adopted in schools across the EU.
Canada needs to support multi-language learning like the EU and adopt a 50-50 split with balanced English and French education which will be a step in the right direction and ensure a fully bilingual country.
