Writing is a complex task, regardless of the language in which it is performed. Writing is shaped by the author’s ideas about the nature of and purpose for the writing task and involves thinking, planning and decision-making. Writing is impacted by the cognitive strategies used in the process of writing, the students’ language proficiency as well as any physical limitations. How do we support our French immersion students who may experience challenges with the process of writing, due to physical or learning disabilities? There are many factors that would influence this support, some of which include, the quality of writing instruction, attaining and leveraging technology and the need for significant research in this area. Ultimately there are some key questions that arise from this need. Is French immersion really for all students? What are the benefits and limitations of the program? What is the current writing pedagogy? What does inclusive practice look like in an immersion program? What assistive technology is available to support students with written expression challenges in French immersion? How do we leverage technology? In order to better understand these questions it is important to consider how and why the French immersion program became an option for students in Alberta.
Origins of French Immersion
The French immersion program was started in 1965 in the province of Quebec by a small group of Anglophone parents who wanted their children to learn French in order to take advantage of the economic opportunities accessible to bilingual individuals in Canada. These parents were concerned that their children would be unable to share in the culture of their home city if they did not speak French. Due to the docum...
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..., catering to students of higher socio-economic backgrounds and higher academic ability. Public perception is that immersion programs are elitist and exclusive (Pellerin, 2009). A 2004 Statistics Canada report found that French immersion students are more likely to come from higher socioeconomic backgrounds and to have parents who have a post-secondary education. The same report established that the availability of support services for student showing learning challenges are often inadequate in French immersion programs (Government of Canada, 2004; Mady & Arnett, 2009 & Wise, 2011). It is widely believed that any student with learning needs, behavioural difficulties and lower academic success should be steered away or removed from the program, thus attracting the brightest, high achieving students (Mady & Arnett, 2009) and contributing to high attrition rates.
No matter what side of the spectrum a person may fall on, the history of the French language in Louisiana runs deep. It was introduced to this land in the eighteenth century as Europeans emigrated from France and the Acadian refugees ventured from Canada. French was Louisiana’s language. As mentioned earlier, efforts are being made to preserve the general French language and background of Louisiana ("Parlez-Vous? Some Louisiana Pupils Being Immersed in French Instruction", 2011). Louisiana currently has thirty schools that offer the French immersion program. CODOFIL is working diligently to increase the amount of schools that offer French immersion programs. It is crucial that these programs be implemented in order to maintain a unique and special characteristic of Louisiana ("Parlez-Vous? Some Louisiana Pupils Being Immersed in French Instruction").
McQuillan, Aidan. “Des chemins divergents: les Irlandais et les Canadiens francais au XIXe siècle.” ed. Wadell, Eric. “Le dialogue avec les cultures minoritaires.” Ste-Foy, QC: Les Presses De L'Université Laval 1990.
English Language Learners (ELL) require thoughtful and careful instruction for both reading and writing education. Both of these skills are necessary for a bright future and to be a functioning citizen in Canada. Those that do not possess considerable literacy levels will be effectively 'locked out' from so much knowledge, information and ideas that are part of the culture of society (Christie 1990, 20). Having a low level of literacy usually means acquiring an unskilled job. The relationship between literacy levels and poverty is something that should not be ignored (Gibbons, 2002). Developing literacy skills in ELLs is a daunting task and especially with students that have not developed those skills in their first language originally. Through the Curriculum Cycle and proper scaffolding of writing strategies, this paper will provide a lesson plan that will help develop an ELL's writing skills. It will include many different tools that will help students gain an understanding and confidence of the narrative writing form.
• "French Language in Quebec and is it changing?." - Online Party of Canada. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. .
Canada has officially been bilingual since the Constitution Act in 1867 (Santrock et al., 284). Since this act researchers have found many advantages of bilingualism on cognitive development. Bilingualism enhances mental flexibility such as divergent thinking, task-switching efficiency, and promotes advanced vocabulary. Bilingual children have superior meta-linguistic awareness; consequently, they are more aware of the structure of language and its nature. Bilinguals are more efficient at attention control; they focus on important tasks and information with ease. French courses should be mandatory for all Canadian students since bilingualism benefits meta-linguistic awareness, mental flexibility, and control of attention.
The technique relies on a holistic approach that adopts instructions that allow students to actively participate in the learning process. This is easier for children that feel that the society appreciates their diversity through bilingualism and biliteracy. The society and parents need to encourage children to take up bilingual classes because they offer a lot of benefit to the society through favoring critical thinking, rationality, and sensitivity to other cultures, empathy, and detached or balanced awareness. However, Sonia Nieto mirrors a society that is made to fake being American and become ashamed of their family. It helps appreciate that it is not by choice that anyone speaks any other language as the first language and that the society and community influence the language of choice. Therefore, bilingualism cannot be detached from any community that freely promotes and accommodate the language spoken by the other community. Children and community members learn each other’s language without disregarding each other favoring effective learning that influences bilingualism and biliteracy in the long
Jost, Kenneth. “Bilingual education vs. English immersion.” CQ Researecher. 11 December 2009. 19, 1029-1052. Web. 17 Feb. 2011
Stein, Marcy and Robert C. Dixon. "Effective writing instruction for diverse learners." School Psychology Review 23 (1994): 392-406.
...nd the US. Le Lycee Francais de Los Angeles is an example of a private school which strives to make students bilingual in French and English. French is taught in most high school and in every university of California.
...to identity with at least one of the countries predominate languages, English or French, dictated the degree in which they could participate in Canadian life. According to the Commission, this participation was real under two conditions: “that both societies, the French-speaking as well as the English-speaking, accept[ed] newcomers much more rapidly than they have done in the past; and that the two societies willingly allow other groups to preserve and enrich, if they so desire, the cultural values they prize[d]” (RCBB Book 1 xxv). It creates an interesting take on the acceptance of those “othered” groups, as change was necessary not only on the part of the minorities but also from Canada’s French and English-speakers. The Commissions work remains focused on language and culture, more so than ethnicity amongst a bilingual, bicultural and “othered” Canadian society.
Much evidence found by scholars is related to the inequality of private education on a global scale. Unfortunately, because of Quebec’s unique education system, there is no evidence specifically related to the inequality that the linguistic education imposes on students, nor any evidence that suggests any correlation between the subsidies given to private schools and if it exacerbates inequality. The academic purpose is to delve deeper into Quebec’s education system.
...heritage and language of all the students. Imagine how it must feel to be in a strange country with little or no knowledge of the language.
The second stage of being literate posed as a real challenge. In elementary school, I started to gain knowledge of verbs, adjectives, adverbs, nouns, pronouns, punctuations and the different tenses. It was difficult because my first language was Creole, but I was forced back to the basics with my reading and writing skills when it came to learning French. I was int...
Growing up in a family who immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong, my sibling and I was the first generation of my family to have moved to an English-speaking country. When we first landed in Canada, my parents had to learn the language and become acquainted with a new society while spending countless hours trying to find work and housing. Both my parents instilled in me the value of persistence and risk-taking. Although my aunts and uncles disapproved our move to Canada because of the uncertainties it brought to the family’s future, this risk was something that my parents were willing to invest in – they knew that the changing school systems and government within Hong Kong would not foster a family environment that my parents had envisioned for me and my brother.
Language has pioneered many interracial relationships and historical milestones. Language is a necessity for basic communication and cultural diversity. Being multilingual is a skill proven influential to a successful future. Due to rapid globalization, countries all over the world are stressing the importance of learning a second, or even third, language. With the exception of time and lack of resources, adults have very few widely applicable disadvantages to learning multiple languages. However, language learning as a child presents more complications. Some of those include not having enough funding at the elementary school level to introduce a program for secondary language, academic overload for the youth, stress for both the parent and student parties, and the mixing of languages. Not all of these complications are true in any or all situations, however, and the absence of them provides multitudes of opportunity for future career and academic success. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the parents or the education legislation to decide whether they encourage the learning of a secondary language at the young age necessary for retention. “The general consensus is that it takes between five to seven years for an individual to achieve advanced fluency,” therefore the younger a child begins to learn, the more likely they are to benefit to the maximum potential (Robertson). Keeping the language learning in high school or beginning the process earlier is a greatly controversial discussion that is important to address because of the topic’s already lengthy suspension.