Evidence of meeting #81 for Official Languages in the 41st Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was students.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Corneliu Chisu Conservative Pickering—Scarborough East, ON
—to learn more languages. It's not forcing them. It's—
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Université de Saint-Boniface
—inspiring them.
Conservative
Corneliu Chisu Conservative Pickering—Scarborough East, ON
Yes, it's inspiring them.
We have this great opportunity to do that.
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Université de Saint-Boniface
Absolutely.
Conservative
Corneliu Chisu Conservative Pickering—Scarborough East, ON
We should go to action, not to.... We are talking too much.
History Teacher, Kelvin High School, Winnipeg School Division
Just very quickly, with regard to Quebec, at our high school we don't run a trip to Quebec right now. We have in the past. At our junior high, we do. That's an experience that our students have had, although certainly we could do more of that.
I just think it goes back to, once again, these authentic experiences that we can have outside of the classroom that ultimately give us this inspiration.
For me, when I got that job at Lower Fort Garry, initially it was a job. I got a summer job; great. But very quickly it became this incredible opportunity to practise the language, to meet people from all over the world, and to be absolutely inspired to work on my second language.
That's the kind of opportunity we need. And that wasn't forced. That was a federal government program where there was an opportunity to speak a second language.
Conservative
Conservative
Corneliu Chisu Conservative Pickering—Scarborough East, ON
—that the federal government, without interfering in the education, would eventually encourage and—I don't know about the money for it—put some effort into these kinds of exchanges.
History Teacher, Kelvin High School, Winnipeg School Division
Yes, absolutely.
Conservative
Corneliu Chisu Conservative Pickering—Scarborough East, ON
I'm just telling you this from the army perspective. I was in the Canadian army. It was absolutely enjoyable to know every province. For example, I know people from Quebec who served in the armed forces. They settled in British Columbia, in Chilliwack. They loved it, and they brought culture, and they brought openness and so on.
These exchanges among ourselves are very important. We are a big country, but with very few people.
Conservative
Manon Perreault NDP Montcalm, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank our witnesses for joining us. I had a number of questions for you, but you have answered most of them already. So I won't ask them again.
You know that Canada is very linguistically diverse owing to new arrivals. When those people come to Canada, one of their biggest challenges consists in choosing between French and English. What goes into their decision? Is one language being promoted more than the other? Is one option being encouraged over the other?
Teacher, Kelvin High School, Winnipeg School Division
The reality in Winnipeg is that, when they arrive, most people expect to be integrated into an anglophone community. Without giving the issue too much thought, they enrol their children in the school closest to them, which, statistically speaking, will probably be an anglophone institution.
However, I would like to add that, in the immersion courses I teach—especially in high school, where some students drop out because they are not given the paraprofessional support they need—my students make up a very mixed group compared with what I saw at the beginning of my career. Today, I see many children from immigrant families, like my own. A number of students come from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
I am picturing my current ninth-grade classroom, a third of which is made up of foreign students. Their family comes from abroad. Those people have chosen immersion and are among the biggest believers in the system's effectiveness. Moreover, since they already speak two languages at home, adding a third one makes perfect sense to them.
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Université de Saint-Boniface
I would add to that that the francophone community in Winnipeg is currently growing thanks to new arrivals. They mostly come from North Africa and black Africa.
Today, 40% of the Université de Saint-Boniface student body comes from elsewhere. That's a very high proportion. Their presence—which is extremely enriching and important—is helping revitalize that francophone community. Some of them are immigrants, and others are refugees. Some of them do not speak English. So they speak only French and perhaps their mother tongue. Their presence in Winnipeg is positively enriching.
NDP
Manon Perreault NDP Montcalm, QC
If I understand correctly, their first choice is to learn English, since they are steered toward anglophone schools.
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Université de Saint-Boniface
That depends on where they are from. If they come from francophone countries, they will enrol in the Franco-Manitoban School Division or in immersion schools. As for the English-speaking immigrants, they enrol wherever they want.
NDP
Manon Perreault NDP Montcalm, QC
Or vice versa.
I clearly recall that I started studying English in Grade 5, and I continued with those studies in high school. Of course, we had somewhat the same problem you were describing earlier, that of English teachers not speaking English. But I thought that sort of approach had changed over the years. I must say I'm very disappointed to hear that is still a problem in our schools. I know it's a provincial matter, but I can't wrap my head around the fact that we still have that problem in 2013.
Earlier, we talked about promoting bilingualism among students. Do you do any promotion activities targeting their parents as well, to make them understand how important learning a second language is? It has not just social benefits, but also financial ones. Do you reach the parents?
Teacher, Kelvin High School, Winnipeg School Division
With parents like Ms. Bateman, who instinctively seem to understand the value of both languages, it's as though we're preaching to the choir.
When I listen to the principal and vice-principals at Kelvin High School promoting our three programs—the International Baccalaureate Programme, the immersion program and the regular academic program—they never say anything discouraging about any of the programs. Their comments are only encouraging.
But I don't know what kind of information is provided to parents who are thinking about enrolling their young children in those programs beginning in junior kindergarten or kindergarten. Unfortunately, I can't elaborate on that for the committee.
History Teacher, Kelvin High School, Winnipeg School Division
It's difficult for us to give you more details, seeing as we're high school teachers. We aren't very familiar with the reality of kindergarten and Grade 1 teachers, who really have a role to play in those key discussions with parents early on.
NDP
Manon Perreault NDP Montcalm, QC
Yes, you're right. But I was referring mostly to high school. That was what I was wondering about.
That brings something else to mind. Do you have the sense that your students have a solid appreciation of the value of a second language? Ms. Bateman said earlier that her children had that appreciation and were living it. Do all of your students truly have that understanding?
Teacher, Kelvin High School, Winnipeg School Division
It's evolving. I am going to be very frank. A large chunk of my students who are in their first year at Kelvin High School have already been studying French for 10 years. And many of them still see French as nothing more than a school subject. They know they have to get good grades and do their homework so their parents don't get on their case. At 14, they don't yet see it as something that will change their lives and open up all kinds of doors, because they haven't yet been exposed to any of those opportunities.
As they progress through their four years at high school—in most Manitoba schools, it's four years—they come into contact with professionals who give talks on career day, they see graduates and they participate in more exchanges. It is usually during their high school years that they go on those trips. By the time our students reach Grade 12, we see about 5% to 10% of them really showing enthusiasm and passion for preserving the language, whereas the other 90% have yet to acquire that appreciation. They haven't experienced that defining moment that makes them realize the value, but some of them will eventually.
Conservative
Erin O'Toole Conservative Durham, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, all, very much for your passion today. I think you're all examples of the tremendous opportunity that French immersion education provides.
Dr. Sims, my answer to your question from the beginning is opportunity, collaborative leadership of our country, and expanding horizons. I didn't forget.
