May 31, 2005: French Language Instruction Review Task Force

VSB Offices, 1:00-3:00pm

This task force has been set up by the VSB Trustees to explore adding additional spaces to French Language (immersion programmes) in response to rising demand for Fr. Im. and the concerns raised this past year regarding capped entry (at 440 Kindergarten) and the lottery system put in place to allocate access to the programmes.  The following is an overview prepared from my notes.  A more detailed meeting summary is being prepared by VSB staff for later distribution.  Given the importance of this process and the speed by which it is moving it is critical to send this info out prior to the VSB minutes are distributed.  


The central tasks for the May 31st meeting were:
1.    understand the current situation
2.    come to a general consensus of which programmes need to be considered
3.    to establish growth targets (do we want to grow, if so at what level, etc.

As reported in the meeting there were 646 applicants for 437 admissions for the 2005-2006 school year.

Back ground material was reported verbally by Val Overgaard on the recent history of policy changes related to French Immersion programmes in the district.  The key points here are:
1.    development of boundaries a few years ago to deal with increasing enrollments
2.     that this year no additional spaces were added and a lottery system was put in place as it was felt to be the most ‘fair’ of a series of problematic solutions to select new entrants for the 2005-2006 year.

Educational Consultant, Max-Michel Adrien, added the following points:
1.    a more effective communication strategy is required to connect with parents and community
2.    the addition of one or more additional late immersion sites needs to be considered (i.e., entry at grade 6)
3.    that secondary attrition rates appear to be improving, that is more secondary students are staying in Fr. Im. beyond grade than were doing so previously.

Henry Ahking and Les King (Planning and facilities staff and director) provided detailed demographic data on past, current, and projected enrollments in Fr. Im. programmes.  At current rates of growth Fr.Im. is projected to grow to about 10-12% of Vancouver’s total K-12 student population.  Mr. Ahking agreed to send out a copy of the PowerPoint presentation by email.  When I have received that document I will make it available.

In the ‘participant perspectives’ section of the meeting the following points were raised.
1.    staffing issues: including recruitment, retention, flexibility placement.
2.    space/facilities.  are there buildings that have capacity for expanding Fr.Im. programmes?  What are the local factors that may create barriers or facilitate expansion.  For ex.: in some areas Fr. Im. demand is growing but schools in the same area may also overcrowded.   
3.    concerns regarding communication strategies
4.    consideration of the overall continuum of services- early, late, secondary immersion.
5.    appropriate resources for Fr. Im (including appropriate LAC and other means for full inclusion).
6.    questions regarding the motivation for growing demand.

Summary:  This process is moving quickly with a 2nd meeting planned for June 9th and a final June meeting on the 22nd.  At this point the task force will have been expected to provide a sense of direction so that staff can prepare options and data for consideration in the fall, moving toward full public consultation late September through November.


Charles R. Menzies, Ph.D., DPAC Rep.



June 8, 2005

Subject:: VSB French Immersion Task Force: Fwd: RE : French Immersion

Dear All,


Further to the question of reasons why parents select French Immersion and the question of demand.  Please see a note from Dr. Patricia Lamarree, associate professor at U. Montreal in Education.  You will note that she did research in the early 1990s on the question of why parents selected Fr.Im. and specifically probed the questions of escaping ESL.  There does not appear to be alot of work on this topic, but so far it would appear that Drs. Lamarre and Dagenais are the two people doing the most relevant and topical research that has a bearing on this subject.

Bye for now,

Charles


Date: Wed, 08 Jun 2005 10:42:36 -0400
From: Lamarre Patricia <patricia.lamarre@umontreal.ca>
Subject: RE : French Immersion
To: Charles Menzies <cmenzies@interchange.ubc.ca>


Hello, bonjour Dr.Menzies
I was on the net when your message came in so here is a quick reply.
I interviewed parents with kids in French immersion in Quebec and Vancouver in 1991 -1992 and I never turned that phd into articles, although I should have.
My interviews were on the motivations for choosing immersion and having heard the same rumours you had I probed that kind of thing and found quite the opposite. While parents did see French immersion as a program offering more than the regular program they didn't see it as enriched and many actually wished that French immersion offered enriched programs.  When I asked about the disadvantages of French Immersion, quite a few parents complained that there was not enough diversity in the classrooms and that their kids and that they would have preferred their kids to be in a more multicultural classroom setting. As Diane Dagenais work is showing, there are more immigrant children in French immersion schools than previously and so that is slowly changing. The main motivations for choosing immersion seems to be learning another language is a good thing and why not make it French since we live in an officially bilingual country (over Spanish or Chinese).  It not only has the potential of opening more doors for kids somewhere down the line, but it also opens their minds and spirits.  I am referring to Vancouver parents - for Quebecers parents simply feel its a nobrainer to not have kids learn French, they want them to be able to stay in the province, work and feel comfortable and have accepted that for this to happen they need French. Many actually feel French immersion is not enough for anglo kids living in Quebec and are choosing the French public school system at least at the primary level (I am presently finishing up a study on these parents and their children).
So I hope this helps.
wishing you well and let me know if I can be of further help.
Patricia Lamarre (Ph.d)
Département de didactique
Faculté des sciences de l'éducation
Université de Montréal

June 8, 2005

There is a related article, Accessing Imagined Communities Through Multilingualism and Immersion Education, written by SFU faculty member, Dr. Diane Dagenais  ( http://www3.educ.sfu.ca/faculty_member.php?contactid=44 ) that deals - at least partially, with the reasons why parents may select French Immersion.  You will note from the article that she has been engaged in a long term study of immigrant families in Vancouver and their choice of French Immersion for their children.


Dear Barbara,

Thanks for your note.  Your comments make a lot of sense to me; the task force needs to make it is asking the 'right questions' and those questions should really be about determining the appropriate overall capacity for FI, the programs methods best suited to achieve the capacity targets, and how we might increase capacity in our system. 

One of the reasons I tracked down what research there is regarding the reasons parents opt for French Immersion is a direct response to what were very troubling assumptions indeed about why parents opt for French Immersion.  I hope that the information that I have tacked down and shared with the task force will but those assumptions to bed and allow us to deal with the pressing needs that the growing demand clearly underlines.

Thanks for your reply and comments.  They make my job as the District Parent rep that much easier and effective.

Bye for now,

Charles

At 10:05 PM 6/8/05, you wrote:

Thanks for all this information, Charles.  You are really doing double duty these days ? I heard you on the CBC yesterday speaking about the school situation in the University area ? well done!
 
I agree with the sentiments expressed by Evelyn earlier today.  I appreciate you sending the article by Dr. Dagenais.  I suppose my main concern at this point is that this Task Force be sure that it is asking the right questions.  I am not sure the VSB has the resources to ask, and answer, quite frankly, 'why' there is such a demand for FI.  That is a highly complex question, perhaps left to academic circles for now.  (And for me, the notes from the first meeting express some troublesome assumptions in that regard.) 
 
Clearly, we have to assume that demand will continue to exceed current supply, and ask the questions from there: (1) Based on research, what is an appropriate overall capacity for FI in a city of this size and make up? (2) What are the appropriate program methods to achieve that (single track, dual track, annex, streaming into secondary, etc.) based on the evidence at hand, and (3) How can we increase capacity through space utilization; recruitment, retention and retraining policies for teachers, etc. in the short term AND in the longer term?
 
Thank you to you and the other members of the Task Force for all your work on this.  It is much appreciated.
 
Regards,
 
Barbara Grantham
(Incoming PAC Chair, Quilchena Elementary)


Also of interest:

VSB Draft Language Directions/Options February 2005




From: owner-fr-taskforce@interchange.ubc.ca [mailto:owner-fr-taskforce@interchange.ubc.ca] On Behalf Of Charles Menzies
Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2005 5:54 PM
To: fr-taskforce@interchange.ubc.ca
Subject: VSB French Immersion Task Force: June 9, 2005 notes and info

Dear All,

Here is an edited version of yhr meeting notes prepared by Barbara Anderson, VSB staffer.  I removed graphic images so that I can send it via email.  I will post a full version with graphics to my web site. http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/menzies/june_9.doc
The power point presentation from June 9th will also be posted to: http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/menzies/FI_VSBppt(2).ppt It will download fairly easily over a highspeed connection. 

Bye for now,

Charles